1987 1200 Interstate Rear Wheel Change

[kitesurfer805]

I am new to motorcycles and recently bought a 1987 interstate and have been working through some handling issues. Both the front and rear wheel seemed to wobble and the handling is terrible. I did a bunch of work on the front end and it is better but right now I am working on the rear end. I am trying to change the rear tire and as usual I am have trouble. I have the tire all ready to remove and am currently trying to drive the axle out and the muffler is in the way. There is a you tube video and it says to let the tire drop and the axle will clear the muffler (under the muffler) but it not working for me (motorcycle is all stock by the way). The manual says to jack the up the tire and the axle will clear the top of the muffler but that does work either. Anybody have any ideas on this?

I am also a little confused on how the wheel actually comes out. The youtube video says to disconnect the drive shaft and part of the drive shaft comes out with the wheel but the manual says to slide the wheel to the left and then remove which implies the drive shaft stays in the motorcycle. I am not really clear on how the drive shaft hub connect to the wheel, as best I can tell is just sort of mates to it.

How does everyone else remove their rear wheel, why is this so difficult.

[kitesurfer805]

I figured it out. After I finished posting I went back out to the garage and looked at it again. I noticed the shocks could have been in the way so I tied them up and tried jacking the rear end up again and it worked. If you jack up the tire the axles will clear over the muffler so that problem is solved. Not really sure if I should leave the drive unit on the wheel when I remove or try to leave it in the motorcycle.

[kitesurfer805]

I got the wheel off. I had the drive unit unbolted like the you tube video showed so the drive hub and shaft all came out with the wheel. After I had the wheel out I could see how the drive hub just fits on the wheel and just comes apart.

Do you think I should change the wheel bearings while I am this far in? I checked them and they seemed to be fine. I am trying to get a hold of the owner to see if he ever changed them out.

I went in and checked the swing arm too and could not find any side play at all. The bike has 85K miles so though maybe it might need them but could not find any side play when trying to move the arm by hand.

[Rednaxs60]

While you have the FD out, pull the prop shaft out of the final drive. It just pulls out and a little gusto is sometimes needed. If there is a retaining ring on the prop shaft, remove and discard, it is a factory install item that is not needed after first maintenance. This will also tell you how often it has been apart. There are splines that need to be lubricated. Replace the prop shaft oil seal as well.

Bearings wear and degrade over time. If there is no play in the swing arm, leave for now and do in another maintenance/work period a year from now when you do the rear maintenance again. I'd do the wheel bearings before you put back together. Get a set from All Balls, then you know it's done.

You should take the u-joint out as well and lube the splines on it as well.

Good luck

Cheers

[kitesurfer805]

Does anybody know the part number for the oil seal. The parts manual on line doesn't make sense. My manual calls it a oil seal. To the best of my knowledge the part number is 91262-MG9-003 OIL SEAL (39X56X7) (ARAI). Can anybody verify this?

Does anybody have more detail on how to take the u-joint out? Do I have to pull the swing arm to pull the u-joint just to lube it up and them put it all back together again? Seems to me I should do the swing arm bearings if I go that far?

[kitesurfer805]

I spend 2 hours looking and reading post for the oil seal part number and finally figured out the correct schematic is the swing arm not the final drive or drive shaft.

OIL SEAL (27X43X7)
91261-ME9-005

[Rednaxs60]

You'll get used to the parts list. That is the correct number, 91261-ME9-005.

Don't lose the spring in the FD end of the prop shaft. Had one go for a walk about in the garage and still haven't found it, had to go new.

Reach into the FD at the FD/prop shaft end and make sure the pinion shaft has no side to side play. If it does, and mine did, should install new pinion bearing. Have to go to Honda for this bearing.

To pull the u-joint, recommend dropping the right side of the swing arm. Move the clutch line and rear brake light switch out of the way. Rear foot peg should be removed. Notice the orientation of the u-joint, long end always goes to engine.

Cheers

[julimike54]

Good advise above, don't forget to lube the wheel drive splines also. Honda recommends moly, I use moly 77 paste. It's very thick and I just paint a liberal coat on all of the parts, if not done you will end of with that wheel to FD being dry and it will destruct itself from lack of lube and I think it helps keep the water away from those parts.

Good luck

[kitesurfer805]

I have followed your recommendation and now I am stuck. How do you reinstall the boot? There is no access, especially to the inner side. It is so frustrating working on these bikes, you get going along and then you hit mission impossible. I was worried about getting the swing are apart and that was a piece of cake compared to getting the boot back on. I am in the process of removing the exhaust to give me more room and I can't get it off either. Somebody please tell me there is a trick

[Rednaxs60]

There is no trick to installing the U-joint boot. You have to be patient and work at it. Make sure you pull the boot spring out of the way towards the engine.

I generally use a small pocket size common screw driver and start on the inside of the boot and then work around the boot. I do understand about the lack of space, and having larger size hands. Might recommend staring at the lower left side and work around to the top from the inside, then work around the bottom to the top. Removing the exhaust will not be of assistance.

[brianinpa]

I have followed your recommendation and now I am stuck. How do you reinstall the boot? There is no access, especially to the inner side. It is so frustrating working on these bikes, you get going along and then you hit mission impossible. I was worried about getting the swing are apart and that was a piece of cake compared to getting the boot back on. I am in the process of removing the exhaust to give me more room and I can't get it off either. Somebody please tell me there is a trick

How do you reinstall the boot? Patience... Sometimes a little lubricant on whatever tools you are using can make things easier. It could be worse though, you could have an 1100 and need to mess with the dreaded circlip. Thankfully mother Honda got rid of those with the 1200.

[kitesurfer805]

I got it done. After reading the reply and eating dinner I stopped with the muffler and took another look at it. The trick was to remove the charcoal canister and brake light switch spring (was mentioned earlier). Once I had the charcoal filter out it only took about 10 minutes. Push the boot spring / clamp way forward past the groove so its out of the way and its not too bad. When I went to reinstall I was not sure about the 2 hoses that came out with the charcoal filter but after some reading one is a vent and the other is a drain so they just get put back in. Now I have to put the muffler back together and then put the swing arm back on. In my case I took both sides of the swing arm loose. I was going to try to remove the swing arm but you first have to remove the rear brake master cylinder or some component on the right side behind the brake reservoir and I just did not have the energy to attempt something new.

[Rednaxs60]

If your bike is similar to mine, you have to remove the exhaust to remove the swingarm. The rear brake MC does not have to be removed. To torque the left side of the swing arm use a Park FR-6 tool, should be available at your local bicycle shop.

Cheers

[kitesurfer805]

I got it all together and took it our for a ride and everything seemed to be fine. Did a short test run around the neighborhood and never got above 40MPH but the bike handle good, what a difference a new tire makes. Got home and noticed oil leaking from the rear and traced it to the left shock and lifted the boot and a bunch of oil came out. So now I have to rebuild the rear shocks. I ordered the progressive spring kit, seals, and a rubber stop so waiting for parts to come in. I am in the process of making a shock compressor.

I was able to get the swing arm off pretty easy. I bought the FR6 tool and it worked ok. I had to use an impact wrench to get it to break free. The tool could fit a little tighter but it worked. Re-installing the swing arm was easy enough, just lined it up and install the parts. The needle bearing are sealed but you can lube up the bolt/pin that you install. when I took it apart I removed the wheel with the FD and the shaft as one unit but when I put it back together I installed the shaft and then the FD and then installed the wheel. Installing the shaft took a little while, you will know when it right because you will feel the spring and can push it in and out. I read some people missed the shaft but you can tell when its on. Like I said it took a while and I used a long tire iron to re-position the u joint each failed attempt, raised and lowered the swing arm and eventually it went in. Putting the wheel on the FD went together easy enough. One other thing, when I took the wheel bearings out I tried making the home made puller and that did not work at all, I ended up buying a blind end bearing puller from harbor freight and it worked great. Recommend buying the puller.

I also bought some speed bleeders and changed out the rear brake fluid. It sure was easy with the bleeders, it worked well

[kitesurfer805]

I am now working on the rear shocks and once again I am stuck. All the videos ect on how to do this say once the first thing you have to take out is a snap ring. What snap ring, I do not see one? Is the snap ring hidden somehow? What is going on?

Take a look at the picture and can someone tell me where the snap ring is?

[julimike54]

In the second picture, on the right side is the 2 ends on the retaining ring. I call them circlip, vs what you're looking for is a snap rings (again my verbiage) that you use snap ring pliers with.

I hope I helped

[kitesurfer805]

I know what you are talking about, you can see the circlip but it does not want to come out. The clip is sort of recessed on the seal or whatever it is and there is no room to get a pick or anything in to try and pry it out. It does not look like that is how it comes apart. There is no room for the clip to get out or at least it does not seem like there is.

[kitesurfer805]

That circlip will not come out, I am not sure of the design of this thing but popping that circlip out from the bottom as things are right now is not going to happen. Does anybody have any ideas how this thing comes apart?

I made a compression tool so now I am going to compress the shock and take the spring apart to see if I can figure out how things work. I hope I don't make things worst by doing this but I cannot figure out any other way.

[kitesurfer805]

So now I have the shock decompressed and no improvement. I went back to working on the circlip and it will not come out. I am pretty positive it is not designed to come out. I am starting to wonder if I have the shocks that are not re-build able. As I understand it the 1200 are suppose to have shocks that you can rebuild but this shock does not have a c-clip like the ones in the video. Did the make a change in the last year of the 1200 and start using shocks like the 1500? I have to believe I am not the only guy with a 87 that has run across this problem.

[kitesurfer805]

I am starting to come to the conclusion that the shock is not re-buildable. You would think there would be plenty of information about this problem with re-building shocks since I cannot be the only person with a 87 1200 that had to replace their shocks. Right now I am investigating all options and I think maybe going to a 83 1100 spring is my best choice. I already have the parts to rebuilt it with a progressive spring kit. I already ordered a 00-1170 spring kit and seals. Does anybody know if the shock will affect ride height or anything else? Can I use a 1100 shock on a 1200?

For anybody out there with a 87 1200 Interstate your shocks are not the same as the ones on the video where they say the 1100 and 1200 are the same. The 84, 85, and maybe 86 are the same but the 87 is definitely not the same. The MG9-771 is re-buildable but mine is a ML8-701 and they are not the same.

[kitesurfer805]

I can get a 1100 shock on ebay for around $100 and rebuild or I can order get a used progressive 416 on ebay.

The 416 looks like it is not too old but that is looks only and I have no idea of mileage. I have a spring compression tool so rebuilding an 1100 should be easy enough, I already have the progressive springs. Are there any experts out there that can comment on using an 1100 shock on a 1200? I would rebuild it of course and install progressive springs so will an 1100 work on a 1200 ok? Honda obviously changed the shock for some reason between the years. What about the progressive 416's, do they last a long time? Would that be a better deal with unknown mileage?

[kitesurfer805]

Since I didn't receive any recommendations I went ahead and ordered the used progressive 416 shock.

Since I ordered the replacement shock I went ahead and cut apart the one bad shock to see how it goes together. After doing that I think I now know how to disassemble it. Its not like they show in the 2 or 3 you tube video's that are out their. What I did was to decompress the shock using a home made compression tool then you need to use something long and narrow to tap or beat the retainer inward. It should move about a 1/4" max and then the snap ring or circlip or whatever you want to call it will be exposed. Pop the clip out and release the compression tool and it may or may not come apart. In my case is came apart but I think that was only because I had made a cut in it. You might need to do the trick where you apply air to it to push the actual seal and retainer out. Be careful though since in my case I sort of banged it around and the think sort of exploded apart. Like I said it is not like the you tube video's show. One more think to note, in the video they take the circlip and seals out before decompressing the spring and in my case I decompressed the spring first. I am not sure of the order just that you need to compress the spring knock the retainer inward in order to get the clip out. The spring will push the seal and retainer outward and you cannot get the clip out with the retainer pushed outward.