Change Rear Tire

[Craniac]

I got 9,000 miles out of my Kenda. Needless to say I haven't been doing burnouts. It was time to change. Someone asked for a write up on an ST. I thought I took more pictures but this is it.

Remove the two covers over the axle bolts and crack the 36mm nut loose while the bike is still on the ground.

Place chocks in front and in back of both front wheels.

Jack the bike up from the frame just in front of the cat converter. Lift the rear wheel off the ground. Check your belt tension. Lower the bike until the rear wheel just touches the ground. Remove the lower shock bolt. 15mm if I remember correctly.

Raise the bike until the rear wheel barely is off the ground. The belt can now be slipped off the rear drive cog.

Lower the bike until the rear wheel barely touches the ground. Remove the cotter pin from the axle. Remove the 36mm nut. The axle will now slide out to the left of the bike. When the axle gets past the brake support, the brake will fall out of the way. There is NO need to remove the brake caliper. When it falls, it falls hard enough to scratch the paint on the rim. So place a towel between the brake and the rim before you remove the axle. When the axle comes out two metal pieces may fall. They may stay in the wheel. For lack of a better explanation, they will like like a top hat. The brim goes against the swing arm. The top part goes into the rubber seal that keeps dirt out the bearings.

This pic shows how far down the brake mount will fall.
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Raise the bike some more, and the wheel will come out. You will need to raise the fender. Only gravity is holding it down. The fender will come up with one hand.

The black metal pieces that are in the rear of the swing arm may come loose. These are the pieces that the belt adjustment bolts are in. It does not matter. The bolt will not turn. If you are worried about this, you can take these pieces to the swing arm before you remove the rim/tire.

Remove the brake disk. Five 13mm bolts.
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You will now see five 15mm bolts holding the approx 4" by 7" aluminum axle cover. Don't bother with them yet.

Lay the wheel down on the ground with the drive cog facing up. Stand on the tire and grab the drive cog. Begin to rock it back and forth. It will come up. There is another top hat looking piece that is different than the two on the axle. It may come loose at this point. I will show how to install it later. Remove the five pieces of rubber. You can now see the nuts that attach to the bolts holding the axle cover.

You need to access both the bolt and the nut to get them loose. I needed an impact wrench to get mine loose. There is a lot of locktite plus the nuts are nylock. Having a second person may help. When you get all five loose, the axle cover may come off. I had to persuade mine with a soft blow mallet. When it comes loose, you will see a six inch long piece of pipe. It is the axle spacer and MUST be put back in.

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I took my rim to Discount Tire and they mounted a new Kumho Ecsta. They could not balance it because the bearing size was too small for their machine. So they refunded the price of balancing.

Then I took the tire to the Harley Dealer, paid twice the Discount Tire price and they balanced the tire.

Reinstall the pipe/spacer and axle cover. Five bolts and nuts. The nuts go on the drive side of the wheel. I used locktite. I believe the specs are 35 foot pounds.

Turn the rim over and reinstall the top hat looking piece. Pic shows how it goes in.


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Reinstall the o-ring. You may be able to see the groove in the above picture. My o-ring was cut when the factory installed the drive cog. I got a new one at the local auto parts store. About $2.25. It might help to oil the o-ring before reinstalling the drive cog.

Now reinstall the five shock absorbing rubber pieces. They only go one way. It does not matter which one goes where. Now reinstall the drive cog. Make sure the top hat looking piece is still in place. I had to stand on my drive cog and rock back and forth. I then used some big clamps. I got the cog as far down as I could. The only thing holding it on is friction. Make sure you clock it correctly. The spokes on the drive cog should line up with the spokes on the rim. It is not hard to figure it out.

You can now replace the brake disk. I used locktite. Once again I believe the torque spec is 35 foot pounds.

Now put the tire back under the bike. Lower the bike until the holes in the swing arm line up with the hole in the rim. Put the left side top hat looking piece in-between the rim and the swing arm. The rim of the hat goes against the swing arm. The top part goes into the rubber seal. Push the axle in. It should go easy if the holes line up. If your pieces that hold the belt adjusters came out, you will need to put them back into the swing arm. They just slide in. No force is necessary.

Replace the top hat looking piece on the right side of the rim. The brim of the hat goes gainst the swing arm.

Now comes the hard part. You need to swing the brake caliper back up into position. I had to fuss with the alignment and move the pads around until the pads were far enough apart to start over the brake disk. Once it starts, it is easy. My axle was too far into the whole assembly to allow the brake bracket to go fully into position. So I had to pull the axle back to the bike's left a little. Once the caliper assembly was in position, I could push the axle the whole way through. It should go easy. Do NOT use a hammer. If you need a hammer, something is not right. Make sure both Top hat pieces are in place.

Make sure you have NO left over parts. You can then reinstall the 36mm axle nut. No need to get it tight just yet. You just want it on enough that the axle does not come out.

At this point you can put the drive belt back on the cog. Raise the bike until the wheel is off the ground. I had to struggle a little to get the belt past the frame that holds the fender. There is about an inch clearance between the tire and the frame. And the belt is slightly wider. Once I got the belt above the cog. I simply rotated the tire and belt went back on.

Now lower the bike until the shock and the lower mount line up. Reinstall the long bolt and the nut. You might want a new nylock nut.

Raise the bike until the rear wheel is off the ground. Rotate the tire a few turns to make sure belt tracking is close. Check your belt tension. It should not have changed.

Start the bike and put it in first gear. Allow the wheel to spin to check tracking. It should not have changed. Tighten the 36mm axle nut. I believe the torqe spec for 2013 is 95 foot pounds. Install a new cotter pin. Reinstall the two axle nut covers. check again for left over pieces. Lower the bike and take it for a test.
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