Front tire removal

[flagstaff]

Just one word of caution on using the sliders. Keep in mind that the hard plastic material is quite slippery. You won't get the same type of 'bite' you'd get when jacking on a less smooth surface.

 

[Fred W]

OK a couple of observations:

One: How far are you guys jacking the front up?

Me: Just enough to barely take the weight off the front wheel. Which makes using the center stand and a floor jack under the headers the way to go. You aren't supporting the weight of the bike, the center stand is. You are only tipping/shifting the weight backward a bit. If you wanted you could just put a sandbag or your wife (another type of bag?) on the rear seat and do the same thing.

Two: Why do I see so many fenders still on bikes that have the front wheels removed?

Me: Take it from me, it is easy-peasy to remove the front fender. Takes all of 2 minutes, only four little bolts and she slides right outta there. Getting that fender out of there facilitates doing step 1 (only jacking the weight off the front wheel and not lifting it. It also makes the rest of the caliper and wheel removal much easier. Furthrmore, this makes alignment of the axle a piece of cake when re-installing the wheel.

That is all...

 

[2degreesout]

OK a couple of observations:
One: How far are you guys jacking the front up?

Me: Just enough to barely take the weight off the front wheel. Which makes using the center stand and a floor jack under the headers the way to go. You aren't supporting the weight of the bike, the center stand is. You are only tipping/shifting the weight backward a bit. If you wanted you could just put a sandbag or your wife (another type of bag?) on the rear seat and do the same thing.

Two: Why do I see so many fenders still on bikes that have the front wheels removed?

Me: Take it from me, it is easy-peasy to remove the front fender. Takes all of 2 minutes, only four little bolts and she slides right outta there. Getting that fender out of there facilitates doing step 1 (only jacking the weight off the front wheel and not lifting it. It also makes the rest of the caliper and wheel removal much easier. Furthrmore, this makes alignment of the axle a piece of cake when re-installing the wheel.

That is all...

Good points. I usually never remove the fender unless I'm removing the forks. Front tire comes off much easier with the fender out of the way.

 

[Harald]

I'm a "floor jack under the engine" type of guy. And to alleviate my concern about bending headers, my board has a couple upright sections screwed to it that go between header pipes to touch the bottom of the engine and therefore there's no pressure at all on the headers. Looks kinda like this: _!___!_ (sorry, I don't have an actual picture )

And for added safety, I run a rope from the engine slider to the centerstand so that the bike can't be pushed forward off the stand.

 

[wfooshee]

I'd use the headers (steel tube) before I used the oil pan (aluminum casting) to support the bike. Depends on where the weight rests, I suppose, but either way, it's not a lot of weight on the jack.

 

[Niehart]

Here is the bike stand Harold is talking about. The stand works great on a floor jack. One of the local riders, Curly Joe (Rich) has made and gave away many at AuburnFJR's tech day.

https://www.fjr1300.info/howto/bikestand.html

 

[mcatrophy]

If it's of any help, I posted how I went about a Gen II front wheel removal here.

 

[Fred W]

If it's of any help, I posted how I went about a Gen II front wheel removal here.

Interesting.

Been doing various 1st and 2nd gen wheels for the past few years and it was only recently that I came upon the stuck ABS sensor phenomenon. The first gens are always a piece of cake, and the other 2nds I had done were no problem either. But this particular one (CJ - De Oppressor Liber's) was a bear to get out. Seems that some have a hard plastic bushing of sorts that makes extraction of the sensor a PITRA. Might have been due to his having gone over to the DarkSide, but we removed that nonsense and got him back on some good tires while he was here.

We worked on it with penetrating lube and such and finally got the bitch out after much wiggling, but even with some light silicone grease on reinstall I don't really know how he'll make out on the next go-around.

 

[mcatrophy]

... the stuck ABS sensor phenomenon. ...

We worked on it with penetrating lube and such and finally got the bitch out after much wiggling, but even with some light silicone grease on reinstall I don't really know how he'll make out on the next go-around.

My '06 had seized both its ABS sensors the first time I removed its wheels, and I was reluctant to put much force on them since I had no idea how strong they were. And obviously my usual recourse to a big hammer was undesirable on a device that relies on magnetism. So they stayed seized for all the time I had the bike.

When I got my '10, one of the first things I did was to remove the sensors, and smear a bit of copper grease on them before putting them back. (I use copper grease for all fasteners. Don't know why, just seems like the right stuff to use.) I also noted that you can put on a fair bit of twisting force ("wiggling" if you prefer

).

Since then I've always been able to remove them whenever I've had a wheel off, although sometimes they can be a bit stiff, but a bit of wiggling will get them out.

Not entirely sure that you can blame a stuck ABS sensor on darksiding. My '06 always had MC tyres, and still it seized. OTOH, why not? As good a reason as any

.

 

[David Morrow]

I use a 1 gallon paint can with a piece of plywood - about 12"x6" on top of it. With the bike on the centerstand, I lift the front end up by grabbing the fairing under the headlights - it's plenty strong and there's really not much weight to lift against. I just kick the can under the pipes with my foot and double check that it's well centered on the pipes. It's plenty stable; I've done many tire changes this way and it's rock solid. When I was really paranoid, I put two very strong eye-bolts into the ceiling and a pair of safety straps down to the bars. And most importantly, a can of silver paint is best...

 

[Harald]

We worked on it with penetrating lube and such and finally got the bitch out after much wiggling, but even with some light silicone grease on reinstall I don't really know how he'll make out on the next go-around.

I had to grease mine after fighting to get it out the first time. The grease did work for me because the sensor has been out numerous times with little drama in the last 74,000 miles.

 

[Harald]

Here is the bike stand Harold is talking about. The stand works great on a floor jack. One of the local riders, Curly Joe (Rich) has made and gave away many at AuburnFJR's tech day.
https://www.fjr1300.info/howto/bikestand.html

I remember some of those being passed out at a previous tech day, but I wouldn't stoop to using one made out of stud grade lumber (says the guy who's wheel balance stand is made of 2x4's ). Mine is made out of fine oak (salvaged from an old cutting board).

 

[PhilJet09]

My rear ABS sensor was corroded and difficult to remove the second time I had the wheel off. I cleaned it up and put some corrosion shell on it and its been fine since.

 

[David Foley]

I remember some of those being passed out at a previous tech day, but I wouldn't stoop to using one made out of stud grade lumber (says the guy who's wheel balance stand is made of 2x4's

). Mine is made out of fine oak (salvaged from an old cutting board).

If someone is going to the trouble to make this a semi-permanent fixture (hardwood lumber) why not go balls out and make an adapter that will work with one of these - https://www.pitbullmotorcyclelifts.com/

I know these aren't designed for a "sport bike" frame but with the right adapter you would really have something useful. Garauld - what do you think!

 

[ULEWZ]

OK a couple of observations:
One: How far are you guys jacking the front up?

Me: Just enough to barely take the weight off the front wheel. Which makes using the center stand and a floor jack under the headers the way to go. You aren't supporting the weight of the bike, the center stand is. You are only tipping/shifting the weight backward a bit. If you wanted you could just put a sandbag or your wife (another type of bag?) on the rear seat and do the same thing.

Two: Why do I see so many fenders still on bikes that have the front wheels removed?

Me: Take it from me, it is easy-peasy to remove the front fender. Takes all of 2 minutes, only four little bolts and she slides right outta there. Getting that fender out of there facilitates doing step 1 (only jacking the weight off the front wheel and not lifting it. It also makes the rest of the caliper and wheel removal much easier. Furthrmore, this makes alignment of the axle a piece of cake when re-installing the wheel.

That is all...

Couldn't have said it better myself. That is exactly what I do.

 

[Harald]

I remember some of those being passed out at a previous tech day, but I wouldn't stoop to using one made out of stud grade lumber (says the guy who's wheel balance stand is made of 2x4's

). Mine is made out of fine oak (salvaged from an old cutting board).

If someone is going to the trouble to make this a semi-permanent fixture (hardwood lumber) why not go balls out and make an adapter that will work with one of these - https://www.pitbullmotorcyclelifts.com/

Why not? Because it wouldn't fit into my Yankee Ingenuity (also known as redneck ingenuity in my case) that discourages spending money on something when you can make it for free (and I already have a floor jack). But if I had one of those fancy lifts, I'd make an adapter for it!

 

[not2shabby]

Here is the bike stand Harold is talking about. The stand works great on a floor jack. One of the local riders, Curly Joe (Rich) has made and gave away many at AuburnFJR's tech day.
https://www.fjr1300.info/howto/bikestand.html

I remember some of those being passed out at a previous tech day, but I wouldn't stoop to using one made out of stud grade lumber (says the guy who's wheel balance stand is made of 2x4's

). Mine is made out of fine oak (salvaged from an old cutting board).

Ha! I just use a piece of wood and carefully position 2 large sockets on either side to contact the points on the engine case.

If I had stock pipes I'd probably just use the wood under them, but the Holeshot pipes don't look nearly as sturdy as the stock stuff.

 

[Geezer]

I use a scissor jack with a pine board on top of it and put it under the header pipes, as far forward as possible. When I had a stock header this was plenty stable. After I installed a Muzzy header I found it to be less stable when jacked up this way, so now I use a couple of straps hanging from the ceiling of my garage and wrapped around the handlebars where they connect to the triple tree as backup. The straps are there only to stabilize the bike and the jack under the header takes the weight, though I believe the straps alone would do the job.

 

[Chiefblueman]

Here is the bike stand Harold is talking about. The stand works great on a floor jack. One of the local riders, Curly Joe (Rich) has made and gave away many at AuburnFJR's tech day.
https://www.fjr1300.info/howto/bikestand.html

I remember some of those being passed out at a previous tech day, but I wouldn't stoop to using one made out of stud grade lumber (says the guy who's wheel balance stand is made of 2x4's

). Mine is made out of fine oak (salvaged from an old cutting board).

Ha! I just use a piece of wood and carefully position 2 large sockets on either side to contact the points on the engine case.

If I had stock pipes I'd probably just use the wood under them, but the Holeshot pipes don't look nearly as sturdy as the stock stuff.

I have Holeshot headers, they are nice and even across the bottom of the engine and support the bike quite nicely using a floor jack and a hunk of 2X10. Plenty stable for a wheel change. Note, I would not do this without the mid pipes and mufflers firmly attached.

 

[not2shabby]

Good to know! I've been afraid it'd squish the pipes. It's kind of a pain to get the sockets 'just so'.