I'm just really strong.
Up rides Jay on that green thing, he jumps off and throws on a hat to cover up his helmet hair.He says "Dude, I brought my mechanics hat what can I do?" So I hand him the socket wrench and the breaker bar. He sits down and WALA off comes the front axle bolt. Me and my other buddy look at each other and shake our heads.
We get the front and rear wheel off and run down to Motorsports where again Jay amazes me with hooking me up with his labor rates.![]()
I'm just really strong.![]()
![]()
I'm going to answer my own question.
Here is where I went wrong. I should of only loosened the allens on the fork with the bolt, put the axle tool in the bolt and pulled the bolt out leaving the sleeved nut in place. Would of made for a much easier install as well.![]()
Why do I know this now you ask? The shop that swapped tires on to the black wheels put my front tire on the wrong way. I took it down there to get that taken care of an hour ago, and figured well I'm almost due for a new tire so while I am here buy the tire and get a free install with the wheel on the bike. I asked the tech where I went wrong. He set me straight.![]()
Know I know how to do it for future tire changes.
Last weekend I swapped my silver wheels for black ones. I'm going to make this kind of a two part thread.
1. I have not posted any pictures on this forum yet, because quite frankly I hate doing things twice. With the other controversial threads going on right now I think it is fair to throw that out there to start off with. "Why can't we all just get along", Rodney King. Nuff said.
2. I took the sliders out of the front wheels and put in the axle tool, the axle tool went all the way in. I grabbed a socket wrench to loosen up the axle bolt after loosening the two allen bolts on each of the forks. The thing would not budge, grabbed a breaker bar and still nothing. I had a friend over drinking beer and wrenching with me, he was mostly drinking beer. Anyways, he gave it a whirl and got up telling me he did not want to be responsible for pulling my bike off of the stands.
Up rides Jay on that green thing, he jumps off and throws on a hat to cover up his helmet hair.He says "Dude, I brought my mechanics hat what can I do?" So I hand him the socket wrench and the breaker bar. He sits down and WALA off comes the front axle bolt. Me and my other buddy look at each other and shake our heads.
We get the front and rear wheel off and run down to Motorsports where again Jay amazes me with hooking me up with his labor rates.
We take the wheels back home and I start throwing the front back on. When I put the front axle in, spacers and all, start tightening the axle nut and the bolt starts to come through and pushing the axle tool out of the nut when it becomes kind of snug. I tried to put it in and get it a little tighter, but I just can't get the axle tool to grab because the axle bolt is right there. Now here is my question. How could the axle tool have gone all the way in when I was removing the wheel and it was so tight? And I could not get it as tight as I wanted to when putting it back on?
I called Chet to run it by him, but found out he does not like to return calls on the weekend.So I snugged it up as much as I could then tightened the two front allen bolts on the forks. I figured the axle was not going to be going anywhere. Plus, I am almost due for a new front tire and I will be running this drill again soon.
Apologize for being long winded, but it's been a while since I hung out in the garage wrenching on the bike and I had a great time. Thanks again for your help Jay.
PSA, if I am out hunting for more elk feet for Brian I am in no position to offer assistance. I will leave my daughters phone # with Jay should you need more assistance with minor technical advice
After reading this thread she had a grasp on what it was being asked. I for one am still left wondering what just happened![]()
![]()
![]()
I'm going to answer my own question.
Here is where I went wrong. I should of only loosened the allens on the fork with the bolt, put the axle tool in the bolt and pulled the bolt out leaving the sleeved nut in place. Would of made for a much easier install as well.
Why do I know this now you ask? The shop that swapped tires on to the black wheels put my front tire on the wrong way. I took it down there to get that taken care of an hour ago, and figured well I'm almost due for a new tire so while I am here buy the tire and get a free install with the wheel on the bike. I asked the tech where I went wrong. He set me straight.
Know I know how to do it for future tire changes.
Pic of cut down axle tool
Interesting. First of all, I am at a loss about why you are wary of posting pictures? What controversy is going on on this forum?I am not wary about posting on this forum, I would like to only post on one. I had already posted on COG so I figured why do it twice. Most of us read both.
As to not being able to tighten the front axle because something is pushing the tool out of the hex, I am thoroughly confused. Could you possibly take a photo of what the tool looks like in the axle (easy boys!)? The axle end has a hex that will not be interrupted by anything, and the nut on the other end is the same way. Oh wait, are you using one of those specific axle tools that fits multiple size hexes? If so, that is your problem; the smaller hex on the inside of the hex that actually engages the nut is what is being pushed out of the nut by the axle. You will need to either cut off that smaller hex from the tool (and ruin that aspect of the tool of course) or get yourself a 13/16" spark plug socket and use the hex on the back of that socket. I can take a photo and show you what I mean if you want.Yes, I have the multi-tool. I think you figured out what I was talking about. I really like the solution that the tech gave me about leaving the nut in place.
Brian
Perfect! That is exactly what I was talking about. Is that the tool you were using Gumby (easy boys!)?I don’t like the idea of cutting of my tools to serve one purpose, but that definitely would of done the trick.
Brian