Gen 1 Front Wheel Removal

[Crow]

Wonder if anyone can help with this one as it’s defying me

How hard can removing the front wheel be? I need to replace my brake disks and so need to get the front wheel off. There is a bolt on the right hand side of the axle which turns pretty freely, but the whole axle rotates with it.

I’ve checked the Haynes manual and it suggests that there should be an internal bolt on the left that should be braced while the main bolt is unscrewed, but mine does not have this, the spindle is round internally and externally, there is nothing to brace.

Having loosened the main bolt, I’ve hit it with a hammer and it does go in about half an inch, a sleeve on the left comes out a bit, but then it stops and won’t pull through.

Does anyone know how this works on a 1999 Gen 1 as I’m baffled?

Cheers

[Crow]

Hang about...

Are you supposed to remove the pinch bolts from both sides, or just the right, the bolt side?

[sixpack577]

Loosen all 4 pinch bolts.
One side of axle should be a big 6 point or allen head.
Is the round end you described a cap?

[Crow]

I think it’s a sleeve, see photo attached. It’s totally round, nowhere to put any sockets or internal bolt. I’ve checked out all the YouTube vids and none seem the same as what I have.

Thanks for your replies btw, you’ve been a big help with this whole project.

[RansomT]

????

Don't loosen the pinch bolts from the left side (the side with nut). That is what holds the nut from turning.

It should take about 10 minutes to remove the front wheel.

[GIXERHP]

I think it’s a sleeve, see photo attached. It’s totally round, nowhere to put any sockets or internal bolt. I’ve checked out all the YouTube vids and none seem the same as what I have.

Thanks for your replies btw, you’ve been a big help with this whole project.

View attachment 1580808

Put the pinch bolts back in on the side with the sleeve,, and loosen the axle fro the right side of the bike...

[Crow]

Yeah ta, I’d finally worked that out. Got it off and am now bending Allen keys trying to get the damned discs off...

As for “10 mins”, that always depends on experience. I can build you an entire Cisco corporate network, complete with perfectly configured firewalls with fully accounted passthrough in a morning. And I held the record for WLAN cracking (32 seconds), but I’ve done these a gazzilion times. Can’t think of the last time I had to remove a Hayabusa front wheel though...

Anyway, getting there.

[Kiwi Rider]

Quote "Got it off and am now bending Allen keys trying to get the damned discs off..."
Ok, you need to use 'Allen' hex SOCKET, not an Allen key.
Allen keys flex when attempting to undo something as tight as a rotor bolt as you have found out.
Allen sockets DO NOT flex at all.
As for the kafuffle with the axle pinch bolts being removed... ROOKIE !

[sixpack577]

A good whack with a hammer on the allen socket/extension also will help break them loose.
Propane torch and penatrating oil if that doesn't work.

[sixpack577]

And, if you are laying the wheel flat, on the rotor, that's a good way to bend it.
Upright is the best way.

[RansomT]

The rotor bolts are lock-tite in ...hard, hard to remove them with a key.

Hey, we have something in common ... I'm a retired IT guy, did first/second support and network support for a school system .. I started a looong time ago, remember when DOS 3.0 came out, as well as the Apple II+

[Crow]

“....As for the kafuffle with the axle pinch bolts being removed... ROOKIE ! “

I’ll give you “ROOKIE” in a minute...

Does anyone know where Kiwi Rider lives because I’m sending round the missus to put him right on a few things?

You don’t know what the word “rookie” means. Rookies would do something like replacing a radiator, getting a mile down the road and noticing the bike overheating only to remember he forgot to refill the radiator. Then filling it, same experience, didn’t burp out the air pockets.

THAT’S what a rookie would do...

Errr...

And just for the record, me and my 6mm Allen key were more than a match for these lock bolts: new disks and pads applied (though I did have to use an extension bar on the keys to get some proper leverage).

Sixpack, yeah I’m aware of the risks of warping the discs, thanks man.

RansomT: ahhh, DOS 3, the days where your entire OS could fit onto a floppy disk or two. Them were the days!

[Saabfan]

to this point..... does anyone have a downloadable manual as well as the torque specs?

[Uuukthespook]

Yeah ta, I’d finally worked that out. Got it off and am now bending Allen keys trying to get the damned discs off...

As for “10 mins”, that always depends on experience. I can build you an entire Cisco corporate network, complete with perfectly configured firewalls with fully accounted passthrough in a morning. And I held the record for WLAN cracking (32 seconds), but I’ve done these a gazzilion times. Can’t think of the last time I had to remove a Hayabusa front wheel though...

Anyway, getting there.

Lmao this sounds like me right now

[sixpack577]

Lmao this sounds like me right now

What's your problem?