Little mishap today

[topgun61]

While helping my friend put his newly chrome wheel back on the 08 busa today, when having problems with the rear brake caliper sliding it back into the groove, when the old bike stand that we had holding the bike up for the last two months while the wheels were getting chromed slid foward snapping off a piece of the lower belly pan, which sucks. While the the wheels were getting chromed I purchased a new set od pit bull stands but was unable to change the stands out. Those swingarm stands have a tendency to slide foward, from now on I will only use the spool lifts which to me is the safest. I just ordered a baxley sport chock from charles and I can't wait until it comes in for easier lifts and for safety reasons. I guest you can put the bike into the baxley chock first and then lift it from the rear without any help, will see. Called up one place for a price on the part and they told me it was $162.00, I will try to contact a couple of other places to see who is the cheapest, if anyone knows of any other place to purchase this part please let me know or PM me, thanks....By the way why is it a pain to put the rear wheel back on with this new system, it is tough by yourself, my 1999 was easy, any suggestions or helpful hints in this matter please let me know, because I will be doing a lot more work on my friends bike as well as mine. Thanks again. Mike

 

[dadofthree]

162, not bad, at least you didn't drop the bike

 

[topgun61]

You got that right, thank god..

 

[Mr Bogus]

The wheel chock does make life easier if you know you are not going to need the front off the ground.. I have a $40 chock (Harbor Freight) installed on my bike lift and I can run the rear stand up and down with the bike off the ground pretty easily

 

[topgun61]

I also purchased a new bike lift along with waterbug which is beautiful, but the main reason this happend was because of the older swingarm stand, when having a tough time with the rear caliper it caused the stand to slide up breaking the cowl, what it comes down to is equipment problems but what are you going to do.

 

[Mr Bogus]

spools

 

[johnstein]

try mr cycles thier banner is aeround here some where , bought a hump from them a while back

 

[Warchild]

By the way why is it a pain to put the rear wheel back on with this new system, it is tough by yourself, any suggestions or helpful hints in this matter please let me know

Yeah, I'll give it a shot here....

The rear caliper mount is of the "tongue and groove" type that is actually quite an elegant engineering design. The CBR1100XX Blackbird has this very same arrangement, and I have become pretty familiar at performing solo rear wheel changes for the past eight years. And, yes, it can be a complete ass-pain to do by yourself... until you learn the necessary tricks.

Which I'll try to share with youse dudes now....

First order of business if preparation... getting all the miscellaneous stuff done *before* you squat down right on the rear Pit Bull stand handle to do the actual install.

First, make sure you have all the bit pieces ready to go:

 

[Warchild]

Then make sure you apply a **thin** layer of grease on the pre-cleaned axle.... you can just make out the layer of red Mobil One Universal Synthetic Grease on the axle shaft here. In addition to staving off corrosion, the thin layer of grease is going to aid our cause later when we try to slide that puppy through the wheel spacers and caliper mount openings:

 

[Warchild]

Also apply a little bit of this same grease to the two wheel spacers... you'll wipe off all excess after the axle is in place, so the grease doesn't attract/retain grit and dirt:

 

[Warchild]

This is a critical step here... take your 8mm wrench and REMOVE the rear brake line clamp bolt altogether. This is how you are going to obtain the necessary slack to maneuver the caliper onto the rotor while simultaneously aligning the axle opening to it's proper location, all without scratching your wheel paint all to hell with the caliper body itself:

 

[Warchild]

Take a close look at the yellow arrow in this photo of the rear caliper mounting points below. See that small rectangular flange area it is pointing to? This is the "tongue" that needs to be aligned perfectly in the attending groove before you can slide the wheel&caliper assembly forward into place:

 

[Warchild]

Below is the inside of the right swingarm where the caliper sits. This is the "groove" the caliper tongue above will be sliding into. TAKE NOTE of the little 'L' flange extending downwards (pointed to by yellow arrow). All of this has to line up when you are installing the wheel/caliper assembly:

 

[Warchild]

Now here is the critical photo that shows how you are putting all these little tips into play. '1' depicts the rubber brake line (freed from its retaining clamp back in photo 1) that allows the caliper to temporarily lay outside the right swingarm leg as you begin to maneuver the wheel into place (the caliper itself is actually laying on right muffler and the white terrycloth to prevent it from scratching the muffler and swingarm). '2' is the "groove" you will be feeding the caliper arm "tongue" into once you have the caliper fitted over the rotor. '3' is the right-side wheel spacer that you want to ensure you don't inadvertently knock out of place as you wrestle getting the caliper mount opening aligned with the axle shaft.

'4' is the main trick here... it is my right tennis shoe that the wheel is actually laying upon (you can't see it in this photo, but the left one is similarly placed as well). This frees up both hands to allow you to the following:

1) Hold the wheel upright using your left hand, push the wheel forward as much as possible.
2) grab the caliper with your right hand, and position it in place over the rotor, being careful not to scratch up your wheel paint with the caliper body.
3) use your feet to move the wheel rearward so you can get a "clear shot" of the caliper "tongue" to mate into the swingrm "groove", and then slide the entire assembly (i.e.: move the wheel and caliper as one unit) forward until the wheel spacers and caliper axle mount opening align with the swingarm axle holes.
4) while holding up/adjusting the wheel position with the heels of your tennis shoes, grab the axle with your left hand and slide it through the various openings and into its final place:

 

[Warchild]

ALL DONE!!! With the axle slid into its final resting place, now you can wipe down all excess grease, adjust the chain as appropriate, and torque the axle locknut down to spec!

Don't forget to re-install the brake line clamp bolt, and pump the rear brake lever until the caliper pistons are back in their ready positions.


Piece of cake, no?

 

[BusaWizard]

I run the axle bolt from right to left, makes it easier to install. Plus my G-2 tag holder is easier to take on and off.

 

[Lycan]

Thanks Warchild, yet another step by step by the Guru of self mod and maintenance

 

[topgun61]

As usual a great post step by step with photos as know one else can do. That's exactly what I did plus I took the brake caliper off the hanger bracket so it's not so bulky and you don't have to worry about scratching the rim all up, boy my 1999 is alot easier. The only aggravating thing that pissed me off was the stand slid foward damaging the belly pan, thank god I now have my new pit bull stands, so no more sliding.I guess practice makes perfect. Anyway thanks for the tremendious post and I know who to ask when in doubt, never to old to learn, Thanks again WARCHILD.

 

[Tybalt71]