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"Lift"

gr8scott

Member
Member
I think I saw something about this in the forum a while ago, and wanted to share my results.

Getting the rear wheel off practically impossible unless you can lift the bike higher than the center stand allows. When I work with my buddies, we lift the bike together onto the center stand on scrap wood, but I can't do that on my own. So I rigged a ramp up onto a 2x12x8 that I had cut the last 2 feet off, and then resecured with hook-and-eyes (just to keep it from sliding away). After driving the bike up and setting the side stand down on an "outrigger," I made sure the bike was centered, then got it up on the center stand and unhooked that last 2-foot section. The rear wheel was now higher off the ground.

Getting the wheel off still required some finagling of the swing arm to get the wheel to pass the fender, but it worked. I'd recommend getting the bike higher still, but that's a project for the future. This works.

By the way, I pull the lower suspension bolt and drop the wheel below the muffler, instead of removing the right muffler to access the axle nut.
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Nice job and post. I followed that route, with the added step of cutting the fender off right about the top end of the sticker your have below the license plate. Sanded smooth, it looked stock and there was still plenty of rain protection.

Upside was that I never again had any issue with clearance for removing the rear wheel, which I was doing at least annually for tire replacement.
 
Nice job and post. I followed that route, with the added step of cutting the fender off right about the top end of the sticker your have below the license plate. Sanded smooth, it looked stock and there was still plenty of rain protection.

Upside was that I never again had any issue with clearance for removing the rear wheel, which I was doing at least annually for tire replacement.
Post a pic of your fender, I'd like to see it.
 
I have the Mean Streak upgrade. It will not matter how high you have the bike in the air. The rim will not clear the final drive. Just unbolt the 4 bolts/nuts holding the final drive on and the whole rear wheel and final drive roll out as one unit. Super simple and easy. This works for your bikes too and you only need to get it on the center stand. No wood or ramps needed. You will find this method far easier than trying to reinstall the wheel onto the the final drive. Just mate the wheel and final drive first and then roll both back onto the bike as one unit. They easily clear the rear fender. (the reverse of how best to take both units off) .You do this one time and you will always do it this way from then on.
 
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Once I'm done with this repair and the bike is off the plank, I'm going to cut a section off the front, similar to how I did the rear. Then next time I need to get the rear wheel off again, roll up onto the plank, get it on the center stand, jack the front wheel up a skosh and remove the front plank section and lower the wheel to the floor. This will give me some additional nose-down angle and raise the rear as a result.
 
If you pull the final drive to remove the rear wheel, I recommend you pick up a couple of these to keep on hand. Guarantee, at some point you're gonna nick, or cut that o-ring and wind up with an oil leak - especially if the ring has some age on it. Very hard to maintain a straight alignment when putting the hub back into place. Over time the ring will get hard and brittle making it subject to damage. Actually did a piece on this in one of my columns.

final%20drive%20o-ring-XL.jpg
 
Hi Guy, that oring seems to be buried behind the splined driveshaft coupler (42304) and shouldn't see impact upon assembly. I see another 92055c that is shown at the end of the driveshaft housing, that one seems like it may have the possibility of getting damaged upon assembly.
 
Once I'm done with this repair and the bike is off the plank, I'm going to cut a section off the front, similar to how I did the rear. Then next time I need to get the rear wheel off again, roll up onto the plank, get it on the center stand, jack the front wheel up a skosh and remove the front plank section and lower the wheel to the floor. This will give me some additional nose-down angle and raise the rear as a result.
Be sure to keep an eye on the center stand when lowering the front like that. I doubt it would but could fold up suddenly.
 
Hi Guy, that oring seems to be buried behind the splined driveshaft coupler (42304) and shouldn't see impact upon assembly. I see another 92055c that is shown at the end of the driveshaft housing, that one seems like it may have the possibility of getting damaged upon assembly.
You wouldn’t think, but there’s enough angular movement between the smooth bore of the splined coupling before the splines engage one another…. and that’s when the damage can be done. You’ll only know about it when you start seeing oil appearing under the rear of the bike.

Had it happen to me twice and I kept a stash of the o-rings with me – JIC. Finally just bit the bullet and and left the drive in place finagling the wheel out from under the bike as best I could. Only had that issue out on the road once; knock on wood it doesn’t happen again. With Soucy lowering rocker in place now, I’d definitely need a little help even thinking about putting the bike up in the air.
 
Be sure to keep an eye on the center stand when lowering the front like that. I doubt it would but could fold up suddenly.
Probably little chance of that happening, but thanks for the warning. When my buddy and I lift the bike together onto a higher center-stand block, there has never been an issue with it being steeper nose-down and folding up.
 
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