Camchain and tensioner seen up close in a cutaway bike engine

Home Repair And Restoration

CB500X Rear Wheel Removal

Job Date - 16 May 2017

By Ren Withnell

Sharon and I will be riding "The North Coast 500 (NC500)" soon. I'm estimating a total journey of 1200 miles. Of course my rear tyre is not quite worn out...but worn out enough to know I'll worry all the way there, around and back. As such I've fitted a new tyre. As such the rear wheel had to come off. 

Remove the rear brake calliper.

You don't actually have to do this BUT in my experience when putting the rear wheel back into the motorcycle it makes fitting the brake hanger a lot lot LOT easier.

The rear calliper with the 2 bolts that need to be removed circled in redRemove these 2 bolts to pull the calliper off the brake hanger.

Once these 2 bolts are removed the brake calliper can be lifted off the brake hanger. Be careful and don't pull hard as if you have ABS the sensor and sensor wire are still attached to the brake hanger. There's two small bolts holding this in place too.

The ABS sensor on the brake hanger with the retaining bolts circled in redRemove these 2 bolts to release the ABS sensor.

Both the ABS sensor, wire, calliper and pipe are attached to the swingarm to keep them secure. To allow the calliper and sensor to be moved clearly away undo one of the retainers.

The pipe and wire retainer on the swingarm that can be removedBy undoing this retainer on the swingarm...
The rear brake calliper hangs over the footpeg and out of the way...the brake calliper can be moved completely out of the way...
The brake hanger with no brake or ABS sensor...and the hanger is free from interference.

Loosen and support.

The chain adjusters on the CB500X have been loosenedUndo the chain tensioners on both sides.

After loosening the chain tensioners/adjusters I find it helps greatly to put some wood under the tyre. The idea is not to lift the tyre but for the tyre to rest gently on the wood. This means when the spindle is pulled out of the singarm and wheel the wheel barely drops. The same pieces of wood are used when putting the wheel back in to help align all the components.

2 pieces of thin wood are under the rear tyre helping to support the wheel
Finding the right pieces of wood can be tricky. This stops the wheel from dropping too much.

With the wheel supported and the chain tensioners/adjusters loose we can undo the BIG NUT, the wheel spindle.

A breaker bar is fitted to the large rear wheel nut on the CB500XAnd heave!

Removal

Once the spindle is loosened the rear wheel can be pushed in towards the front of the bike. If the tensioners/adjusters are loose this will move forward a centimetre or two and leave the chain very loose. I find it easier to remove one of the chain guard bolts which allows the chain guard to be tilted up and out of the way so the chain can be pulled aside.

The chain guard has been partially removed and tilted out of the wayWith the chain guard out of the way the loose chain can be pulled off.

Now simply draw out the wheel spindle and remove the wheel.

Notes.

The torque for the rear wheel spindle is 65 ft-lb

In case I forget...the black flared spacer goes in the chain side, the ordinary spacer is for the brake side.

The 2 spacers as fitted to the rear wheelSo I don't get them muddled up.

When refitting the rear wheel I used this tip from Ian Soady. Rear Wheel Fitting Tip #2 as well as this one from myself, Tip For Replacing The Rear Wheel

While the brake calliper is off the bike now would be a great time to clean it. You don't need to undo the pipe and re-bleed the system just give everything a jolly good wash and inspection while it's hanging to the side of the bike.


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Reader's Comments

Ian Soady said :-
It's always a good idea to start the "big nut" with the wheel well supported so I would do that with the bike on the prop stand rather than centre stand - even more so if using a paddock stand. Just half a turn is enough - everything will stay together quite happily.

And I always think it's a good idea to clean around the area I'm going to work on before I start so I don't get muck in the bearings etc.

And what about my tip #99 - fitting the spindle from the right hand side so that it's even easier to get everything in line?
17/05/2017 09:38:36 UTC
Ian Soady said :-
ps the same when doing the final tightening - best if the bike is securely on the deck.
17/05/2017 12:38:52 UTC
Ren - The Ed said :-
There are *possibly* one or two bikes out there where the rear wheel spindle is directional - ie it would only fit one way. Although my CB500X is fine there's quite a few bikes such that the exhaust would get in the way of fitting the spindle from the right too. Other than that I do see your point Ian.
17/05/2017 16:45:39 UTC

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