So with the project bike I have, I've hit a couple of exaust studs that don't plan on moving, and figured it'd make sense to strip the bike completely and get the engine out. I've come a bit unstuck (well, stuck) with the back wheel. It seems as though you can't remove the rear caliper without removing the wheel first, is that correct? That aside, I can't get the axle out for the life of me. The nut game off ok with some sweary encouragement but the axle won't bodge. I can't twist it with a long bar, and whacking it with a mallet hasn't done anything except damage said mallet. Am I missing something here? I've actually removed the swing arm now with the wheel still attached, so that might help, but wondered if anyone had any magic sauce I could add.

 

Looking at the diagram :-

https://www.partzilla.com/catalog/ho...000/rear-wheel

there doesn’t appear to be anything odd about the axel so lots of penetrating oil and a large persuader (remembering to leave to nut on loosely to protect the thread until it starts to move).

 

Yeah - that was my thinking. Have put plenty of penetrating oil on but will add more. Might use a heat gun to see if that helps at all too. As for the persuader, maybe I need to upgrade on that front. I did have the nut on, and thread is fine. There's splinters of wood all over the place though

 

First a disclaimer, I'm not a mechanic, just an amateur, but I worry about using heat in this instance for fear of damaging the bearings and/or the cush drive.

 

Only the big nut on the axle holds it in - remove that and it should slide out. I would take the nut off and then see if you can spin it with an impact wrench and some wd40 to break it free.

You are right, the caliper is captive with the wheel.

 

Good to know about the caliper. I tried an impact wrench and it couldn't budge it. Reckon I'll go buy a proper breaker bar, I've got a bar I use on the car, but had to use an adapter for my socket, and in trying to shift it I sheared the adapter off instead!

 

It must be frozen into the spacers, and they must be frozen to the swingarm itself - as if it was frozen only into the wheel bearings, it would still spin?

I would absolutely check you can source a new one before you risk snapping or twisting the one you have - try to free up the spacers, they are just tubes of aluminum, and try to rotate the axle both ways. Maybe try gently spreading the swingarm slightly?

 

I had a quick squizz on eBay earlier and saw an axel with spacers for sale, which conveniently had lots of angles of them. I can't move the wheel forward/back so I think you're probably right. I'll get some more penetrating oil upinside the ends of the swingarm tonight and see if I can get something to budge.

 

I would bet that the swingarm has taken a knock and it's putting pressure on the spacers and twisting the axle - without the bolt there's usually at least 1/4" of play between the spacers and the swingarm. Maybe you can pry it open a little using a block of wood between the sides of the swingarm within the wheel?

 

I got the bugger! Something looks misaligned in the wheel but that might just be because the axle is out? I finally got it moving by just alternating the direction on my impact driver over and over, it moved about a mm each time but eventually went a bit more and finally started turning. It got pretty warm in the process so clearly lots of friction! Even when it would turn I then had to keep hammering it through with a bar to get it out completely.

Now to do the front end!