Cruiser Index
www.cdthayer.com
Cruiser Maintenance, Repairs, & Upgrades
Page Five
2003 Kawasaki Vulcan 750 Front & Rear Tire Replacement
    |
REAR: At 11,000 miles the Bridgestone tires still
have plenty of life left in them, but I need them for a 1995 Vulcan that has worn-out
tires on it. I want to get a new set of Avon tires on this bike for the season. I elevated
the rear of the bike with a small jack while the front was tied down. The rear wheel
removal was covered previously during Final Drive
Removal. To break the beads loose, a motorcycle Tire Bead Breaker #4000 from
a company called White Horse Press was used, but only one bead broke loose. Photos show: Photo of tire wear, elevating rear of bike, Tire Bead Breaker applied to tire. |
  |
To get the second bead broken loose, I laid the wheel on a piece of
scrap plywood and used 2X4 lumber to get the leverage needed to press the second bead off
of the wheel. (Note: Photos show a similar tire and wheel off of another Vulcan 750.) Photos show: Pressing a second bead off of a wheel. |
   |
Removing the old tire and installing the new tire on the wheel will
be covered in the front tire replacement below. To "rough balance" the tire, the
wheel and axle was elevated just enough to spin the tire multiple times to identify any
"heavy side". The gearbox will not allow the tire to rotate freely, so the wheel
must be supported elsewhere. Rough balancing will be covered more in the front tire
replacement below. (Note: Photos show a similar tire and wheel off of another Vulcan 750.) Photos show: Tire inflation, and rough balancing a rear tire. |
    |
After rough balancing the new tire, the wheel assembly is mounted
back on the bike. Note that instead of removing the Jardine mufflers, I had loosened the
header bolts on both pipes and then removed the muffler hanger bolts to allow the mufflers
to sag down low enough to R&R the rear axle. Photos show: Rear wheel being mounted back on the bike. |
    |
FRONT: After repositioning the bike on the lift,
the front tire is elevated for removal. To break the beads on the narrower front tire, a
common bench vise is used. Photos show: Elevating the front of the bike, removing the front wheel assembly, two shots of breaking the beads loose with a bench vise. |
    |
With both beads broken loose, the old tire was removed one side at
a time with tire irons. The tire iron of choice is an EMGO (EMG-84-27915)
15" TIRE LEVER that I found in a bike shop in Dell City, OK. This tire
lever makes motorcycle tire removal and installation as easy as it gets with hand tools. Photos show: Three shots of first side of tire removal, completed tire removal. |
    |
After cleaning the wheel to get rid of any excess lubricant from
previous mountings, we used a small amount of dishwashing detergent to coat both beads of
the new tire with a thin layer of soap. Again, the EMGO (EMG-84-27915)
15" TIRE LEVER is used to mount the new tire onto the wheel. It's the
best tire tool that we've found thus far. Photos show: Cleaning wheel, two shots of mounting the first bead, mounting the second bead. |
    |
We inflated the front tire to the recommended pressure of 28 lbs.
Before we mount the wheel assembly back onto the bike, we "rough balance" the
tire by mounting the assembly onto the axle without the spacer and speedometer gearbox in
place, and with the front disc brake calipers tied back away from the tire. The tire is
spun and allowed to come to a stop several times to find a "heavy" side of the
tire. Stick-on tire weights are placed on the light side of the tire and held in place
with masking tape until the right amount of weight is positioned in the proper place. Photos show: Inflating tire, two shots of spinning tire,mounting speedometer gearbox. |
  |
On this particular installation, the existing wheel weight did not
need to be moved nor the weight increased. Further balancing should be performed at a
motorcycle shop as needed. After "rough balancing" the tire, the wheel assembly
is mounted properly on the bike. Photos show: Two shots of mounting the calipers. |
DISCLAIMER: ALL PHOTOS AND TEXT ARE ONLY SHOWING HOW THE PROCEDURE WAS DONE BY US, AND DOES NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT THE BEST, PROPER, SAFEST, OR ONLY WAY TO DO SO. NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR LOSS, DAMAGE OR INJURY IS ASSUMED BY US IN ANY WAY. FOLLOW THESE EXAMPLES AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Back to the main page CD & Bear's Weekend Cruisers
Best viewed with 