[Philskat]

pretty much

[Syndacate]

pretty much

Okay, I'll give that a try when I get home from work today, thanks.

Any other tips are still more than welcome.

[Syndacate]

Long waited synopsis:

I'm sorry a synopsis took this long, I put a pretty big post here shortly after it happened, but then Katriders got hosed and they reverted a week back and my post was gone . Haven't really had the motivation to post back, it was quite a long post.

So I loosened the caliper, this def. gave me a log more room to play with, but overall I ran into the same crap. As I tightened the wheel, the chain pulled in on the left side toeing the wheel to the right a bit. It was a pain in the *** for me to adjust and in the end I almost got it adjusted.

What do I mean by almost? Well...As far as I can tell measurements from the center lip to the swing arm inside and from the external lip to the swing arm are at the same mm hash on a ruler. BUT, the teeth of the sprocket are on the left side of the chain, leading me to believe that the wheel is still toed right a bit. I can't feel anything different while riding. If I push the chain back to the left, it still winds up on the right side after just spinning it a few times. Unfortunately I can't get it centered/perfect .

That's the conclusion of the rear wheel, the rest is about my front tire.

The front wheel came off rather easily, didn't have a lot of trouble getting the tire off, but it seemed "tighter" than the rear....but balancing it, holy hell that was a pain in the ***.

My rear tire I had balanced in like 5 minutes, with like 3 weights, no prob. I should have known the front wheel was going to blow when I saw this OEM Suzuki barbell on the wheel (which I pulled off and tossed) - I've never seen a wheel weight that big - ever. This wheel must have JUST passed the factory out of balance spec. I went like 3x doing the standard - let it settle, weight at top, find the heaviest point, rinse and repeat method - up to like 10 weights - it was out of control. The issue was that it was out of balance by < 1/4oz and I couldn't adjust for that, so it basically just played pin-ball back and forth.

I was able to finally get a better handle when I just stuck a weight at a random location (therefore not necessarily starting at the heaviest and causing the same crap) and pulling the weights apart/pushing them together and balancing it like that. I almost got it 100% balanced with < 5 weights, there is still 1 or 2 spots that move a couple cm on settle, so it's not truely balanced. I can't feel anything on the road, it's as good as I can realistically get it.

It went on without much issue. A bit weird how the calipers BARELY clear the rim, but whatever.

Overall everything seems to be 100%, I have about 400 or so on the tires (maybe 500 on the rear), they work GREAT in the wet (got caught in pouring rain - miserably bad - cars were going slow), bike leans a lot easier now, that's about the only difference I've noticed (and a bit more solid feeling in turns). I'd like to make a trip home this weekend about 260mi each way...hopefully everything will hold up for that (*Crosses fingers*).

As for how I managed to keep the front forks off the ground? See attached photo. It was a complete pain in the ***. I used a floor jack and a 2x4 and pushed up against the fork cross-member to lift the front end up and slide a ramp under there, to hold the front off of the ground. This method is ridiculously iffy (bike almost tipped putting it up and taking it down) like 20x, it's incredibly unstable while lifting, and would never recommend it. Luckily I got done without a tip-over. Attached is a photo for more clarity of my half-assedness.

I'd almost say this is an OK way to keep the front up if I had two people to get it off the ground - would have been very easy if I just had somebody to sit on the back and pull the wheel up a bit, the jack/2x4 method was extremely iffy/dangerous in terms of tipping it over - 0 stability, especially with a rolling floor jack.

As for next time:
Next time I need to get new tires, I will gladly shell out the 130 or 200 (depending on which place I take it to) for them to change the tires on the bike. Every aspect of this PROJECT was a pain in the ***, countless hours/blood/sweat/tears wasted, and it took me from a Thursday, to about the following Wednesday before it was back together for good. It was a great experience, but a royal pain in the ***. The only issue is I know a shop would never care about it like I did.

As for the bead:
- I broke the bead by jacking the rear of my car ('97 Civic EX Coupe) up by the rear control arm mounting point to the frame, putting the extended standard scissor jack that came with the car up against the rear tow-points of the car and onto the tire of the bike wheel - which was on 2 2x4's to prevent disk damage. Let the car down slowly, pressing the tire off of the rim.

For anybody that wants a better explanation of this (free) bead-breaking method, please PM me, it worked like a charm for breaking the bead - bead was no problem. And it's not hit or miss like the long *** 2x4 under a truck method - it'll work every time, 2500lbs press at your service. I'd be glad to explain it in more detail.

- The guys at a firestone dealership were nice enough to set both beads for me when they filled it up with air for free - as a favor, just before they closed. Front was a pain in the *** to set the bead on with their super compressor, so I'm glad I didn't try with an on-demand compressor at the Hess station. They eventually got it set and filled - I put them to 40psi knowing the limit was 42. That too much, too little?

As for the ride, everything _SEEMS_ fine, but I suppose only time and wear will tell me the truth..

What does everybody/anybody think. Thoughts, comments, concerns, advice??

Thanks guys, for all your help in this. This is truly a great community to be a part of (unlike some other communities where they'd eat you alive for asking dumb questions, or questions questions too hard for them which they don't know the answer to).

[his-royal-freshness]

not sure if it would work on a pre98, but i lift my bike like this...

sorry for the poor quality, i used an ancient cell phone camera... basically, i put the bike on the center stand, took the belly fairing off, lifted the bike with a floor jack under the headers, then placed a jackstand on either side of the engine craddle... if ud like i could post some real, more detailed pictures from a real camera.

note the 2x4 under the centerstand, that helps for getting both tires off the ground simultaneously, but i did it because i have my bike raised 1.5 inches in the back so the rear tire doesnt come off the ground completely when its on the centerstand. either way, thought u might find this useful for future reference.

IMAGE_012.jpg

also, congrats on doing this urself

[SOS]

Hey I had someone tell me to put sealant on the tire then another say I didn't need it. What's you guy's opinion? I read this whole thread and don't remember seeing anything about it.

And the tire is off the rim as we speak.

[Wild-Bill]

I didn't use it and I've never seen a tire shop use it. I did make a point of cleaning the rim really well, though.

[Syndacate]

not sure if it would work on a pre98, but i lift my bike like this...

sorry for the poor quality, i used an ancient cell phone camera... basically, i put the bike on the center stand, took the belly fairing off, lifted the bike with a floor jack under the headers, then placed a jackstand on either side of the engine craddle... if ud like i could post some real, more detailed pictures from a real camera.

note the 2x4 under the centerstand, that helps for getting both tires off the ground simultaneously, but i did it because i have my bike raised 1.5 inches in the back so the rear tire doesnt come off the ground completely when its on the centerstand. either way, thought u might find this useful for future reference.

[ATTACH]17959[/ATTACH]

also, congrats on doing this urself

Thx.

Mine was similar, but more stupid. It was on the center stand and then I used a long (3ft?) 2x4 to lift the front end by the fork bridge with a floor jack to the point where I could slide a ryno car ramp under the header. It worked. Getting it up was hard, getting it off was harder, my advice: NEVER DO IT THAT WAY. I have no idea how didn't dump the bike, but I didn't. Using a 2x4 on end on a jackstand to push the fork bridge is probably the most ghetto way to lift the front of a bike....EVER, and it is DEFINITELY not the LEAST bit stable. Next time, if I do it again (probably not), I'm just going to ask some random stranger to put weight on the rear seat, and then slide the ramp under.

Hey I had someone tell me to put sealant on the tire then another say I didn't need it. What's you guy's opinion? I read this whole thread and don't remember seeing anything about it.

And the tire is off the rim as we speak.

A lot of shops do, I did not, once the bead sets it'll typically be fine, but to heir on the side of caution, why the hell not? The bead will be stuck on anyway when you go to take the tire off.

[rockat]

So, I read this thread among others, watched Youtube videos and reviewed the service manual.

Here are my tools of war:

-Tools of war

-Bead Breaker (the guy said that he will have it in on Monday)

-3 Gallon Pancake Air Compressor

-Two short 2x4s to keep the rotors elevated.
-Windex for lube

I found these videos from Scudman pretty useful:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Pfp2Z9k0n0"]SCUDMAN How to remove a motorcycle tire - YouTube[/ame][ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AerHAYs435s&feature=relmfu"]SCUDMAN How to install a motorcycle tire - YouTube[/ame]

I have a set of PR2s coming on Tuesday and I plan to install Wednesday. I can take off the front wheel (wheel, not tire) no prob, but have not tried the rear yet.

I have allens, sockets, tape measure, jacks and stands ready to roll.

Do I have everything that I will need to complete both tires? Anything that I need to watch out for in terms of removing wheels/tires, installing wheels/tires?

[Talltec]

harbor freight bead breaker and crow bars
walmart valve stem remover

once you got tire removed clean it and use some real soapy water spray it on both side on the bead force the tire on once you got it on what i did with the stem needle still removed is insert the end of my air compressor hose (and i do mean the hose fitting not tire inflation tool) on valve till the pops it may take two tries depending if both sides pop. once both sides pop install stem needle and fill tire with air.

[rockat]

Thanks Talltec. I forgot to mention, I do have a valve stem removal tool.