How NOT to Change a Tire

[SKOM]

I was debating whether or not announce my stupidity to whole interwebs. But if this helps out at least one fellow noob (or at the very least makes someone laugh) then why not.

2007 S2R 800

Last week I decided to give the ol chain a once over and tighten it up.

Hey why not take the Wheel off? Can't be that hard.

Pitbull - check
Torque wrench - check
Big ass socket - check.

heres where it went wrong

  - check, check , and check.

Wheel came off without too much hassle.
Tightened up the chain no prob after loosening up the eccentric bolts.

Greased the bolts and threaded part of the axle.

Threw the wheel back on and torqued everything down.

After about 400km (including a couple 100k trips on the highway with the odd 180kph+ section) I start to notice a little "play" in the drive train. Felt almost as if I had a really really lose chain.

WTF? Ok I'll clean / wax / tighten again this evening.

Put the bike on the stand. I went to take the retaing pin off the axle nut and. Wait for it. The axle nut was not even hand tight!  Just kind of sitting there being held with the retaining clip. (Guess I wont be needing the breaker bar).

I remove the wheel to find that the 4 pins that are supposed to go into the four holes in the wheel were actually wedged into the recesses beside the holes in the wheel. Pretty make the beast with two backsing horrific. I'll post pics tomorrow at work.

I inspected the wheel carefully for cracks and it seems ok but I'll probably need a new one anyway (or at least a rebalancing).

Anyway just wanted to thank the moto Gods for keeping my tire on last week because I really dont know what else was keeping the thing in place. 

I mean. Holy Jebus I was even doing wheelies with the wheel like that. Time to buy a lotto ticket.

[ducwrx]

Glad you're ok. Lesson learned. I'm a bit of a paranoid, so I check the nuts by hand before riding several times after I've worked on it. Leave the  till after you're done working on something that your life may depend on. 

[Speeddog]

Yeah, that's an unfortunate side effect of the way the wheel is cast.

Glad you're OK.

[Desmo Demon]

After about 400km (including a couple 100k trips on the highway with the odd 180kph+ section) I start to notice a little "play" in the drive train. Felt almost as if I had a really really lose chain.

I remove the wheel to find that the 4 pins that are supposed to go into the four holes in the wheel were actually wedged into the recesses beside the holes in the wheel.

This is not uncommon and if you let it go too long, it can destroy the four pins, and they aren't cheap, and the wheel's hub will crack and break. A buddy of mine owns a bike shop and had a 748 in there with the same condition......and it trashed the wheel and all four pins.

IIRC, those slots are actually a little smaller than the holes, so you had to force the pins in there, probably when you torqued down the axle nut. The axle nut may not have loosened at all, but instead, the pins finally wore at the slots and the pins settled in further into the hub. As a safety precaution with all SSSA bikes, use safety wire or a zip-tie on the retaining clip to prevent it from opening up, the nut spinning, and then the clip resets into another hole. A buddy had this happen on the track....I safety wire mine all the time.

[Count Desmo]

Yep, one of our members had a shop install the rear whell incorrectly on his S4rs.  Not only did it trash his wheel, but ruined his trip, too.

[SKOM]

Yup. Lesson learned for sure. Your probably right Demon about the pins wearing the slots. I inspected the pins really carefully and they seemed okay.
I also checked the nut again with the torque wrench and it was still good after 100k ride last night.

I'll be replacing the chain next week and the pins will get looked at again to be sure.

pics will have to wait until tonight. I forgot you can't upload pics here and Websense at work blocks ficker, putfile, etc... 

[LA]

Well Pal, if misery loves company, you got some.  I did the EXACT same thing, but thank Dog didn't ride but about three miles until I figured it out and thankfully I was going uncharacteristically slowly too.

Taken to it's worst, this make the beast with two backs up could be catastrophic.

Got to make sure those pins go into the holes in the wheel. Once the wheel is seated on the axle try to rotate it while in gear before tightening the axle nut to make sure the wheel doesn't spin at all.

Glad your lesson was no worst than mine. I'm old and thought I had already learned all those hard won "lessons", but apparently not. .

LA

[NvrSummer]

Wow, glad it turned out the way it did! 

Funny though, I was sitting here trying to figure out what the hell you guys were talking about with pins and all!!  Then I realized you are all SSS guys!  Stupid me...

[Hank]

As a safety precaution with all SSSA bikes, use safety wire or a zip-tie on the retaining clip to prevent it from opening up, the nut spinning, and then the clip resets into another hole.

Safetying the safety device  Thats not a bad idea at all 

Yep, one of our members had a shop install the rear whell incorrectly on his S4rs.  Not only did it trash his wheel, but ruined his trip, too.

You must be talking about SHADOWCHASER

[Desmo Demon]

Safetying the safety device  Thats not a bad idea at all 

I just run the safety wire between the two loops in the retaining clip. This squeezes the two ends together and prevents it from separating and pulling out of the hole in the axle. I've noticed an inconsistancy in the length of the section of the clip that goes into the hole. The shorter ones are more prone to probably work their way out. I'm surprised Ducati didn't make them about 1/4" longer....maybe even with a little hook/curvature at the end.

[tangueroHondo]

Always share the stupidity.  ALWAYS.  Anyone who wants to diss on sharers of stupidity needs to get fuked up the ass and tossed to the kerb.

[LA]

In this screw up the safety wire/keeper is not the issue. The pins are slightly longer than the slots (not the holes) are deep, so you can apply plenty of torque to the axle retaining nut but the wheel is not seating. So you think the wheel is held correctly in place and the only way you can tell it's not is when you take off from a stop and have drive line play that you normally don't have. I've been building bikes and cars for 35 years and I would have bet my life (almost did) that I COULD NOT have made this mistake.

Just a word of caution to the otherwise wise.

LA

[SKOM]

Thanks LA. At least I know I'm not the only one.

Here are the pics of the aftermath.



You can see where the pins were forced into the wheel.
Below is a pic of the pins. I didn't see any cracking or significant damage.

[rose351]

Damn... you're awful lucky you caught that when you did!   

Is there anyway to keep that from happening?  Like for sure knowing you got the pins in the holes and not in the slots?

[SKOM]

Damn... you're awful lucky you caught that when you did!   

Is there anyway to keep that from happening?  Like for sure knowing you got the pins in the holes and not in the slots?

It's actually really easy. You can see a couple of holes if you look at the tire from the right side of the bike while putting the wheel on.

Also, You shouldn't really have to force the tire all the way on. After its on and before the nut is torqued down try to turn the wheel back and forth with the bike in gear.

And, the final lesson I learned - after re-fitting the wheel, check the wheel nut periodically to make sure it's still tight. Safety wiring the clip as mentioned above sounds like a good idea too.