Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Tools for Front Wheel?

I need to pull the front wheel on my America so the tire can be replaced. I'm running into a problem with the hardware sizes and not sure which tools to use.

Using inside calipers, the spindle (large hex) measures 0.75" (~19mm). I bought a bolt and some nuts today that should work once I jam everything together. The spindle bolt on the other side (small hex) seems to be more of a problem. I measure the inside flats to be about 0.45", and that's not a standard metric size, as far as I know. It converts to 11.43mm, in-between the heads of M6 and M8 bolts. A 7/16" head on a 1/4" bolt will go in, but it's really a sloppy fit. If the spindle bolt has been torqued down at all, I'm afraid a homemade tool like this will strip. Finally, the screw that holds the speedo cable looks like a philips, but I think it's really a JIS/crosspoint driver. Anyone know what size to use? Any other tips on removing the wheel will be appreciated.

The large one is 19mm, and the small one is 12mm (took the front wheel off Grzegorz bike yesterday so I know they are correct)

Don't know why you plan to take the speedo cable off if all you are doing is dropping the wheel out for a tyre change - the speedo mechanism will come out of the left hand side when the spindle is removed - there is no need to detach it at the top.

19mm and 12mm on the spindle... leave the speedo cable attached to the drive (which is a phillips head screw) as it will swing out of the way when you lower the wheel. Removing the caliper from the fork will make it easier to reinstall the wheel.

A 19mm hex key socket is rare in the rural Alabama hills. I made this substitute using a 5/8" Craftsman spark plug socket and a short extension:

also when removing the front wheel you only need to loosen the one (12mm ?) side. it's like a cap on the axel and the other end is sort of a tapered fit. Then loosen the 4 small allen head bolts at the bottom of the forks and the axel should slide out. When you put it back together tighten both sides of the axel first then the 4 small bolts. I don't remember the torques but someone here should have them. Hope this helps a bit.

Guess I need to pick up a 12mm allen this weekend. I was sure it was smaller than that, but I'll give it a try. Ed, that homemade 19mm is real inventive. Could've saved myself a few bucks if I'd thought of that.

Thanks for everyone's help!

Torque Specs are here. Maybe someday they'll fix the link to the tech vault. Look under the heading "wheels".
Torque Specifications

That is an awesome idea with the spark plug socket. I looked everywhere until I found a torx bit that fit perfectly all the while I've got that socket in my tool box.

When you tighten the pinch bolts, be sure and alternate back and forth. If you tighten one and then the other without going back, the first one will be loose.

Wow, that's way better than the 19mm bolt and 2 nuts locked together with a 19mm socket that I use. I'll have to try that.

I posted this tip in a former life (and I got it from someone else ) and if your socket isn't a Craftsman it won't work. I have a few of these sockets and only the Craftsman is the same diameter all the way through. Mac and Harbour Freight are necked down.

Another thing to consider is the manual tells you to bounce on the front end a few times as you tighten the pinch bolts... helps to align the forks.

Are you looking at the same thing I am. I just clicked it, and it states page not found.

Title is torque specs. Poster is Chy? What gives?

Quote:

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I posted this tip in a former life

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I just changed my front tire Tuesday, and the 5/8" Sparkplug socket used backwords worked great! Thanks for that tip (I did a search and saw your earlier post)! I couldn't find a 12mm hex socket locally, so I bought a 12mm allen wrench at Sears ($8) and cut about an inch off with a dremel, then used that in a 12mm socket to use the torque wrench. I got that idea somewhere else on the net. I did disconnect the speedo cable as per the Haynes manual instructions, it was not a problem to take off or put back on. On another note the Metzeler ME880 is so much better than the OEM Bridgestone that I wish I'd replaced it sooner.
Pete