Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech front spindal removal

How do you go about removing the front spinal on an America.. I have the manual but it is not very helpful.

Properly support the bike with the front wheel off the ground, pop out the rubber bungs on the axle shaft, remove the brake caliper and speedo cable. Loosen the clamp bolts and the axle retainers with proper sized allen wrenches and slide out the axle shaft. Pay attention to where the spacers are and be sure to put them back in the same place.

On one side of the forks, at the axle there is a hex head that would take a large Allen key. The other side has a huge hex head bigger than any Allen Key I have seen. Does the smaller hex unscrew with the appropriate Allen key? Then do you drive the axle out the other side?
If you do not have the proper size Allen key will a hex bolt head and vice grips work to remove the retainer.

You can make a removal tool with 1 properly sized hex head bolt and 2 properly sized nuts. I have such a self-made tool. Off hand, I don't recall the dimensions.

I have a long bolt that I heated and bent for the larger side. I also now have the correct allens that go on my ratchet. Available cheap on Ebay, I bought impact grade.

Thanks. Its hub came out easy with an Allen key. My only fear was knocking the axle out without damaging it. I was expecting a solid axle rather than the tube it was.

Should come out easy as long as you loosen the claamping bolts.