Changing your own tires

Hey guys,

I have always been a "take it in" type of guy because I felt that it wasn't worth the time to learn this stuff. Recently, I have had a change of heart. What are your setups to remove and install your tires?

I imagine I would need a lift, maybe need to adapt it to the rocket sump? Maybe spoons and a rim protector? Some windex?

Spend a grand on a tire changer, another on a good lift

Spoons, zip ties, static balancer, weights, windex, wheel protector and a bench is all I used.

Haven't done the 240 yet, I'll likely leave that to a shop as I'm told the Emax is a pain in the ars to change even on a machine.

Claviger said:

Spoons, zip ties, static balancer, weights, windex, wheel protector and a bench is all I used.

Haven't done the 240 yet, I'll likely leave that to a shop as I'm told the Emax is a pain in the ars to change even on a machine.

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Do you remove your wheels?

Hoffm4n said:

Do you remove your wheels?

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Nvm I meant the rear, but I take it you do since you change the front lol

Hoffm4n said:

Nvm I meant the rear, but I take it you do since you change the front lol

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I remove the wheel and take it to a shop with a good rim clamp machine and a stout air compressor. Lately I've been thinking about acquiring a machine myself as I'm lazy

Yes, you need a jack/table to get the bike supported and remove the wheels.

Front of the R3 is cake, rear... I don't really want to experience that hell lol.

I take the wheels off and drive over to a private fellow, does good work. I can get each done for $20, no sweating involved. This way you get to know the drive shaft assembly somewhat as the splines need lubing. I use a smaller jack/lift to raise the rear tire in place, then just slide the axel back and reassemble, take your time, read about it, no biggie

I know that there are those that believe it is impossible to do them by hand, but put the new one near a hot spot, make it soft as possible

I did the front tire removal and install...piece of cake to do. Be sure and strap your front forks so they don’t turn before lifting the bike regardless of whether you are doing the front or rear tire. I did the rear tire last year and the removal part was not difficult. I take my tires to a local shop who removes and puts the new tires back on the rims for $50. He also balances the tires as well. Well worth the money! You couldn’t pay me enough to try and change and balance my own bike tires!!

As for putting the rear tire back on (HOLY CRAP), I suggest you get ready to use your 4 letter word vocabulary. It was no treat trying to get the tire up ever so slightly and back on the final drive inside spline. I used my feet under the edges of the tire to lift it ever so slightly, but it still needs to me rotated a bit to match the rim up with the final drive splines. When that finally did happened, I couldn’t get the spacer bushing back in between the swing arm and the wheel bearing. After the fact I found out it would have been beneficial to remove a screw or two from the ABS disk to help facilitate this. Others may not have had as rough a time as I did but 2 hours later I finally got it back on.

The BIG issue is...the tire and rim is very heavy and can easily be at a slightly less than vertical position when trying to lift it enough to get it on the interior final drive splines. Also, once you get it on the splines, it has to be all the way on the splines to allow for the spacer to fit. Next time I am going to use several large flat washers to completely fill out all the space between the swing arm and the rim. After I have those in position, I will put the nut on the axle bolt and draw it down tight to make sure the rim is fully on the final drive splines. When all that is done, I’ll slide the axle bolt out enough remove the washers and insert the bushing.

I plan to make myself a 4 wheel tire dolly with two conveyor rollers to allow me to rest the tire on the rollers and then roll the dolly and tire into position. This will allow me to rotate the tire and line up the rim splines with the final drive splines. My hope is to design the dolly so it will be real close to the ground for this reinstall maneuver.

That’s my take, for whatever it is worth, on the rear tire install on my R3T.