- Joined
- Aug 23, 2017
- Messages
- 269
Hey there,
I got the wheel off, but the job was kind of like... uh... what I imagine hell to be like
. But, truthfully, there was much more to this than just removing a rear Norton Commando wheel with a standard everyday seized axle. I haven't had the bike for very long and the previous owner had done some work towards turning her into a sort of chopper. Thankfully he didn't actually cut anything - a least on the frame. My plan is to work towards putting it back to as close to original as I can.
The previous owner had done some interesting things with the rear end, including removing the original fender, and adding an old Harley fender that really wrapped around the rear wheel, and that included racks on both sides, that I assume were for strapping side bags onto. The original seat had been replaced with two seats, one for the driver, and a passenger seat on top of the fender. The bottom of the fender was really inaccessible, and was probably only meant to be messed with when the rear wheel was off.
Another relevant change that the PO made was a smaller diameter (16 inches instead of 19), but much fatter rear wheel. It was fat enough that it was actually in continuous contact with the chain. So the back of the bike was way lower than it should have been, and it had this huge Harley fender lookin ugly and making things hard to get at. And then there were the seats. Anyway, needless to say, these were high on my list of things to address on my back to stock mission.
I tried everything people suggested, and everything I could think of, and the axle would not come out, so I had to cut it. The only parts that were destroyed during the operation were the axle and the spacer, but the wheel didn't just let go after the cutting was done... the ridiculously fat tire flopped against the side of the huge wraparound fender and would go no further. After moving the wheel around to every position possible it became clear that the fender had to come off, and that part was pure torture. Having to twist myself all over the floor of my freezing, snow-covered shed while jamming my hands up into tiny, cold, dark ,greasy dirt filled crevices to find and undo a huge number of randomly sized American standard nuts was no fun at all. I had tried to get the fender off a couple of times before and had given up thinking that it would be so much easier with the wheel off. Oh man. But anyway, I kept at it, and over the course of probably two hours I managed to get all the nuts off, and to finally get the fender and both seats off. And then I still had to take one of the shocks off, and let all of the air out of the wheel to get it off! Holy cow. But she's looking a million times better already, and she should roll quite a bit better without constant contact between the back wheel and the chain!
I'll have to order an axle and a spacer, and I've got a newly laced rear wheel that needs be trued. I've also got the original seat and a new rear fender that I can't wait to see on this thing.
Anyway, thanks for the help guys!!
I got the wheel off, but the job was kind of like... uh... what I imagine hell to be like
. But, truthfully, there was much more to this than just removing a rear Norton Commando wheel with a standard everyday seized axle. I haven't had the bike for very long and the previous owner had done some work towards turning her into a sort of chopper. Thankfully he didn't actually cut anything - a least on the frame. My plan is to work towards putting it back to as close to original as I can. The previous owner had done some interesting things with the rear end, including removing the original fender, and adding an old Harley fender that really wrapped around the rear wheel, and that included racks on both sides, that I assume were for strapping side bags onto. The original seat had been replaced with two seats, one for the driver, and a passenger seat on top of the fender. The bottom of the fender was really inaccessible, and was probably only meant to be messed with when the rear wheel was off.
Another relevant change that the PO made was a smaller diameter (16 inches instead of 19), but much fatter rear wheel. It was fat enough that it was actually in continuous contact with the chain. So the back of the bike was way lower than it should have been, and it had this huge Harley fender lookin ugly and making things hard to get at. And then there were the seats. Anyway, needless to say, these were high on my list of things to address on my back to stock mission.
I tried everything people suggested, and everything I could think of, and the axle would not come out, so I had to cut it. The only parts that were destroyed during the operation were the axle and the spacer, but the wheel didn't just let go after the cutting was done... the ridiculously fat tire flopped against the side of the huge wraparound fender and would go no further. After moving the wheel around to every position possible it became clear that the fender had to come off, and that part was pure torture. Having to twist myself all over the floor of my freezing, snow-covered shed while jamming my hands up into tiny, cold, dark ,greasy dirt filled crevices to find and undo a huge number of randomly sized American standard nuts was no fun at all. I had tried to get the fender off a couple of times before and had given up thinking that it would be so much easier with the wheel off. Oh man. But anyway, I kept at it, and over the course of probably two hours I managed to get all the nuts off, and to finally get the fender and both seats off. And then I still had to take one of the shocks off, and let all of the air out of the wheel to get it off! Holy cow. But she's looking a million times better already, and she should roll quite a bit better without constant contact between the back wheel and the chain!
I'll have to order an axle and a spacer, and I've got a newly laced rear wheel that needs be trued. I've also got the original seat and a new rear fender that I can't wait to see on this thing.
Anyway, thanks for the help guys!!
