I had the rear tire replaced on a barn find. I cannot get the rear wheel back on. With my 1979 it just slid right on, but the wheel hub will not go on. My plastic Euro motor caliper says the hub is 51mm in diameter, exactly the inside diameter of the hub. So it might be a tight fit, although I did remove the wheel easily. What do I do? Am I missing something? I don't have any special clamp to press it together.
1. First of all, the splines need to be well covered with some type of waterproof grease. This needs to be checked and possibly applied every time the rear wheel is reinstalled.
2. When the splines are not protected with this grease on a regular basis, then the splines may start to wear. When wear occurs, then fitting the wheel can become a very troublesome situation.
3. Placing the bike in 1st gear will insure that when the wheel is rotated to change the spline presentation, that the final drive does not spin at the same rate.
4. Perfect alignment of the wheel and final drive is important. It may help the alignment to slide the rear axle through both pieces (without any spacers or tightening of the axel).
Owning an old Airhead is easy.
Keeping an old Airhead running great is the true test.
Interference where the brake drum engages the brake shoes perhaps?
I'm not sure that using a clamp to force the assembly together is a good idea.
former Airmarshal, IL.
Removed the brake shoes and it made no difference. Visually they are not touching the brake drum and I can rotate the wheel freely, just will not go on.
So, … it came off fine, and now will not go back on. In between was having the tire changed (at a motorcycle shop?). Was the wheel in a tire changing machine? Wonder if something happened to the hub? Just throwing out thoughts.
Did you get your wheel on ?
we are curious what the problem was.
the wheel would install with the splines mesh only partially. There was about 3/4" left to go. I did not see any damage on the splines. Eventually, after much pushing proved ineffective, I used a piece of threaded rod with nuts and fender washers on each side to close up the gap. Now, the wheel seems to be overly tight and hard to rotate. I plan to trailer it to an airhead mechanic and have them reinstall the bearings. I don't know if I can do the preload properly.
If an owner wants to run a wide rear tire, especially a metric sized rear tire, then the tire has to be spaced off the drive shaft housing. This is done by adding a flat washer between the wheel and the final drive... inside the splined shaft where it can be hard to see. Usually this washer is held in place by grease, but it could fall off, turn sideways, and block the splines from re-mating.
Owning an old Airhead is easy.
Keeping an old Airhead running great is the true test.
The wheel bearings should be unaffected by the spline meshing issue. Can’t imagine forcing it together. That’s scary. So if the wheel resists turning now, and it’s not the brakes that are the issue, then something is jammed between the OD of the wheel spline cup and the ID of the final drive housing (cover). I hope your mechanic can get the wheel back off!
Update for everyone.
I removed the wheel easily. Wanted to make sure there was no ongoing issue and to replace the seal on the left side. There was no damage visible to the splines. I also replaced the thrush bushing. It went back on again normally and I rode it around a little with no issue. Don't understand what happened but glad it is solved
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