[Crossrodes]

Has anyone discovered a good way to remove the rear wheel on the '06 while on the centre stand. There is an electronic box behind the rear fender which is in the way of rolling the wheel out. This box wasn't there in earlier models.

I've looked in the archives and can't find anything.

 

[Red]

Doesn't the owners manual explain it?

The "box" is the amplifier. Loosen and move it to the side. Roll wheel & tire out back......

 

[gdaddy]

I removed it per owners manual. Took a couple of minutes to remove a couple more to reinstall. OK I watched as my friend did it, he enjoys working on bikes - nice HD guy.

 

[Crab Killer]

That box is the stereo amp. You have to take the seat off to unplug the amp. I installed a hitch on my 06, so with the amp and the hitch in the way I just put some carpet down and lay the bike on it's side after I break the lug nuts loose. Works for me.

 

[Crossrodes]

The owners manual does have an illustration. Unfortunately the SHOP manual doesn't have much information.

There is no way on my bike to move this box to the side. Saddlebags are there.

What I did, as the owners manual seems to be suggesting (this is for an on road emergency removal of the wheel) is to remove the seat and disconnect the cable going to the box and then remove the box. There is absolutely no way to get the back wheel off without doing this.

I don't know if you guys have done this on an '06 but it seems to me that the '06 box is larger than earlier models. Seems to me I read this somewhere.

Thanks for all the inputs. It helped.

 

[Red]

There is absolutely no way to get the back wheel off without doing this.

Yes way! BTDT.....

There's no "box" on the earlier models. That's the radio amp on the '06.

 

[Crossrodes]

OK Red, I believe you. But you'll have to tell me how you did it.

The length of the cable running to the box limits where I can place the box on my bike. I saw no way to move it to the side, as you suggested, because of the saddlebags. Moving it further aft wouldn't work either because there was not enough play in the cable to give me clearance. So what's your secret?

 

[ataDude]

One method for 2006 amp removal...

After you have the plastic weather box loose, slice (yes, cut... trust me) the flexible rubber cover (from the center to the right side) and remove the amp from the box (2-4 screws at best).

The amp by itself will swing out of the way more than enough to remove the tire through the '06s rear.

Once reassembled, use duct tape to fasten the rubber cover (that you sliced) back together.

 

[Fred H.]

One method for 2006 amp removal...

After you have the plastic weather box loose, slice (yes, cut... trust me) the flexible rubber cover (from the center to the right side) and remove the amp from the box (2-4 screws at best).

The amp by itself will swing out of the way more than enough to remove the tire through the '06s rear.

Once reassembled, use duct tape to fasten the rubber cover (that you sliced) back together.

I would have to see myself exactly what you are describing, but from what I understand of your idea I'm not sure I like it. The box is there to keep water from the rear wheel from getting into the amp. If you cut it open and ride in the rain, you could end up with a shorted out amp.

 

[Crossrodes]

Atadude I'm with Fred here. I think I'd rather remove the box than start slicing and taping. Thanks for the thought though.

 

[Ed Jenkins]

Fred, The box is nothing but a rubber type bucket, open on the top with a drain tube connected at the bottom. When I installed my trailer hitch on my new 07, I had to loosed the bucket and move it side to side to attach the top brackets.

Ed Jenkins, Pawnee, Il
07, 6,000 miles

 

[upssnowman]

I just looked at the owners manual, it says to remove seatand unplug the amp, then the rear cover (in middle of bags) then remove the cross bar that goes between bags 2 nuts, then 2 nuts hold the whole amp assembly in place remove these two and slide out amp, then slide out tire, 80 ft lbs torque on wheel nuts, also this is why I went with the add-on hitch so I can change a tire on the side of the road without having to lift it up as far as my research this was the only hitch that made this possible, most of the folks in our group use the add-on hitch, snow...

 

[Dive Master]

The manual says to remove seat and unplugh the amp. and remove it. I lound that it was not going to be easy to slide the plugh under the crossbar to remove complete. However by unpluging it i had enought slack to pul the amp and box out the rear and rotate it to the right. Tire rolled right out. it does take an extra pair of hands, butis easy after you do it once.

 

[ataDude]

One method for 2006 amp removal...

After you have the plastic weather box loose, slice (yes, cut... trust me) the flexible rubber cover (from the center to the right side) and remove the amp from the box (2-4 screws at best).

The amp by itself will swing out of the way more than enough to remove the tire through the '06s rear.

Once reassembled, use duct tape to fasten the rubber cover (that you sliced) back together.

I would have to see myself exactly what you are describing, but from what I understand of your idea I'm not sure I like it. The box is there to keep water from the rear wheel from getting into the amp. If you cut it open and ride in the rain, you could end up with a shorted out amp.

Hey, Fred. The rubber flap is what I was suggesting slicing, not the box. The flap is easily repairable (to at least as tight as it was) with the duct tape.

The wiring harness, BTW, exits from the amp through a slot in the middle (left to right) of the flap. Without slicing the flap, and removing the wiring harness from that slot, I did not have enough "spare" cable to move the amp totally out of the way. The rubber flap was riveted to the plastic box.

To the best of recollection, when I looked at the amp connections themselves, they didn't appear to be an easily removeable plug-in affair.

In any case, the slice worked... and I"ll bet that the duct tape lasts as long as the flap... as least for new tire changes every 5k miles or so. :wink:

Take a look next time you're working on an 06 or later. Thanks for the help.

 

[Shooters]

I just changed my rear tire on my 06' and ran into the same issue. What I did, and it worked great, was use the motorcyle jack to get the bike up high enough and she rolled right out the back. Not a problem.

Hope this helps.

 

[Dive Master]

atadude, the whole box will swing out of the way. no need to remove the amp from it. Atleast not mine.

 

[ataDude]

atadude, the whole box will swing out of the way. no need to remove the amp from it. Atleast not mine.

Hey, DiveMaster.

Unfortunately, not on mine... at least for me. There was very little spare cable even after tugging. If it was a 2-person job, then maybe one to pull, nudge and hold it out of the way would work. It was, however, a one person job at the time.

I even have a nice jack but found a way to do it without the jack. :wink:

I guess I could have removed the seat and fixed whatever was causing the "shortage", but I did it the easy way. I think the way the harness is installed makes a difference in "enough" spare cable. JMHO.

Besides, I'm now setup from now on... R/R the duct tape each tire change. :lol:

Thanks.

 

[upssnowman]

Atadude , I'm a little confused about what You said about the tire change every 5k or so are You only getting about 5k out of the tires, I'm getting about 16k out of mine , the last set was 18 k with some tread still there, thanks much for all the input everyone , snow...

 

[centerpunch]

I have an atv/motorcycle lift and max out the height. I can pull the tire out from under the bike instead of rolling it out the back. It worked fine.

 

[ataDude]

Atadude , I'm a little confused about what You said about the tire change every 5k or so are You only getting about 5k out of the tires....

Don't be confused... 5-6k miles is about it for me. There are some really nice twistie farm roads north of town. Unfortunately, they're paved with the chipped rock stuff.

.