Boxerworks.com

I have new tires coming today for the 71 R50 and put it on the center stand for the first time. I'm confused. Both wheels are still on the ground. Now I'm used to Metric bikes and on the center stand the rear wheel is off the ground and you can jack up the front of the engine and raise the front wheel off the ground. Is this normal or do you think someone put an aftermarket short stand for ease of use? This center stand is chrome which doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the bike.

I have a way to raise the bike off the ground and suspend it so this won't stop me but I'm curious.

Sounds like you have a Reynolds ride-off stand...pictures would help confirm. Or does it look like this on Duane's site:



I have one and think it does "fit with the rest of the bike"!! Personal opinion of course. It's easy enough to get the front tire off the ground. BMWs are weighted such that the front tire will be off the ground on a stock stand. Push the bike over to one side and kick a 2x4 under one side. Do the same on the other side. Or you can find a place to run the front tire up on another board, say a 2x12, and then put a full length 2x4 under both feet of the center stand. That will help the bike to get up and over the hump.

Kurt in S.A.

That is exactly what it looks like. My "not fitting" comment was that it was chrome and little else on the bike is chrome including the side stand. I didn't mean it looked bad, it just didn't look OEM to me.
I have the bike on my motorcycle 1500 lb lift so I can't get a good pic of it.
Thank you!

While we're on the subject. Do I have to remove the lower shock mounting bolts to get the axle out of the rear? There is a flat spot on the left muffler which looks like it was intended to make clearance for the axle but just eye balling it, it looks close.

No, you don't have to remove the shock bolts. There should be a large axle nut on the right side and a pinch bolt at the end of the swing arm on the left side. Once the nut is off and the pinch bolt loosened, the tommy bar in the tool kit goes through the hole in the end of the axle to pull out to the left past that flat spot. Before removing the axle, pay attention to how everything is so it goes back the same way and position.

Kurt in S.A.

Kurt in S.A. wrote:No, you don't have to remove the shock bolts. There should be a large axle nut on the right side and a pinch bolt at the end of the swing arm on the left side. Once the nut is off and the pinch bolt loosened, the tommy bar in the tool kit goes through the hole in the end of the axle to pull out to the left past that flat spot. Before removing the axle, pay attention to how everything is so it goes back the same way and position.

Kurt in S.A.

Thank you. I always take pics with my iPhone before and during disassembly to insure I get everything back together correctly. I also line up axle parts/spacers/nuts as they come off the bike while I'm removing them. Tire rotation direction should be easy as both wheels have the brakes on the right side. Hard to mis-identify a brake drum!

Just a heads up; when inserting the rear axle, it it possible for it to hang in the left side and pull the two sides together slightly when you tighten the nut. To avoid this, rotate the axle with the tommy bar while inserting and tightening the nut.

A cool design feature of the BMW left end of the swingarm is that the shape of it is intentionally tapered so that when you use the tommy bar or an allen wrench, if you rotate the axle with the bar, the tapered shape of the swingarm end, starts the axle on its way to being removed. It's nice because that first bit of movement could be hard to initiate if you didn't have that head start.

Chuey

If the axle doesn't go in and out easily, it could be a common fault. People tighten up the 4 nuts holding the final drive on before installing the axle. This is wrong. The axle will align the final drive correctly so the axle goes in easily. Don't lost the top hat.

All of this, and far more is on my website.

Thanks Duane and I was at your website last night and saw your tip about the 4 bolts. The axle came right out with no problem and bearings are smooth as silk. The final drive splines are in good shape but dry. I'll clean them and lube with some Honda Moly 60 I use on Goldwings. This bike only has 20k miles and has been stored in a dry garage for 20+ years. The only thing I see is that paint is dirty so I'm turning to vintage car restorers for advice on paint clean up. So far everything mechanical that I have taken apart has been rust free and clean. Even the brake shoes don't have a lot of brake dust. And yes I know about he hazards of asbestos brake linings they used in the 70's so I'm using brake cleaner only, no forced air.

Not sure what you mean by "don't lost the top hat". Are you referring to the final drive vent?