For the past couple of weeks I've been looking at posts about changing the rear tire on my 08 Ultra with 10600 miles. I bought an E3, Harbor Freight tire changer, dynabeads, and everything I thought I'd need after reading the Service Manual and this forum. Things did not go as well as planned. I should state that this was my first motorcycle mechanical work, other than installing a backrest and a battery tender on this bike, and putting crash bars and a windshield on my wife's Deluxe.

I did not buy the HD axle nut torque adapter, or the PitPosse tool, or the ratcheting one from discounttools.com because I read a post that said I could just remove the upper shock bolts and eliminate the need to remove the mufflers. I also did not buy a Torca clamp, although I did stop by the dealer for an e-clip the other day.

The first problem is that the shock trick did not work on my bike. I assumed that I'd be able to get a socket on the axle nuts because this was going to raise or lower the axle. It did nothing. I removed upper bolts, then lower bolts. Nothing. The axle was still blocked by the mufflers. A few choice words, then on to Plan B. Remove left muffler and get the HD axle tool, like the manual says. Removed the muffler and took a break to call dealers. There are only two of these tools in the state (NC) and neither are near me. A few more choice words, then on to Plan C. Remove the right muffler.

Then I ran into the biggest obstacle of the day. Both mufflers removed. Everything exposed. Right nut off. Axle will not come out of wheel without hitting bag brackets. I can't believe I never saw anything about this, so I'm thinking I'm doing something wrong. I finessed it out, but I scratched the heck out of the black support bracket that goes under the bags.

So, how do you guys get the axle out? Do you remove the bagger brackets?

The rest of the HD stuff went ok. Changing the tire with the Harbor Freight tire tool and my new fancy no-scuff tire tool is stuff that needs to go in another thread if I don't supress the memory. I finally got it, but it was WAY HARDER than any of those Youtube videos. I just rode 20 miles on the new tire, so I guess I'll call it a successful day. Compensator parts looked good, by the way.

How do you get the axle out??????

 

when i change my rear tire on my 07 Ultra I just pull both mufflers first. Easy access to both the axle bolt and nut. Easy to get a torque wrench on when putting everything back together.

As far as the axle, mine slides out with no problem. My bag guards are not in the way at all. In fact, I can't even remember it being close when I pull the axle.

Be sure to coat the axle with anti-seize before putting everything back together so next time will go better. Same with the mufflers. Use high temp anti seize and they will come off easier next time as well.

 

I remember seeing a tech put anti-seize on the muffler connection and thought that was smart....I've been doing it ever since.
I do all my own wrenching except tire mounting. My HD will mount and balance a new tire bought from them no charge if you bring
them your old tire/wheel. Thats why I've never thought about buying tire mounting tools...

 

We want to hear about how the Harbor freight tire changer worked. Guess we'll stay tuned.

 

I have removed my rear tire 3 times since I bought the bike, not as easy as some say but I managed, the rear axle nut is a 33mm so I bought a socket just for that. I have not had any trouble removing the axle once the mufflers are removed. Definately use anti-seize on the axle.

 

All I do is remove the right muffler and loosen the pipe clamp below the seat so when I take the two bolts off the left muffler bracket the muffler and pipe swing down out of the way. Anti seize is a must.

 

No problems with axle clearance on my 06. I'm wondering if maybe you had something that blocked the rear swing arm from dropping down some as you jacked the bike up.

 

Let me clarify:

Once I removed both mufflers, I had easy access to the axle and nut (36mm). The problem occurred after I removed the nut and began to pull the axle out (pulling towards the left side of bike). The head of the axle with the cam would hit the bag bars before it came all the way out of the wheel. I could not get the wheel out because the axle was still somewhat inserted. There was some play; I could move the wheel around and tilt it some, but I could not clear the bar with the axle. It was VERY close, so I hammered it out, scratching the black paint on the bar. I also had to hammer it when re-assembling. I did use the anti-seize, as suggested in the manual.

At times, I had a jack under the wheel, and I tried to raise/lower the wheel to get the axle removed, but this did not help. I'm hoping someone else has done this on an Ultra Classic and can post a tip. Right now, it looks like I need to remove the bag bar. I'm surprised that this isn't mentioned in the service manual and that no one here posted this.

As for the tire changer, I am disappointed. I bolted mine to a piece of plywood rather than mounting it permanently to my garage floor. It still moved around as I struggled with this tire. I had purchased a mount/demount bar from http://no-scufftiretool.com/index.html . It's a cross between the Mojo Lever and the No-Mar tire bar. The demount part seemed to work alright, although I felt sure I was going to break the tip when I bent the bar over the first time. Mounting the new tire was worse. I certainly could not "push" the tire on as shown in many videos. I think they use very warm, pliable tires for those videos. A cold E3 is STIFF. I ended up using the HF tire bar as a tire iron to pry the tire onto the wheel, and I had to do this getting the "bottom side" onto the rim and again when getting the "top side" onto the rim. I've read that people get better with practice; hopefully my next tire change will be in the summer when I can warm up the rubber. I'm 5'8" and I sure wish the device was a little bit shorter so I could use my body weight as leverage. After all of the troubles getting the tire off the bike, I was ready to toss the tire changer into the street.

 

you should of been able to turn the axle so that the cam on the bolt would have cleared the bracket!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

i think i would check I think i bought a 36mm