How do I remove my wheels and coil from coilover?

ZQ8 Blazer · Post by **ZQ8 Blazer** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 2:58 am

How do I remove the wheels?

I know on truck coilovers that the coils can be swapped out, can the coil be removed from the shock on my buddy? If so how?

ScooterTrash · Post by **ScooterTrash** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 3:33 am

If you are capable it should be self explanatory

ZQ8 Blazer · Post by **ZQ8 Blazer** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 3:48 am

Well I have a single post lift in my garage and have been doing mechanic work for 11 years now. I've never messed with a motorcycle or a scooter though. I just bought the scooter 2 days ago so I don't want to mess anything up on it.

ScooterTrash · Post by **ScooterTrash** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 4:26 am

Trust me, it's easier than a car / mostly the same idea. Tear it apart, put it back together

ZQ8 Blazer · Post by **ZQ8 Blazer** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 4:30 am

Thanks for all the help

KRUSTYburger · Post by **KRUSTYburger** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 4:43 am

Words of wisdom:

ScooterTrash =

Wish I knew anything about this or I'd help!

gearhead · Post by **gearhead** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 5:12 am

you're on the right track. first mod i did to my gf's scooter was take off the wheels and paint em red!

ZQ8 Blazer · Post by **ZQ8 Blazer** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 5:29 am

How about telling me what all I need to do to get them off. Well the rear, I'm 99% sure how to get the front one off.

Kurt · Post by **Kurt** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:30 pm

To remove the rear wheel, start by putting the scoot on the center stand (which should raise the rear wheel off the ground) and then loosening the muffler bolts. In most cases you won't need to remove the muffler completely, but being able to push it aside a bit will help.

The rear wheel on a Buddy is held on by a single nut. Use a 24mm (I believe that's the right size) socket to get it off. If the wheel spins (which is likely) have a friend grip the rear brake, hard.

Once the nut is off, start pulling off the wheel. It's likely that it will be stuck, so use a rubber mallet and a piece of 2x4 to gently rap around the wheel on the opposite side, as close to the center as possible.

That should get it off!

Putting it back on is the reverse, except you should use a torque wrench to tighten the nut to 60-70 ft.-lbs. Some people also use a little Lock-Tite on it as well.

If you wind up completely removing the exhaust you should replace the gasket with a new one. Be careful not to over-tighten the exhaust bolts on the engine.

Does this help?

By the way, to do any work on the engine it's simplest to start by removing the seat bucket. Only four bolts on a Buddy.

ScooterTrash · Post by **ScooterTrash** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:35 pm

Fine, my point was that if you can do it you shouldn't need a walk through.

Front wheel - Undo brake Caliper via 2 13mm bolts on the fork, slide brake off. Remove speedo cable from sensor hub on wheel via pliers and unscrew. Remove axle via 17mm nut and 14mm bolt

Rear wheel - remove exhaust via 2 bolts underneath and 2 on the bracket. Remove axle nut, remove wheel

Haven't tried too hard but the rear spring seems permanent, I'll check later

Happy?

gearhead · Post by **gearhead** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 1:29 pm

ScooterTrash wrote:Fine, my point was that if you can do it you shouldn't need a walk through.

Front wheel - Undo brake Caliper via 2 13mm bolts on the fork, slide brake off. Remove speedo cable from sensor hub on wheel via pliers and unscrew. Remove axle via 17mm nut and 14mm bolt

Rear wheel - remove exhaust via 2 bolts underneath and 2 on the bracket. Remove axle nut, remove wheel

Haven't tried too hard but the rear spring seems permanent, I'll check later

Happy?

you removed your speedo cable? i didn't have to when i removed the front wheel

ZQ8 Blazer · Post by **ZQ8 Blazer** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 3:23 pm

To remove the rear wheel, start by putting the scoot on the center stand (which should raise the rear wheel off the ground) and then loosening the muffler bolts. In most cases you won't need to remove the muffler completely, but being able to push it aside a bit will help.

The rear wheel on a Buddy is held on by a single nut. Use a 24mm (I believe that's the right size) socket to get it off. If the wheel spins (which is likely) have a friend grip the rear brake, hard.

Once the nut is off, start pulling off the wheel. It's likely that it will be stuck, so use a rubber mallet and a piece of 2x4 to gently rap around the wheel on the opposite side, as close to the center as possible.

That should get it off!

Putting it back on is the reverse, except you should use a torque wrench to tighten the nut to 60-70 ft.-lbs. Some people also use a little Lock-Tite on it as well.

If you wind up completely removing the exhaust you should replace the gasket with a new one. Be careful not to over-tighten the exhaust bolts on the engine.

Does this help?

By the way, to do any work on the engine it's simplest to start by removing the seat bucket. Only four bolts on a Buddy.

Ok thanks a lot man, I appreciate it. There is one problem I was having last night though. I couldn't get the muffler bracket to budge. I could only find 3 bolts holding it on and when I tried to pull on it it wouldn't budge so do I just need to pull on the muffler a little more to get it loose or am I missing a bolt somewhere? Also thanks for telling me what the nut needs to be torqued to that was my next question.

ScooterTrash wrote:Fine, my point was that if you can do it you shouldn't need a walk through.

Thanks, but If you knew me you would know you didn't really have a point. I built a show truck that was shown in 3 national truck magazines(one twice) and another show truck that I fully restored. If you wanna see them as proof just ask. I done 95% of the work myself. I wouldn't have bought a car lift if I don't do a lot of automotive work.

I just couldn't get the muffler bracket to budge and didn't want to bend anything so I thought maybe it was something I was doing wrong. I'm not just some noobie, I've just never worked on motorcycles/scooters before and since it's brand new I want to make sure I'm doing it right.

Haven't tried too hard but the rear spring seems permanent, I'll check later

On QA1 coil overs there is a flange that is adjustable and can also be unscrewed completely to change out the coil to get a different spring rate. The only way I can tell that you could get this one off is if it will unscrew from the top part. If the factory put it on then there is a way to get it off. Since the top and bottom flanges look to be welded on and the shock is painted flat black, but the coil is painted red that tells me that the coil was installed after the flanges were welded.[/quote]

ScooterTrash · Post by **ScooterTrash** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 3:19 am

tucks20s wrote:Thanks, but If you knew me you would know you didn't really have a point. I built a show truck that was shown in 3 national truck magazines(one twice) and another show truck that I fully restored. If you wanna see them as proof just ask. I done 95% of the work myself. I wouldn't have bought a car lift if I don't do a lot of automotive work.

This was my point. You built a show truck but you can't do the basics on a scooter? I knew you could handle it and would realize how easy it was if you tried.

ScooterTrash · Post by **ScooterTrash** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 3:22 am

gearhead wrote: you removed your speedo cable? i didn't have to when i removed the front wheel

Makes things easier to line up when installing

ScooterTrash · Post by **ScooterTrash** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 3:23 am

Kurt wrote:To remove the rear wheel, start by putting the scoot on the center stand (which should raise the rear wheel off the ground) and then loosening the muffler bolts. In most cases you won't need to remove the muffler completely, but being able to push it aside a bit will help.

The rear wheel on a Buddy is held on by a single nut. Use a 24mm (I believe that's the right size) socket to get it off. If the wheel spins (which is likely) have a friend grip the rear brake, hard.

Once the nut is off, start pulling off the wheel. It's likely that it will be stuck, so use a rubber mallet and a piece of 2x4 to gently rap around the wheel on the opposite side, as close to the center as possible.

That should get it off!

Putting it back on is the reverse, except you should use a torque wrench to tighten the nut to 60-70 ft.-lbs. Some people also use a little Lock-Tite on it as well.

If you wind up completely removing the exhaust you should replace the gasket with a new one. Be careful not to over-tighten the exhaust bolts on the engine.

Does this help?

By the way, to do any work on the engine it's simplest to start by removing the seat bucket. Only four bolts on a Buddy.

haha, you must have posted while I was typing

ZQ8 Blazer · Post by **ZQ8 Blazer** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 6:03 pm

ScooterTrash wrote:[This was my point. You built a show truck but you can't do the basics on a scooter? I knew you could handle it and would realize how easy it was if you tried.

Yeah I know it sounds stupid and I could have figured it out myself, but I just wanted to make sure I was doing it right since it's less than a week old.

I am having a problem getting the top bolt off of the black plastic so I can get to the last bolt that holds the exhaust bracket on, it just starts to bend the steel that the bolt is screwed to. I couldn't see the last bolt for the bracket before so that had me stumped. I'll get it though.

BTW, the truck I'm talking about is not the one in my sig, that one is a daily driver. The one I'm talking to had a 1,000 x's more work done to it.

ZQ8 Blazer · Post by **ZQ8 Blazer** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 7:56 pm

Got them removed, I was making a mountain out of a mole hill. There was one bolt under the rear fender that I was missing. Anyway...

I have an 09 Black 125 and painted the gray wheels gloss black and then cleared. I took the rear drum off and painted it as well. I did this just to make it look a little cleaner and the stainless nuts aren't painted either.

The front wheel is the same (still drying).

To get a better looking and more consistent paint job I put a terry cloth over our vise and chucked the tire up in it. This way I could paint both sides at once.

I painted the front rotor metallic silver on the center, holes, and side because I hate gold.

I'll paint the caliper sometime in the future.

Skootz Kabootz · Post by **Skootz Kabootz** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 8:21 pm

Helloooo? Photos? Photos?

Come on, don't tease us.

gearhead · Post by **gearhead** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 8:42 pm

lol ^ what he says

ZQ8 Blazer · Post by **ZQ8 Blazer** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 9:07 pm

I'll get them up tomorrow, I'm not going to put the front wheel on until it is fully dry.

I'm pretty sure the rotor is stainless so it would look nice polished up too.

Lostmycage · Post by **Lostmycage** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 9:17 pm

tucks20s wrote:I'll get them up tomorrow, I'm not going to put the front wheel on until it is fully dry.

I'm pretty sure the rotor is stainless so it would look nice polished up too.

I polish my rotors every time I ride, only with the brake pads. Does a pretty decent job! Hehe, just kidding.