Yamaha TMAX (XP500) Rear Wheel Removal

Taking the rear wheel off a Yamaha TMAX is easy IF you’ve got all the right tools. I spent more on tools to take the wheel off than the “ride-in-ride-away” service at the tyre shop would have cost. You need:

• Number 3 phillips screwdriver. Not any old crosshead, the screws are large and done up tight.
• 19mm socket or spanner
• 12mm slim socket on an extension bar. It’s not like you need a thin-wall titanium socket or anything like that, but my 12mm socket on a ½”sq drive wouldn’t fit and I had to go and get the one on a ⅜”sq drive.
• 17mm hex bit on a breaker bar. You could try using a 17mm allen key but you’re going to need a long tube to turn it. You could try using a 17mm hex drain plug key but you’re going to need more than a little tommy bar to turn it. I don’t know the torque setting for the rear spindle but it’s somewhere in the “Fucking Tight” range.

The final drive of the TMAX is a chain in an oil bath inside the left hand leg of the swing arm. The road wheel sits on a splined hub. A spindle runs right through the swing arm, wheel and hub from one side to the other.

1. Swing arm dust cover. There are two large phillips screws on the left hand side of the swing arm. Undo the screws and pull off the dust cover. It’s got honest-to-goodness dust seals and acoustic foam. You should now be able to see the large nut and washer on the left hand end of the spindle.
2. Remove the brake calliper. There are two 12mm bolts that fix the calliper to the left hand leg of the swing arm. Take the bolts out and jiggle the calliper off the disc. Now is the time to check the brake pads. Now is not the time to squeeze the back brake lever.
3. Support the calliper. Don’t leave the calliper hanging on the brake hose, prop it up on something or tape it to the swing arm.
4. Pinch bolt. The right hand leg of the swing arm has a pinch bolt that grabs the spindle. Undo the pinch bolt.
5. Undo the spindle. With a spanner on the nut and a fiendishly expensive hex bit in the head you can undo the spindle. Be bold man! You’re pulling on that spanner like a little girl!
6. Pull the spindle out from the right hand side. You might need to encourage it with a hammer on the left.
7. Pull the wheel off the hub. The wheel pulls off from the right. On my bike the splines were still clean and greasy and all it took was a little bit of wiggling.

Richard "new tyre" B