Why - Is it that a thing that should be relatively simple turns in to the project from hell!.......I know a bunch of you guys have pulled the rear wheel off and change the tire or done the rear brakes and put it all back together without a single little problem......i unfortunately have not been so lucky......first the bag bracket bolt eats the new tire - so I have to take it all apart to get to the bolts and re-engineer the bracket mounting and install carriage bolts to provide max clearance for the tire (140/90)......then I try to install the tire by myself and find i need at least a 3rd hand  but really a 3rd & 4th hand.......so last night 4 days after the tires comes off the brake hub arm fractures while trying to install the tire "If it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all".......today my welding buddy is going to try to repair the busted brake drum and tonight i plan to try for the 4th time with help to get the rear tire back on the bike, bags re-installed, exhaust back on it and hopefully be able to get back riding tomorrow......I wonder what the odds makers in Vegas would say about the likely-hood that i get r done today is? 1000 to 1 against......

yep the brake hub arm snapped in to two peices - it got twisted (torqued too much by my 'assistant" who got frustrated that the wheel was not going in easily and i was on the left side trying to hold the large spacer in place as the wheel was lifted on to the brake hub slot......just one thing after another.....going to re-position the bike on the lift tonight and try to make sure there are as few hopefully no obstructions to getting the wheel in quickly and efficiently.

i hear people say that alot - i used to be more mechanically indepent but stupid things from youth have caught up to me and my physical ability to use grasp, squeeze, hold, manipulate, work with hand tools etc has greatly deminished.......anyone who has done this by themselves my hat is off to you....anyone who has fought this trying to do it by themselve but figured out a better way i'd sure like to know what that better way is.

yep the bottom 1/2 is broke off - my TIG welding genious here at work thinks he can get it solid becase of all the webbing structure behind the broken area....I ordered a replacement last night $25 delivered ebay from a 1997 with right at 11K miles (mine 96 with 11K)....it will be here in less than a week - but if it can be welded/repaired and SAFE i will try it.



hold on a minute - i may have just figured out part of my problem - this drawing shows the axle entering from the left side - when we took it apart the axle was coming in from the right side and that is how we have been trying to re-install it........left enter axle will hold that spacer and prevent the wheel from torquing on the brake hub/frame attachment point.......i suppose who ever took the wheel off to put the last tire on it before i got the bike put the axle in from the wrong side.

Routy's point about the repaired side being the "slack" or unstressed side during braking, would seem to go along with this repair nicely.  Looks a little cobby, but if the penetration is good, it ought to hold.

Just for information,.....the axle nut is on the left side of mine, which I assumed was original, but being used w/ 3K miles, it maybe isn't.
But it seemed to work ok that way.

I at first would think it had to be a weak spot in the casting to break like that, but now I see that if the wheel was way back so that just a small part of the frame was in the casting, and then the wheel suddenly dropped, it would then have lotsa leverage to spread that casting apart. Bummer at best !

The part that broke shouldnt be in the wheel during tire change,,

I thot I had the Big Ooops award for putting a tire on,, I let a tire spoon get away & it hit me end on in the forehead when it came out of the rim,, & yes, it made a weird sound & I did some bleeding, while I laffed..

My rear axle also goes in from the right, nut on the left. The worst part putting it back together for me was getting that left side spacer to fit in there and line up with the hole. A second person helping does make it easier, as long as he holds his temper in check.