After reading about the kind of problem that I was having with my Honda Rebel (massive oil leak on the left side), and that it’s apparently a rite of passage, I ordered what I believed to be the correct oil seal, and eventually got to work on it. Getting the side cover off, and then the bolt off (which was incredibly hard) were the two steps before removing the flywheel, which isn’t supposed to be that hard of a job.
The first problem was trying to get the flywheel to keep from turning. I conveniently didn’t have a strap wrench, which is the go-to item for the job, it seems. So I rigged one up. Well, when that didn’t work, I tried more options. I did just about everything I could think of to get the flywheel to stay still, except putting the bike in gear and sitting on the brakes, which could damage my transmission. The past few nights I’ve really been fighting with the bike, because it shouldn’t be stuck, it’s not the hardest of jobs to do:
From ShenValleyFlyFish on the Honda Rebel Forums: You draw the bolt down tight then strike the head straight on like a nail with a hammer to shock the flywheel free. You then tighten up the bolt again. In most instances the flywheel will almost literally fall free. If not and the bolt gets tight re-shock
So I keep trying to do it the right way. But, here’s what happened instead:
So then we were left with the other option that the same person mentioned on the forum. At this point it was obvious that something strange was going on.
Now it’s time to put the torch on it and see if that will break the red threadlocker or jb weld, or whatever else is holding it on.
Some pictures when we were trying to get the nut off:
- My first try at getting the flywheel bolt off involved making my own “strap wrench” but that didn’t work.
- Then we decided to bolt a bar across the flywheel. That didn’t work either.
- I didn’t get much of a chance to give this strap wrench a try, seeing as it broke the first time I used it.
- Finally, we went and got a nice locking chain clamp. The flywheel no longer spins!
- So I can start to pull this bolt out.
- Man this thing was tough! But it’s coming out.
- Out a little further…
- And it’s still coming, so no, I’m not dreaming!
- Finally, the bolt is out. There’s a lot of old loctite dried crap in there.
- Definitely a lot of crap in there, but it’s out. From here, it should be easy, right?
So, even though I thought I would just give up on the project, I eventually ended up getting the flywheel off.