The wheel is removed by dropping it down, not raising it. If you don't have the rear end up high enough to drop the wheel down, Push the entire wheel forward to get enough slack to get the chain off...there's enough space to allow the rotor to move forward within the brake caliper, then pull it out rearward. Worst case is you slide the caliper forward a tiny bit...that's one of the functions of that slide mechanism.

Once you slip the chain to the outside of the sprocket, pull the wheel out rearward. You CAN re-use a cotter pin, but, I only do so a time or two. Better to just replace it. Of course, you can use the old one, then replace it in a few days when you get a chance to get a new one.

 

Just wanted to make sure that you are clear that while the wheel is still on the swing arm, you pull the axle all the way out of the wheel, and this lets the wheel move straight down and out of the brake caliper. Not like a bicycle where you slide the wheel ,axle and all, out the back. I had trouble along time ago because I was trying to remove the wheel and the axle together (like a bicycle).
Dan

 

i think im goan to pull the back wheel off myself today and just hope for the best-worse come to worse ill bring the wheel in if i dont have any tire iron spoons but i really wanna try to get the wheel off the bike myself.

 

well i got the back wheel off no problem! alot easier than i expected. Im just gonna bring the wheel in to the get the tube replaced tho since i dont have any tire spoons-found a place thatll only charge me $15-still concerned about getting the axle nut tightened ok w/o a torque wrench-but should be ok

 

Are you getting mount & balance for $15. Not bad if so. My local shop will mount for $10, but they don't have a balance machine. I give it a little of my own basic balancing with a little lead around the light-end spoke. Don't worry about not having a torque wrench for the axle nut. Just get it tight and put the cotter pin in.

 

ill ask when I go back to pick up the wheel in a hour or 2, but i think its just mounting the new tube/tire-you said theres a way to check the balance myself?

 

I've never ballanced a tire on a dual sport and have never had any issues at all. Also I just use 3 big screw flat screwdrivers and have changed a bunch of tires like this and not had any problems, I'm sure a dull spoon type tool would be ideal.

 

put the axle in and spin the wheel, see where it stops. The bottom should be the heavy side. Spin it again and see if it does the same. If so..put some weight on the top and try again until it tends to have balance. This is pretty simple and basic. I wouldn't recommend it for riding your Ninja at 100 mph, but for dirt bike tires most seem to find this method sufficient, although many probably do no balancing whatsoever. Heck, you're on dirt, are you gonna notice a little out of balance?

 

I don't even bother to balance the tires on my sport bike. I just line up the balance dot with with the valve stem and haven't had any issues so far. Don't see why the KLX would be any different though i haven't yet gone through the factory tire (almost there).

If you do have any issues with tire balance though i would get an ounce of dynabead and put those in. I used them once to fix a hack jobbery mount and balance job that a shop did for me (hence why i started mounting my own tires) and the beads balanced it right out. I'm pretty sure dynabead works in tube applications (though i would check and make sure) as long as you don't have slime or something akin to that in the tube.

 

got everything back together alright-drove around the block a few times, everything seemed to be as it was before. not as bad as i expected