How to Install a set of Highway Hawk swingarm covers

General tools and parts:

1. Tube of anti-sieze
2.  Hammer
3. Sockets to remove rear axle
4. Blue loctite
5. Wooden dowel
6. ½” drive torque wrench

Go ahead and pull the rear axle from the bike and have the brackets that come with the Highway Hawk covers handy. You’ll see on the LEFT side of the bike the axle adjuster bolt pushes the wheel to the REAR of the bike and the RIGHT side axle adjuster pushes the wheel to the FRONT of the bike – What was that engineer smoking when he designed this? Oh well, maybe he was on contract from Columbia, who knows. Once axle is out, take the RIGHT side axle adjuster assembly off the right side and remove the adjuster bolt, the adjuster is what’s in my hand coming off of the bike. Here’s a pic of that:

Then put the new left side spacer you’ve bought - # 4WM-25388-00, back on in it’s place with the flat part pointing to the FRONT of the bike.  Take the old axle adjuster screw out of the old bracket you’ve taken off (if you haven’t done it yet)  and put it in the threaded adjuster hole that already exists on your swingarm so it’s pushing to the back of the bike, just like the left side. You’ll have to loosen the rear caliper bolt and shove it all the way forward to get this started – make sure when you do this you put the Highway Hawk mounting bracket in at the same time – BOTH axle adjuster bolts go through the hole in the front of the bracket. This setup is shown here:

If you look close you can see the new chrome spacer, # 4WM-25388-00 that was originally made for the left side fits perfectly on the right side and the bolt now pushes on the flat part towards the back of the bike exactly like the left side does. Now BOTH axle adjuster bolts will push the tire to the rear of the bike as they should – I’ve had no problems with getting the rear axle aligned with this setup. You can also see how the axle adjuster bolt goes through the Highway Hawk mounting bracket as I said above.

When you push the rear axle back through make sure you slide the axle through the left side Highway Hawk mounting bracket too, shown here:

You’ll notice the bracket seems to be bent at the single bolthole at the rear – there’s a reason for that coming up. Now take and start your NEW axle nut and do yourself a favor here – use some anti-seize on it and don’t torque it past 85-ft lbs. The manual says 110-ft lbs but there’s a ton of people out there that have ruined their axles as 110 lbs seems to be a bit much and the metal “galls” and the axle will either strip or break off the next time you take it off. If you’ve GOT to torque to what the manual says the anti-seize will help to keep the metal from “galling” and will also allow you to get the nut off if it does happen to sieze. Even it you only go to 85-ft lbs it’s still a good safety factor to use the anti-seize (I know, I’m anal about perfection with my bike).

Once you’ve adjusted belt tension and torqued the rear axle back down, take the Highway Hawk covers and bolt them on with the three chrome bolts per side onto the adjusters – don’t worry if the fit isn’t quite right. They’ll probably looked like they’re splayed WAY out in the back if you look at them from the rear – here’s where we “adjust” these to fit the old fashioned way………..<GRIN>

Take the wooden dowel, center it on the rearmost bolt on the axle cover – and SMACK it with the hammer. Do this until you’ve got a nice, even, aligned set of axle covers on your bike. You can do this to the left side without changing anything, but with the factory adjuster on the right side sticking out beyond the cover you can’t get it straight – which is the reason we took the old adjuster off the right side, switched the bolt to push from the front, and threw the old adjuster bracket away (hey you might be able to sell it on Ebay, it’s amazing what folks will pay for Road Star stuff if they’re desperate…) and used the new Yamaha spacer on the right side. We can now SMACK the right side with the dowel and hammer and end up with a really nice looking set of axle covers that fit right, look good, and make adjusting the rear wheel a little easier. Once you get the alignment of the covers right, take the bolts back out one at a time and use the blue loctite on them. Here’s a pic of the finished right hand cover:

Now go out and enjoy your new chrome!

 © 2004 Art K. Armfield (Tazman1602)

This document is free for use to all members of “The Road Star Riders” Forum on Delphi forums and for all readers of www.roadstarclinic.com

Questions should be asked in our forum (Use discuss link below). The forum is very active and you stand a good chance of getting your questions answered there. If you would like to leave feedback for the author, or have additional information you think will benefit others, please use the comment section at the bottom of this page.

Discuss this article on the forums. (0 posts)

DISCLAIMER: This information and procedure is provided as a courtesy and is for informational purposes only.  Neither the publishers nor the authors accept any responsibility for the accuracy, applicability, or suitability of this procedure.  You assume all risks associated with the use of this information.  NEITHER THE PUBLISHERs NOR THE AUTHORs SHALL IN ANY EVENT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OF ANY NATURE ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH THE USE OR MISUSE OF THIS INFORMATION OR LACK OF INFORMATION.  Any type of modification or service work on your motorcycle should always be performed by a professional mechanic. If performed incorrectly, this procedure may endanger the safety of you and others on your motorcycle and possibly invalidate your manufacturer’s warranty.

Comments (1)

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.

Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4.6
AkoComment © Copyright 2004 by Arthur Konze - www.mamboportal.com
All right reserved