Aluminum wheel swap. EN500A to EN500C

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Triangles
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Aluminum wheel swap. EN500A to EN500C

Postby Triangles » Sat Feb 20, 2010 11:39 pm

How-to install the aluminum wheels from an EN500A (early vulcan 500 '90-'96) on the current EN500C (Vulcan 500 LTD '96+).

As is all information on this site, this how-to is for informational purposes only. Follow this procedure at your own risk. In other words, I'm not responsible if you do something stoopid as a result of any suggestions or instructions on this site.

Parts needed:
- pair of cast wheels from an EN500A.
- Speedometer drive gear from an EN500A.
- EN500A rubber damper for rear wheel coupling. *optional*

Summary:
The front wheel will require the speedometer drive assembly from the EN500A and rerouting of the speedometer cable to the brake rotor side of the wheel. The rear wheel installs with no additional part needed. Installation should take about 1/2 hour for the seasoned professional and 1 1/2 hours for a rookie.

Tools:
- Socket set
- Crescent wrench
- Pliers (needle nose)
- Rubber mallet (for when things need persuasion to move)
- Jack stands or motorcycle lift.

Rear wheel:
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- Raise back wheel off ground with lift or jack stands.
- Remove rear wheel (see manual for more details)
--Note: I realized after I had removed the complete left exhaust assembly that the mufflers are a slip on design and I could have just removed the muffler.
- Swap the coupling, rubber damper, and brake assembly to the aluminum wheel.
--If you have rubber damper from an EN500A wheel it fits better. If not you will need to lubricate the rubber damper to get the coupler to completely seat as the newer rubber damper is a tighter fit in the aluminum wheel. Dish soap may be a suitable lubricant.
- Install the aluminum wheel. The aluminum wheel installs the same as the spoke wheel.

Front wheel:
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- Unhook the speedometer cable at the wheel
- Reroute the speedometer cable to the left side of the bike.
-- There is a bracket shown in the picture above that locates the speedometer cable on the right side of the bike. There is a screw hole in the same location on the left side of the bike. Move this bracket and the cable to the left side of the bike.

ImageImage
- Lift the front wheel off the ground.
- Remove front wheel. (see manual for more details)
- Swap brake rotor to the aluminum wheel.
- Using the EN500A speedometer drive gear install the aluminum wheel. Note, the spacer that was on the left side will be used on the right side with the aluminum wheel. Otherwise installation is the same as for the spoke wheel.

Be sure to squeeze the front brakes several times to seat the pads on the rotor. Also make sure your rear brake is adjusted correctly since riding without brakes may be hazardous to your health :)

Additional information:
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As you can see the speedometer drive gears are different and not remotely compatible. The EN500A left and EN500C right.

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The brake rotors are not interchangeable. The EN500C's rotor is larger in diameter.

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The brake shoe assemblies appear to be the same. Both have the number 1116 in the inside. I assume this is some sort of part number.

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The rubber dampers as you can see are slightly different. EN500C left and EN500A right. The dampers from the EN500C fit a little tighter in the En500A's wheel.

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These are the wheel spacers that go in between the rear wheel and swing arm. EN500A on top EN500C on bottom. Only the left side spacer is different. There is no need to change spacers! The above picture is just to show that there is a difference for anyone that may want to know.

Edit 11-17-11:
I finally got around to it! Quite some time ago I had purchased a pair of old wheels. I stripped the cracked clearcoat with some automotive paint stripper from the autoparts store. I spent 6-8 hours on each wheel with a pair of air compressors ganged up to keep up with my die grinder/buffing wheel. I wanted to try and find something better than just a clearcoat paint to keep the wheels shiny so my searching brought me to a product from Everbrite called Protectaclear. It is supposedly a 1 part self leveling resin that will "melt" into itself if you need to repair a scratch. I read about some Goldwing riders using it as their factory wheels have no protective coating. The price seems ridiculously high. The jury is still out as to whether this product is better than a standard clear coat or not. In my eagerness I clearcoated before I painted the raw cast inset areas. I let the clearcoat cure for 24 hrs before masking to paint the inset areas. I decided to try something other than plain old boring black and went with a metallic charcoal wheel paint. When I removed the masking tape the clear coat came off with the tape!!! This is where it doesn't bode well for the Protectaclear being a good product. I emailed customer service to see if I did something wrong and mentioned that if the product comes off with masking tape I wouldn't expect it to last long in real world use. They never bothered to respond to my inquiry. Since the product was supposedly self healing, I just wiped down with xylene to remove any fingerprints and tape residue. Then I reapplied the clear coat only to see it didn't mend very well with the clearcoat that didn't come off. There are two positive things I can say as of this moment, The application very easy and the dried product looks good. Only time will tell if the product holds and and my problems were caused my me not allowing enough cure time. Here's some pics of the wheels with some nice new tires I'll be installing this weekend.

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kawboyCAFE
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Re: Aluminum wheel swap. EN500A to EN500C

Postby kawboyCAFE » Thu Jun 17, 2010 3:42 pm

good job. i will be doing this myself this winter. i have already bought the wheels.

burkbuilds
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Re: Aluminum wheel swap. EN500A to EN500C

Postby burkbuilds » Sat Dec 18, 2010 10:23 pm

Thanks for a great "how to" article. I did my back wheel a few weeks ago and I will probably do the front wheel sometime this Spring. I think I'm just gonna wait until I need a new front tire and do it then instead of swapping the tire now.

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Triangles
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Re: Aluminum wheel swap. EN500A to EN500C

Postby Triangles » Sun Dec 19, 2010 8:35 pm

That's what I'm waiting for too. I'm approaching 12K miles and the factory bridgestones have plenty of tread left. I got to get off my lazy butt and polish up the old wheels and re-coat them so they're ready to for spring. Now I just have to find that information again about the resin coating I read about some goldwing riders using.
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AFBubbleChaser
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Re: Aluminum wheel swap. EN500A to EN500C

Postby AFBubbleChaser » Wed Aug 15, 2012 4:34 am

When you said to swap the coupling for the rear wheel, did you mean the part that the sprocket bolts onto?
Crazy? I was crazy once...

Peace, is that one glorious moment in history when everyone stands around reloading -Anonymous

AFBubbleChaser
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2012 2:07 pm
I ride: '03 Vulcan 500 LTD
Location: St. Joseph, MO

Re: Aluminum wheel swap. EN500A to EN500C

Postby AFBubbleChaser » Wed Aug 15, 2012 5:04 am

Never mind. I've seen some pictures of rims w/o the hub and sprocket installed and now see how it goes together.
Crazy? I was crazy once...

Peace, is that one glorious moment in history when everyone stands around reloading -Anonymous

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charnotx
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Re: Aluminum wheel swap. EN500A to EN500C

Postby charnotx » Wed Sep 10, 2014 6:23 pm

Hey Triangles,

I know this is an older topic, but I'd be interested in hearing how the clear coat ended up working for you? I've been considering doing something similar, and given that I still have a little while before I need to replace my tires, I wanted to get a jump start on planning for the swap.
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