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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 42
Vacaville, CA United States | I recently had new tires put on my 2013 Victory Vision. I wanted the original stock Dunlop Elite 3 tires as I'd had good luck with them (18k miles on both). Anyway, I read the manual which clearly stated that the mufflers did not need to be removed. I took them to a bike repair shop I'd used with previous bikes and they assured me that they could do the job in about 3 hours and would charge me $685 for the entire job...including the price of the tires. I went back to the shop after 5 hours and they still weren?t done and both mufflers were removed. I was told they'd have to charge me for more labor as the muffler's had to be removed. I refused to pay more since they'd gone forward without calling me. They did the job at the agreed upon price and apparently did a good job.....Question; do the mufflers have to be removed to get the rear tire off?
Daveg53
2013 Victory Vision Tour
Lloydz Timing Gear
Quarter-turn throttle
VFC Gen III
Vision upper air filter
Lloydz idle air valve |
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Cruiser
Posts: 70
Indianapolis, IN United States | I haven't done it myself yet but everything I've ready says jack the bike up, unbolt the shock, the swing arm drops down to get the axle out. No muffler removal needed. In fact, shouldn't be any bag removal or anything either. |
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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | I had a similar experience at a dealer and had to school that pulling one bolt, the swing arm to push rod, was all that needed to be removed. Don't know why a competent technician can't see this for themselves is beyond me. |
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Visionary
Posts: 2026
Brighton, TN | I'd ask for a bit of a refund, since you have to teach them, and since knowledge costs $, they should be grateful for the cheap education on how to do it next time and able to make more money correctly. That's what I would do or I wouldn't step a foot back in their place. I can pull both tires with a good setup in under 20 minutes, meaning the tools and the jacks they have. I can't imagine the entire job costing more than buck or buck 20 in labor. That's just me though, I'm cheap, but I do it right. |
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 24
Dallas, NC United States | I changed my E3's last month , front and rear with about 17,000 on them. Bought tires from CompAcc. Rear tire removal is easy , 15 minutes at best. Install is the same. I have a lift, you need a sizzor jack under the engine, unbolt the shock and jack the bike up untill you can get the tire out. The manual is straight forward. You don't need to loosen your adjusters, just mark the spot with a marker for reference. I took my wheels and tires to a buddy of mine who has a professional tire changer. You need this to dis-mount and mount E3's. The sidewalls are stiff. My local dealer wanted almost $550 to change (tires included) but the labor was way to much. All together you could remove, mount tires and remount in an hour or so...front and rear. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 154
Danbury, Connecticut | It sounds like they don't have the required repair information. The manual is correct, as it should be, and the exhaust doesn't need to be touched. Hopefully this isn't a Victory dealer-if it is they should be shot. Assuming it isn't, be glad that you learned their limitations on something basic. You either need to find someone better trained, tooled and equipped- learn to do it yourself if you have reasonable mechanical skill- or narrate from the manual while the "tech" works on your bike if you have no other choice but to return to that facility. You can buy a bike jack for less than 200 bucks and with basic metric hand tools and a torque wrench you can remove the wheels yourself. The trickiest part is lining up the rear caliper, swing arm, wheel and axle-just requires a bit of patience. I suggest jack stands under the tip overs for stability when you aren't raising or lowering the bike. |
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 31
Great Mills, MD | That sounds really expensive. Last year, I got a flat heading to the VMC National Meet in Hunter NY, we had pulled over on the shoulder because the leader thought he missed a turn. Anyway, I ran over one of those radial belts from a blown tire and it put a nice hole in my rear. I called the nearest Victory dealer and they said they would pick me up and change my tire. The only tire that they had in stock was a Michelin Commander. They changed my tire and charged me $185: pick me up from 15 miles away, labor and the cost of the tire was included. I thought it was too good of a deal, but I wasn't complaining, especially since my bike wasn't there for scheduled maintenance. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 190
| This reminds me of when I had my rear tire replaced. I took it to my usual shop because they're the closest to me. I had breakfast and went back after an hour. They hadn't even gotten the tire off because they couldn't figure out how to get the saddlebags off...so I explained to them about raising the bike up far enough to unbolt the rear shock and simply "dropping" the tire after that. Way easier than they expected.
Only thing is next time, if there is a next time, the belt had absolutely NO free play which would explain the hum on the 15 mile ride home. I want to make sure they actually know what they're doing when they change tires. This is a Polaris dealer and not specifically a Victory shop but I'm still surprised they aren't aware things like belt tension need to be done.
Edited by beemerdad2@yahoo.com 2015-01-16 9:13 AM
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Cruiser
Posts: 154
Danbury, Connecticut | beemerdad2@yahoo.com - 2015-01-16 9:11 AM
This reminds me of when I had my rear tire replaced. I took it to my usual shop because they're the closest to me. I had breakfast and went back after an hour. They hadn't even gotten the tire off because they couldn't figure out how to get the saddlebags off...so I explained to them about raising the bike up far enough to unbolt the rear shock and simply "dropping" the tire after that. Way easier than they expected.
Only thing is next time, if there is a next time, the belt had absolutely NO free play which would explain the hum on the 15 mile ride home. I want to make sure they actually know what they're doing when they change tires. This is a Polaris dealer and not specifically a Victory shop but I'm still surprised they aren't aware things like belt tension need to be done.
If done properly, the belt tension doesn't get affected by pulling the wheel- the adjuster never gets turned. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 190
| My guess is the kid who did the tire change simply pulled the tire all the way to the stops when he remounted the tire. |
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Visionary
Posts: 1228
Rancho Cucamonga, CA | Probably works on dirt bikes where the slack adjusters work in the opposite direction. On the Vision, you have to push the rear wheel forward against them when tightening the axle, instead of pulling backward. |
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Rear tire removal
