200x front rim removal

[trikemessiah]

first of all, im new to the forum and to owning a 3wheeler so if yall can cut me some slack cuz i may have a lot of questions. i just got a 1986 200x that i picked up on the cheap ($80 :D), so i figured i can put some money in it. has some cosmetic issues but for the price, i can deal with them. been sitting for two years, brought it home and cleaned carb, changed oil, and 3 kicks later it started. i have since bought a new carb, but im having trouble replacing the front tire. i do have a manual but i still cant take it off. i have loosened 4 little nuts holding the axle, and also unscrewed the axle, it seems stuck on the brake caliper. do i just take that off too, or unbolt rim from hub. any help is appreciated.
here is a pic of trike

[RodKnockRacing]

you have to unbolt the caliper from the fork and then it should come right out or just unbolt the hub from the rim

[trikemessiah]

thanks for the info. i managed to take one bolt of the caliper with some channel locks cuz i cant find the right size socket. do u happen to know the size?

[rdlsz24]

Pretty much everything on these trikes is 8, 10, 12 or 14mm

Rob

[trikemessiah]

im guessing its gonna be the 12mm. they bolts are pretty stuck but i have soaked them with pb blaster so hopefully it will budge cuz i really want to get that tire fixed soon.

[anderson8687]

yeah i believe it is a 12mm. you will also need a 17mm in a few spots, swingarm...one more that i know of but cant remember right now... ive had good luck with my driver drill in reverse getting stuck bolts out in my recent small tear down...sure beats stripping out phillip head screws!

[trikemessiah]

thanks for the info anderson8687: what is a driver drill? is that the same as an electric drill? just wonderin bcuz i too am getting tired of stripping out phillips head screws.

[JohnR.]

You don't have to take the caliper off. Screw the axle back in, get the trike off the ground by putting it on milk crates or something, take the 4-17mm nuts off that hold the rim on the hub, remove the 4-10mm nuts on the one lower leg, loosen the 4-12mm bolts that hold that fork into the triples, slide that fork out and take your wheel off. Depending on the trike and tire size you can sometimes actually sneak the wheel and tire out without removing the fork but you're better off just removing the whole fork this time. If you're stripping screws get yourself an impact driver. They sell them at Sears. While you're there pick up a basic metric tool set. From your post saying that you used channel locks to remove a caliper bolt, it sounds like you need a decent tool set. It looks like you got a great deal on a pretty nice trike, don't ruin it by taking it apart with channel locks.

John

[jb2wheels]

I had a real tough time getting the front wheel off my $100 roller. The front wheel bearings were rusted, the spacers were rusted to the bearings, etc, and one fork leg is slightly bent.

So, when I unthreaded the axle, everything came with it - rotor, spacers, etc. So I had to unbolt both the caliper and the rotor to avoid bending stuff.

An extreme case, though. Normally, I think the axle should just spin out.

And, an impact gun is worth every penny spent when tearing into one of these neglected 25 year old toys. Electric or air is fine.

[mike1979]

While you have the front end torn apart through some fork boots on it.