problem mounting my rear wheel

another shot

XL777 wrote:

Great input everyone. However, on my bike yes I did have to remove it all it was a biatch to do, but I learned a lot. The reason it all had to come off was due to the fact the caliper is mounted to a bracket and that is mounted on the axel. As well the head of the axel was placed on the right side rather then the left side, making removing the axel nut and sliding the axel out part way not possible. Believe me if there was any other way to do this I would have. I even bought the wrong pads because my bike is "special" the clymer manual doesn't even make reference to my bike haha.

when we did it we just removed the bolts/slides and installed them after caliper was on. worked in our case anyway:)

I'm still at a little loss as to the axle thing fixing the washer problem. According to your pictures the axle is now in opposite of how it's supposed to be. From the factory the bolt went through from the left side with the nut on the right side, but even so it makes no difference really. The washer is outside the chain adjuster placed on right before the axle nut.

You are right it is on the wrong side, thus why I was having a problem reading the diagram. For some reason the last owner had it set up that way, so when I put it all back together I put it back the way I found it. That is why when I looked at the diagram the damn washer was on the right side. LOL I'm too lazy to change it now, so if I have to do it again I will correct it.

According to Kawi, the same rear caliper was used on all 77-80 Ltd's and 80 G1. And by my Kawasaki 1000 service manual, all that was needed to change pads, was too flip up the cover, and remove the clips and pins. I also have the 79 supplement, and it states that the procedure is the same as the manual states. Well, it looks like you are learning as you go, which is what I pretty much as I had to do.
Have funB)

Moral of the story. There is always an exception to the manual and to the norm It is all set up now. One problem down too many to list to go

I believe XL777 is correct in needing to remove the rear wheel to change the brake pads on his '78KZ1000LTD, because its rear caliper has no removeable pad cover and is a different design than the standard model rear caliper with removeable pad cover.

The '78KZ1000LTD rear caliper looks virtually identical to the '76KZ900LTD rear caliper whose FSM supp. instruction for rear caliper pad replacement begins
Step 1. Remove the rear wheel.

In this case, the disc must be removed from between the pads in order to remove and replace the pads. Attempted disassembly of the LTD's rear caliper to remove it from the holder and allow pad replacement without removing the wheel would likely ruin the internal rubber dust covers and other rubber parts fitted around the slider bolts. If there's a way to remove and replace the slider bolts without damaging and displacing the internal rubber parts, I haven't figured it out yet.

Here's the '78KZ1000LTD rear caliper.