anyone replace the wheels on the IJ motorcycle?

[aferguson]

if so, how did you do it? I can't get the stupid metal rivets, that hold the wheels on, out.

Is there a trick, short of burning away all the plastic, which would kind defeat the whole purpose..

I really don't like the wheels that come with it and would like to replace them.

[Stug45]

On the right side of the wheel your going to see a nut, your going to use a little screwdriver and push the rivet out. i broke one trying to figure out how to do it.

[grunt1]

I've replaced the front, working on the back now.

There is a little cover you can pop off on the end of the axle. I hit that with a dremel and heated it up which allowed it to slip through the soft plastic.

[aferguson]

thanks lads.

G1: what did you use for a replacement wheel? I'm using wheels from a Maisto Harley. Looks so much better with spoked wheels, huh.

[grunt1]

Yes, much.. It's from one of those 1:18 bikes with sidecars from the UK. Not the BMW everyone converts into a German WWII bike, but the one with the Zepplin sidecar. They sent me two by mistake and I thought I'd end up chucking them so this was perfect! Can do three IJ conversions now.

The other nice thing is that they had headlamps with glass (plastic), real gauges with tampo printing(or might be a sticker), and some other useful transferable parts.

[kduck]

grunt1 that's looking really good. I hope you guys will post more pictures when you have them completed.

[aferguson]

well after much gnashing of teeth i finally got the front wheel replaced. Quite the ordeal. Talk about over engineering, this stupid titanium bolt that holds the wheel on; i mean you could hang from it. 10,000 years from now these motorcycles will be all bio-degraded except for the two bolts that held the wheels on. Yowza.

Now i've got to tackle the rear wheel....

[immeww2]

Looks . I may have to struggle with that pesky front wheel as well.