Upgrading The Wheels On A '04 Fat Boy - Start 'EM Young

4. Before putting the rotor on, Troy dabbed a bit of red threadlocker on each of the five bolts. Then they were installed finger tight on the wheel. Then with some help from Junior, LifeStyle Cycles' owner, Troy torqued the rotor down (24 lb-ft) to factory specs in a criss-cross pattern. He then installed the rear rotor on the back rim and torqued it down to 45 lb-ft.

5. Following the same method he used in the rotor install, Troy clocked the pulley to match the pattern and finger tightened the pulley bolts. Once again enlisting Junior's help to steady the wheel, Troy then torqued the pulley bolts down to 60 lb-ft.

6. Next, it was time to mount the 18-inch Metzeler tires. Before we could tell Troy about directional tires, he pointed to the rotation arrow on the side of the Metzeler tire and asked if this was the way the tire needed to go. Smart kid. Troy put all of his 85 pounds into getting the mighty Metzeler tire over the Performance Machine rim. We showed him the valve stem markers on the Metzelers, and he slid the tire around so the valve stem was right in the middle of them. With the tire mounted and the bead popped and filled with air, Troy replaced the valve core to keep the air inside the tire.

7. With the tire properly inflated, it was time to balance it. When Troy ran the wheel/tire on the balancer, it was only off by a fraction-not even worth putting weights on it.

8. Next, it was time to take off the stock wheels. With the axle cover off, Troy removed the cotter key, and with a 15/16 wrench, he loosened and removed the axle nut, then used a 9/16 open-end wrench to loosen the axle adjuster so that the wheel and belt could be removed.

9. Troy then removed the belt from the pulley, and with a couple of taps from a rubber mallet, he was able to remove the axle.

10. After removing the rear caliper Troy pulled the rear wheel and slipped the new wheel and tire between the swingarm.

12. With some helping hands, Troy installed the PM pre-cut wheel spacers, put the belt onto the pulley, adjusted and torqued the axle, and installed the caliper. Then he spun the tire and made sure the belt tracked center in the pulley.

13. The front wheel was next. Using a scissor floor jack, Troy got the bike up in the air (with some help from Sparky to steady the bike). Troy removed the brake caliper and removed the axle nut with a 3/4-inch wrench. Once the axle was out, the tire was removed.

It took Troy a couple of times lowering the scissor jack until the axle holes lined up for the new front tire and rim combo. With the holes lined up, the axle slid right in and only took a few taps with the plastic mallet to get it in. Troy then connected the caliper to the new PM rotor, and torqued down the front axle nut to 55 lb-ft.

15. The finished product looks awesome compared to the before photo. It's pretty amazing what a set of tires and wheels can do for the look of a motorcycle. And the hands-on experience Troy learned from this project will hopefully help him become the new neighborhood motorcycle mechanic.