Click To Enlarge Once the rear caliper assembly and brackets are out of the way you have some options here. If you have a helper, which is probably the better way, have them work the axle out while you hold the tire in place. If you don't have a helper then put some blocks or other suitable object under the tire so it won't fall very far.    Click To Enlarge I didn't do either of these but I just wanted to say that because it sounds safer. What I discovered was that with the axle completely out the wheel stayed in place because it was still engaged on the drive splines (figure 5). Have a seat on the final drive side of the bike and grab the wheel at about the 4 and 8 position and gently rock back and forth while using slight pressure to disengage the wheel from the drive splines (figure 6).    Click To Enlarge The way I did it was to sit cross-leg and rest my elbows on my knees, you can sort of see that in figure 6) and used that for a leverage point rather than trying to hold up the whole wheel assembly. It worked well for me. Once the wheel is disengaged from the splines you can angle it slightly (figure 7) to get it out from under the rear fender. If the rear fender is 21" off the ground this is pretty easily accomplished. Remounting