Hi Thor, A fellow told me this 9 years ago on this site. To put center stand on blocks, put bike on center stand, then tip bike sideways & slip 1x4 under one leg, then tip the other way & slip 1x4 under other leg. Then double them. Finally work your way up to a 2x4. I know shop manual says something like 3" but I find in real life a 2x4 is often enough. If you need a tad more you can use 1x4 on top of 2x4. An assistant is helpful but I've done it many times by myself by sliding block under stand with my toe. By the way. I use blocks for each side, not one long one going crossways. It's kind of scary tipping bike especially as it gets higher, but with care & practice it becomes easy. I aways strap it to the wood rafters in my garage just in case it should roll off stand.
Depending on muffler fitted, you'll have to remove left muffler. I use anti seize at the slip joint at pipe so it doesn't rust on. I know this compromises friction to pipe to a degree, but did you ever remove rusted on muffler?
Tip: if you have earlier bike with brake drum. You can wiggle wheel out without blocks. After removing axle, roll wheel back just enough & over to slip out backing plate for shoes. Now rotate wheel such left fork end enters brake drum, the wheel can now pivot just enough to slip out of fender.
The speedo drive is soft zinc. So each tightening of the axle crushes it a bit more. New drive the axle slips through like you'd expect it should. First time you tighten axle it crushes it. You under tighten axle I promise you it will slip in swing arm & ruin the adjusters. I've seen this several times when owner decided to not crush drive. I don't believe you can get enough torque on axle to keep it from slipping without distorting the hole in drive. I've experimented with new drives, feeling how tight, then removing drive & seeing how much it crushes. The very late shop manual lists axle torque 60#. This bike used a different drive that was on left side of wheel though. I've not personally had the left side drive out, so I don't if they are effected like this or not.
The earlier dry frame bikes mounted drive in the hollow tube inside wheel. It also has tendency to crush the center if tube end nuts were over tightened. But this is very different set up so the drive doesn't take pinching force of axle. The end nuts on tube take the pinching force of the axle bolt that goes through swing arm, so the drive is not removed from wheel when you remove the axle bolt. The problems started in '71 with the conical rear brake hub.
So I use a 1/2 aluminum bar that I had laying around to drive axle out. This tight fit of axle through drive makes going together a real pain as well as on removal as must align the drive, spacer, adjuster all at once.
I got the idea of filing the hole larger to make assembly easier. Of course, each time I tightened axle in squished tight on axle again. After about 4-5 filings the drive started binding. What happened is the drive was distorting enough with each enlargement it made it cone shaped & moved to the left of bike, then the drive tube bottomed in the ring gear of drive. Remember if the hole is enlarged it distorts as it's squeezed by axle. If you drive it in, it's already taken the set of squeezing, so it doesn't really squeeze further.
So end of day, it's better to have to use the drift & hammer.
Finally I got mad & installed steel insert in the drive. That's a whole other story. Not so simple to do. But it has proved to work perfectly. Factory should have done that!
Don
Dunno which "manual" you're reading but the Triumph '73-'78 750 twin Workshop Manual, Section F13 "REMOVING AND REFITTING THE REAR WHEEL" on manual page F20/.pdf page 145 says:-
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