Oooo.... shiny. 
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Mailmans XS2 , the rebuild.......again
- Thread starter Mailman
- Start date
I get tired just listening to what you have done.
Great work and photos, as usual. Whenever I feel the need to raise my game i wander through Bob’s posts.
Ok...where was I ?
Oh yeah! I’ve got a new rotor to install,
And done! Whew that took longer to get my tools out than to install it.
A fresh gasket, just because I had one. I finally replaced the one I made out of a cereal box! Not that there was anything wrong with it. I only made that one just to say I did it.
The two hour Boondoggle..........
The other day when I was working on my bike I noticed what looked like oil accumulating at the bottom of both fork legs. Which led to this, jacking up my bike and pulling that complicated front end apart, it looked to me like fork oil was leaking out the bottom of the legs. I figured it was probably coming from the screw and washer that holds the damper in place. I was hoping I would be able to tighten the screw without taking the fork legs apart.
In the end it turned out the forks weren’t leaking Yay! This front end has a lot of components, there are two bearings in the disc alone, which I had packed with grease when I built the bike, and of course the front wheel has two bearings which I had packed with grease at the same time and the speedometer drive was also rebuilt and packed with fresh grease. So in short I had a whole bunch of grease that got hot and sort of liquified and dripped down making a mess. All I needed was a rag and a little spray cleaner to fix it. Go figure! 
Oh yeah! I’ve got a new rotor to install,
And done! Whew that took longer to get my tools out than to install it.
A fresh gasket, just because I had one. I finally replaced the one I made out of a cereal box! Not that there was anything wrong with it. I only made that one just to say I did it.
The two hour Boondoggle..........
The other day when I was working on my bike I noticed what looked like oil accumulating at the bottom of both fork legs. Which led to this, jacking up my bike and pulling that complicated front end apart, it looked to me like fork oil was leaking out the bottom of the legs. I figured it was probably coming from the screw and washer that holds the damper in place. I was hoping I would be able to tighten the screw without taking the fork legs apart.
In the end it turned out the forks weren’t leaking Yay!
This front end has a lot of components, there are two bearings in the disc alone, which I had packed with grease when I built the bike, and of course the front wheel has two bearings which I had packed with grease at the same time and the speedometer drive was also rebuilt and packed with fresh grease. So in short I had a whole bunch of grease that got hot and sort of liquified and dripped down making a mess. All I needed was a rag and a little spray cleaner to fix it. Go figure!
Did that rotor seat properly Bob? Might just be the camera angle, but it looks like the nut isn't threaded all the way on.
Yeah, I’ll do my best to try and explain this wonky front disc arrangement.
The front disc is bolted to the right fork leg with this hollow shaft,
The hollow shaft is held in place with this large nut,
That large nut only goes on finger tight, if you crank it down it binds up the disc. Then you slide the axle through the wheel and that hollow shaft of the brake disc , and when you tighten up the crown nut it traps the large nut in place, it doesn’t touch it. It tightens up to the shoulder of the hollow shaft and pulls the whole front end together tight. Weird huh?
the other rotor nut?
Well this is just.... nuts... 
Ya, where'd that motor nut Bob go?
ShaggyMech
Socal Mechanic.
The only thing funkier that that brake assembly is yamaha's wiring for the heritage. To many interconnected series.
Something wrong there. I tighten mine up as least as tight maybe tighter than the axle nut. I don't get any binding.
Well....I never even thought about that rotor, I guess I’ll have to do some checking, I thought it seemed a little short on there.
More to look at tomorrow.
It doesn’t seem quite right to me either, I thought you might chime in. I have checked to make sure all the necessary spacers are in there and they are.... in the correct order.
It does have an aftermarket front caliper that maybe has slightly different clearances? Everything feels solid when I tighten up the crown nut, no wiggle anywhere.
You might want to double check that the bearings are fully seated. If they aren't you'll side load the bearings when you tighten the nut up. I wouldn't take much for that to happen.
Look and see if the woodruff key didn't partially cock out the back. Not uncommon....
Where the binding occurs is the brake caliper, more of a serious drag than binding. Tightening that nut on the axle doesn’t bother the axle assembly. It could even be that I need to compress the brake pads and let everything get centered. I might just pull the brake caliper tomorrow and see how it is. When I took the front end apart today, that nut was already loose, I probably tightened it when I built the bike but there is nothing to hold it tight. It is not a lock nut and there is no lock washer. It’s just a weird design.
Ok you guys got me going with this one, I was so worried I had done something wrong that I went back out after dinner and dismantled everything. I checked the fit again, and the woodruff key , no change. Then I got out my old rotor and tried it on, it fit just the same. So then I started digging through my photo archives.
The rebuilt rotor from Jim,
And my bike when I rebuilt my motor the first time. It looked the same.
Then I looked for other examples online, and found a couple,
And here is my 77D, the threaded shaft extends all the way to flush with the end. I found lots of examples like this online.
The only thing I can attribute this to is perhaps a difference in thread length on early crankshafts.
So as for right now, it’s all in pieces again on the garage floor.
Oh well, something to do tomorrow.
Says they guy restoing a XS750.
OK. I just had the front end apart on mine. Replaced forks and caliper/brake pads.Bleed the brake.I noticed after I had it back together it didn't spin as easily as I remembered. Took it all back apart and rechecked. It was the brake pads dragging.
The thing is if your drag is the same as mine it shouldn't matter whether the nut is tight or loose. If you think it's the pads dragging push them back, tighten the nut and see how it feels.
Good of you to follow up on the rotor nut. Sorry for the alert, but it is noticeable to see.
You da man
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No you’re quite right, it looks like something isn’t right. Just for the record there is 10mm of exposed thread for that nut.
