Harley wheel bearings mated to stock XS 17mm axle, HOW?

[Rexxis]

I've been reading as much as I can abt matching a Harley hub to a stock XS 17mm axle and I can't find a definitive fix. If I have missed the answer to my question here, then please, someone point me in the right direction.

Let me start off by saying I'm running a Wargasser spool out front, not a Harley hub, But for the purpose of this thread that isn't important bc the ID of the bearing is the same as HD bearings, 3/4".

The OD of the bearing that came with the spool is 1 5/8". It seems, after several days of visiting and calling bearing suppliers, that nobody makes a bearing with a standard OD and a metric ID in the size I need(1 5/8 OD, 17mm ID).

So, therein lies the problem. I figured I would have a machine shop turn a sleeve for me that I can run between the axle and the bearing to fill the gap. 3/4" = 19.05mm. 19.05mm minus 17mm = 2.05mm. That means the sleeve will only be BARELY over 1mm thick. That sounds way too thin to be realistic to me.. or am I wrong here? Has anybody done this?

So now I'm thinkin' what if you get a bearing with the same OD but with a ID of 7/8?
7/8" = 22.249mm. 22.249mm - 17mm = 5.249mm
That would put the sleeve at 2.62mm thick which sounds a lil more doable.
EDIT**********
It seems you can't change one dimension of a bearing without the other one changing as well. The only ID for a bearing with a 1 5/8"OD is 3/4".

I know I'm not the only person who has ran into this problem so a definite answer would be awesome!

Thoughts or experience?

 

[Rexxis]

Well, I think I've got this solved. Wedman Motorsports here in Oklahoma City has a monster Hayabusa drag bike aptly name "Gahzirra". (If it doesnt make sense, try it in an asian accent)

Anyway, he had the same type of issue with that bike and he killed two birds with one stone. He combined a sleeve and wheel spacers by making two stepped spacers. The smaller diameter part is the sleeve that goes between the axle and the bearing and the larger diameter part is the wheel spacer. He said that if it works on that bike, then it will work fine on mine. This is what he's making for me for abt $80. Not bad.

Ill put pictures up in a few days when I get my parts back from him.

So, if you're trying to do this too, find a local motorcycle shop that does machinework. I'm thinking dealerships arent' the right places to call, try privately owned shops and whatnot.