It's past time to start XS2 Resurrection

I don't see any reason why it shouldn't work. It does a much better job holding the grease in than the rubber ring that was stock on the later models. The top seal can be left out if you like. It really doesn't do anything. The bottom one is important because gravity will eventually work the grease down and out of the bearing, then out the bottom of the neck, making a mess. While gravity may do the same to the top bearing, that grease will just go down into the neck, not come out around the top.
Thank you too 5twins!!:cheers:
 
Got a few things done this week. Forks on, swingarm in and battery box in. Nice to see it starting to look like a bike again.
78.PNG

Made a modification to the swing arm bolt. I've read about 5T's swingarm mod and I don't think there is anything wrong with it. I decided to try something different.
76.PNG
I took .015 off of the shaft between the black marks on the swingarm bolt. My reasoning was it's a pretty tight fit between the bolt and the tube. This gives the grease an easier path to get to the holes in the tube. This puts the grease into the center of the bearing where hopefully it will spread evenly. Before I did this I checked and the holes in the bolt and tube are in the same spot. For them to line up close to each other is a crap shoot.
I also needed to get the springs off of the rear shocks. I did not have a spring compressor. So I made one.
79.PNG

I know very well springs are very dangerous. I do not recommend this, but it did work. Best I could do with what I have laying around.
Now for a little bling time. Notice how ratty the spring adjuster looks on the shock.
80.PNG

They are not anywhere as good as if they were re-chromed, but they are a hell of a lot better than they were. All I did was degrease in the ultrasonic and soak in Evapo-Rust for 24 hours.
That's all for this week, not moving at the speed of Mailman, but I am having fun.It's nice to slow down and enjoy the journey.
 
Aftermarket rear shocks? Look like Mulhollands?
Good eye. Yes they are Mulhollands. Put them on the bike around 1978. Not a bad shock. They still fell like they have good rebound dampening.
I made up fittings for my press to do shock work, one for open springs, one for shocks with spring covers. They really work slick .....
Very nice setup for your press. I do have a 50 Ton press but it will have to stay in storage as I just don't have room for it.
 
I've had a couple sets of Mulhollands over the years and they always worked well for me.
 
Oh man, I forgot about that Hurricane! I’d be on that like a duck on a June bug! It’s just begging for a resto!
Yes I have other irons that could go into the fire. When I get done or close to done with this bike I have to decide what the next project will be.
 
Little progress here and there. Some setbacks.
Got the disk brake housing painted. Bearings and seal showed up. I got 2RS type bearings. Popped the seals off to add grease. They are the right size but with a difference. The new bearings have more but smaller balls. Hmm Is it better to have big balls or more balls but smaller ones. After much internal debate I decided to go with the new bearings. Packed them, reinstalled seals and installed in housing with new seal. When I start riding it I'll check them after a short time.
83.PNG

Next up the disk.
I liked the looks of what Mailman did on his with the button head bolts. I had ordered some for mine. Upon further review I decided not to use them. The originals are a shoulder bolt. When they are in the hole the shoulder keeps side to side movement to a minimum. I know when it's a bolted together nothing should move. Yamaha must have had their reason for specking a shoulder bolt. Other thing I noticed was the disk and carrier formed a shelf that locked the bolt head in place. I believe they did this on purpose since they have a locking tab on the nut to make sure it doesn't loosen.
85.PNG
84.PNG

It's all back together and on the bike along with a freshly rebuilt caliper.
89.PNG

Friday 4 packages showed up. The chain guard from E-bay was one of them. It is in nicer shape than I had hoped. Could pass for NOS. My aftermarket shocks are causing a clearance problem. A little lathe time and a spacer was born. Looks nice but won't work. Not enough clearance for sprocket bolts.
88.PNG

90.PNG

With just a washer in there it clears but is crooked. What I need to do is cut a notch in it for the shock springs. I hate to because it's in such nice shape.Could use the one from the other XS2, I may the condition of it's chrome would match the chrome on this bike pretty well or just leave it crooked.
Also had to order parts for the front mount. Hurry up and wait.
Worked on mounting rear fender. More problems. Maybe post tomorrow about it.
 
Nice work! I remember being worried if the bearings being sold for the brake caliper were sized correctly, I’m glad that worked out for you. By the way I also used the regular hex head bolts that were original to my front disc for exactly the reasons you mentioned.
I am also glad you confirmed something for me, concerns about aftermarket shocks not fitting against the chainguard. I’m going to try my stockers and see how they are, if they’re shot I was thinking about Hagons. I’d be very reluctant to cut my nice chainguard.
You’re making good progress, I’m enjoying watching build the same bike I’m working on.
Keep up the good work! :cheers:
 
Been a couple of weeks since I updated this thread. Probably break it up into a couple of posts.
I'll start with the chain guard. I just could not bring myself to cut the one I got off of EBay. So I went with the one from my other 72. I bought that bike for any needed parts I couldn't obtain. Chain guard cleaned, notched and mounted.
100.PNG

101.PNG
EBay guard for now is garage art. I think it looks good on the wall with the Snap On Mugs.
102.PNG

Also got the rear fender mounted. My original has the hole for the rear mount wallered out pretty badly. Once again taking parts from the other one.
103.PNG

Most of my rubber parts were in somewhat decent shape. But not the rubber parts for the rear fender. Was able to get the ones for the rear stay from Mikes and EBay. the 4 other ones no luck. When I was mounting the battery box I noticed the small ones were the right OD and ID for what I needed. I ordered 2 sets of battery box rubbers from Mikes. For the uppers I made washers and bored out a stop collar to hold them in place.
104.PNG

The lower stays had a different problem. They need to be capped. I took one of the unused big rubbers and cut the flat end off of it and then cut that up to put in the stay on top of the rubber. I didn't want the fender stay to hit on the steel peg. I may add stop collars and washer under the rubbers if needed to keep the rubbers from sliding down.
105.PNG

Next post other things I got done.
 
The new bearings have more but smaller balls. Hmm Is it better to have big balls or more balls but smaller ones.
Think of it this way.... if you only had 1 ball, the entire load would be carried by it. Make it 2 balls and each is only carrying half the load. 3 balls... a third each... you get my drift. The more balls you have the more durable the bearing will be.
 
Think of it this way.... if you only had 1 ball, the entire load would be carried by it. Make it 2 balls and each is only carrying half the load. 3 balls... a third each... you get my drift. The more balls you have the more durable the bearing will be.
Jim you may be 100% correct I do not know. There are other things to take into account. Contact surface area, speed of rotation etc. I know as I went through life sometimes having big balls was a good thing sometimes it got me in trouble.;)
 
I'm thinking that whole design proved to be a failure. Costly to build and prone to bearing failure. If it was so good, all bikes would be like that, right? I don't think I've ever seen another with that funky set-up.
 
Back
Top