Igg-nernt question here: Why new bearings? You can't get the "old" new ones out without damaging them?

The outer races are not reachable with a long punch to work them out. So, you have to drive them out by the inner race thereby rendering them useless.



Skull and 2M and possibly Gary, I think you have all sent me this service bulletin regarding the front brake disc rubber dampers that are obsolete. I have read the bulletin and I am having trouble figuring it out exactly. Here is the bulletin.
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The way I read this, what is supposed to happen is, there was an o- ring that goes on and it serves the same function as the rubber dampers. So you put the o ring on and throw away the rubber dampers. Do I have that right?
Because my brake disc had an o ring PLUS the two rubber dampers.
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I have every piece inside this red circle.

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So , what do you think? Did someone add the o-ring and just leave the dampers in place instead of throwing them away?
 
The outer races are not reachable with a long punch to work them out. So, you have to drive them out by the inner race thereby rendering them useless.

Ah. Yup, that'd do it.

One of my jobs, back in Ancient History when I still worked for a living, was as the Assistant Maintenance Manager in a sardine cannery. I can't imagine a nastier environment for things mechanical. Cold and wet and the wet was SALT WATER! Needless to say, bearings were a consumable...

For reasons I was never able to get a logical explanation for, the "cutting room" had it's own maintenance people. This is where fish fresh off the boat were run through machines that cut the heads and tails off. Constant flood of salt water to keep things moving and wash away the waste, so the mechanicals of the cutting machines were rebuilt on a regular basis.

At one point there was a major surge in failures, rebuilt parts were lasting a month or less vs. the quarterly rebuilds that had been the norm. The Big Cheese asked me to look into it and see if I could spot the problem. So, I wandered out to their shop and watched their "mechanic" rebuild a cutter shaft. Long and horrifying story short: He was installing the new bearings by laying them loosely in the bore and then centering a big brass drift (gotta be gentle with these bearings ya know...) ON THE CENTER BORE OF THE BEARING and beating the crap out of them with a BFH to get them into place. If they got cocked, no problem, just hit them harder.

Reported my findings upstairs, and the "mechanic's" boss got all pissy and said I must have some sort of vendetta against Bearing Boy because he was the finest mechanic he'd ever known.

I rolled my eyes so hard I could see my sinus cavities and walked out of the meeting. Bearing Boy was given the opportunity to seek other avenues of employment soon thereafter.
 
I’m doing the Yamaha shuffle. One step forward , two steps back.

Today was another mixed bag, this is getting to be a pattern, good....bad....good....bad.

GOOD....
My painted parts arrived! I was out in the garage when the FedEx truck pulled up, the guy hopped out with this great big box and handed it to me , and the first thing I realized was that it smelled VERY strongly of fresh paint.
BAD....
I opened up the box and immediately saw paint splashed all over inside the box! Bad! Oh this is very bad! They had included a bottle of touch up paint and the bottle had ruptured and spilled it’s entire contents all over the inside of the box!
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Fortunately they had packed everything ( except that bottle of paint ) very well and the paint didn’t penetrate the packing.
GOOD.....VERY GOOD!
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The paint is beautiful, they really did a great job. This is the first time I ever splurged for a factory style paint job.
I had them line the tank also, with a 3M product that he told me is approved by the FAA for lining aircraft gas tanks.
They send it out to a specialist for that job.
So the tins are packed away waiting for the big finish!

Then I turned to face the new threat. I began disassembly of the forks to clean, rebuild and polish. I just started breaking down the right leg when I noticed this.
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Oh Crap!!! BAD BAD BAD! How did I not notice this when I was taking the bike apart? If all that boss did was mount the fender I’d just make it work, but as you know the fender serves as a fork brace and is subject to some heavy twisting and those threads ( what’s left of them ) are crap! So once again , two steps back.
Now I’m considering my options, not many good ones. Either source a new fork lower, which more likely means having to buy another complete set of forks, or get it welded up , drill and tap. Jeeze Louise! I sure would like to see a job through to completion. I keep starting jobs only to have to stop ,order parts , start something else, and order more parts.
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Yeah, me and Douglas MacArthur..........
 
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Me tooooo....Dr. F@ck-up here.

I once slid on three Corvair cylinders (flat-six - 3 cylinders per side - just like a big VW Beetle) and then torqued the head on....without noticing that one set of piston rings was still sitting on my bench.

Well, sh!ts of hell - off she came, chop-chop. Dammit.
 
Jeesh Bob. You're certainly having more than your fair share of challenges on this one. One step forward, two steps back.
On a positive note. that paint looks gorgeous!

Hang in buddy, you were looking for a retirement project, right? No rush on this one. Take your time and enjoy the journey.

You're doing a great job and also a great job of documenting everything. Thank you for all that additional work.
 
Thanks Robin! Oh I get a little dramatic but nothing is insurmountable. Haha! I have a tendency to type my thoughts as I was experiencing them.
I’ve been thinking about that fork leg, there are a couple of shops that do welding repair as well as heli arc work near here. I might give them a call or just run over there and see what they would charge to fill in the hole and build it back up to full height, then I could just grind it back into shape more or less and drill and tap it. I would like to think I could do all that for less than $50.
The alternative is a lot more money. There’s a full set of beat up forks on eBay. Also a NOS lower leg that’s going for BIG money.
I’ve even thought about filling it with epoxy and drilling and tapping it.
Just thinking about options for now.
 
......what they would charge to fill in the hole and build it back up to full height, then I could just grind it back into shape more or less and drill and tap it.
A good machine shop could do the whole repair Bob. Not sure the cost.... but it might be well worth it to just hand it to 'em and say "fix it."
 
Looks to be some thread left in the hole. .......How about a good clean build it up with JB weld and tap it and use a longer bolt so it bottoms out.........your trying to find a one year set of forks or a single........is that the right hand side silly one??........could take a while if you go that way.........

Dam your doing a full resto...........does the better half know that keeping you home is costing her that holiday........lol
 
Looks that way Bob..........is says the O ring is a replacement and to discard the dampers.......but hell if they are both there and it works........Or take out one and reuse the other when needed................
 
Wow - those tins look superb Bob!

I’d go along to a MC shop and show it to them and see what they say about a weld / repair. Those guys can do amazing things like repair an injection mold right on the parting line and afterward - you canNOT see the weld and the mold will work like new.

Given the function of the fender as a fork brace....that’s certainly the best way to go IMO.
 
Hard to imagine the feelings as you opened that box of tins with red paint everywhere! Bet you had to sit down when the tins were good!
I'd for sure post up in the classies here looking for a spare 72 leg. Require a picture before payment cause htat's things so odd. LOL. like you say I have a spare 72 set but it's complete from handle bar clamps and tensioner knob to the tire.
 
Hard to imagine the feelings as you opened that box of tins with red paint everywhere! Bet you had to sit down when the tins were good!
I'd for sure post up in the classies here looking for a spare 72 leg. Require a picture before payment cause htat's things so odd. LOL. like you say I have a spare 72 set but it's complete from handle bar clamps and tensioner knob to the tire.

Yeah I was a little freaked out when I opened that box for sure!

There is a NOS lower right leg only on eBay for about $200

And there is a really beat up compete fork set for about the same price.
 
I would keep an eye on eBay, something cheap may pop up. And don't limit your search to just '72. Many sellers don't know what they have and list stuff incorrectly. Many sellers probably don't even know the '72 fork lowers are so unique.
 
I would keep an eye on eBay, something cheap may pop up. And don't limit your search to just '72. Many sellers don't know what they have and list stuff incorrectly. Many sellers probably don't even know the '72 fork lowers are so unique.

Yeah the beater forks I saw, said they fit 72-76. Haha!
 
Is that big bike boneyard still out by the airport? Might be worth a trip.
 
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