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This is the o-ring that was designed to replace it,
For whatever reason, when I took my front end apart, I had both pieces already installed,
And here you can see how the o-ring and those rubber bumpers both lay against the flat area inside the hub. When the wheel is assembled it tightens up against all of them ( in my case ) because I left all of them in there.
I also have a photo album of the whole front disc arrangement in my albums.
My guess is that the o-ring prevents the carrier from rotating away from hub portion that fits into the carrier. Maybe more effective than the rubber pieces alone because the o-ring has more surface area in contact with the carrier.
I'll jam some rubber bits in the slots and see how it goes.
Yep, different design than we're accustomed to: Yamaha's first disc. The design is similar to rear sprocket hubs of that period for them. The other disc brake of the period was the floating caliper on the CB750. Guessing Yamaha thought the rotor should have some "give" or expansion room (?). If you look at the rotor carrier, it is designed to "bottom" against the wheel hub's flange. I imagine that the O-ring design might distribute the load more evenly around the hub than the pads: just spit-ballin', not studied it or tried variations properly assembled and torqued.
This is a good thread. I’d always heard about those rubber pieces but was always told not to mess them up because your disc would be rendered un-usable. This makes me feel a lot better about having that system still on my ‘72.
I've wondered the same @patentgeek Haven't found one of these kits installed (yet) but was thinking the spacer between the bearings is a different length? If not why ruin two bearings to remove the old one?
There's two 72's here that I haven't opened. @jpdevol when you get in here,
and @GLJ you're the 72 expert @Mailman You got anything?
What I use is strapping. Cut it and bend to fit. Then do a test fit. Strapping is made in several thicknesses. You want a good tight fit. Then I "glue" it in place with 3M weatherstrip adhesive. Assembly can be a bit fiddly. You have to make sure the pieces don't move when assembling. With a tight fit I have had to use the axle and spacers to press the hub into the carrier when putting the wheel on the bike. I've had good success doing this. On my original XS2 I've got close to 10K smiles on a set of these dampeners. They are now starting to get loose but there is no clanging like when there is nothing in there.
I tried black RTV, that lasted less than 1000 smiles. Yamahabond less than 500. I also tried to use intertube rubber. It was too thick, all the old tubes I have are heavy duty.