New toys arrived on post today New Clip Ons and Hand Grips Dark Titanum color that looks too shiny on the picture And also new radials Also finished dissasembling rear wheel and swing arm Both in very good condition, and both will be sent to powdercoating. Swing arm was very badly hand painted in black (you could still notice the traces of the brush) Bearings, axles and the rest are in very good condition, though I may change them for new ones. Talking about bearings.. Can anyone advice on how to remove this one from the bottom triple clamp?? Following Arquebus recommendation, I will send the full yoke to be anodized Thats all for now
One way of doing it is to hammer a knife-edge into the crack between the bearing inner race and the yoke, at different points around the circle. The knife-edge soon gets ruined, so be ready to grind a new edge on the tool when necessary. Remove the rollers and cage first, obviously. If the bearing inner has corroded severely onto the stem, you might have to resort to grinding right through the race - a tedious job!
I have a 150mm length of engineering hacksaw blade (approx 40mm wide and 2mm thick or more) which is ground to a sharp edge across the 40mm width......the round end is kept for hitting. ....I used that to start shifting the bearing by a mm or so ( a woodworking chisel might work, but blunt the end a bit) and then used wider blade screwdrivers working at 180 degrees around the bearing until I could clamp it the vice and twist it off........... I may have used heat and, I may have removed the roller cage off as well....can't remember.
Adecarcer, I used a small dremmel type tool with some of the small cut off blades. I cut through the outer and removed the cage. The cut through the inner shell as far as I could without cutting into the stem or yoke. You have to cut at an angle to get in as far as you can. Cut in as much as you can or dare and possibly in a few places. I then hit it with a chisel. sounds drastic but the material is very brittle and mine flew of in bits so wear goggles. I did this because I did not want to run the risk of denting surface where the bearing sits. That's what I did. Cheers Gaz
I removed the cage then put the inner sleeve which had corroded onto the shaft in a vice (ready to grind it off) and it cracked,Result !, without having to grind it, it's very brittle so give it a try.
Hope you received your brace, I had the same problem with long lead time from Steve but communication was good. The brace is hand made to order and very high quality and a perfect fit, also no one else sells them. Rebuild is looking good ! Keep the posts coming
Thanks all for the tips. Still fighting with the bearing. I'll be carefull as I don't want to scratch the yoke shaft. Regarding Steve Bailey, I don't mind waiting time to receive a purchase. Bearing in mind that he is supposed to be doing them in an artesanal way. What pisses me off is that I've sent him tons of e-mails with no answer on his side. Only the two first e-mails when we agreed price and delivery dates were properly and nice anwered by him. Since them, no answers either to mails, PM, or phone calls none of the two phone numbers he states in his web page seem to work (just automated voice mail he never answers). My mistake is that, instead of purchasing in e-bay, I just sent him the PayPal transfer that has already been pay and that can not be rejected becaues PayPal states that this is not a transaction, just a transfer between particulars. Is the first time in many years I've been so obviusly robbed No point in continuing wondering, If he was a serious guy he would had either responded or refunded my money. So far soo good. 100 bucks gone down the drain and the problem still persists. ¿how can I find an alterante solution to this issue? I'm planning to remove the engine this afternoon or during next week (i'll keep you posted) and then send the frame to a welding expert to see how we can figure a solution. My soldering skills are limited and I don't want to spoil such as beautiful birdcage thanks for all your help
The vice idea worked great!! It didn't crack, but gave me sufficient vertical grip to "gently" hammer the sleve out. It came out like a breeze First I had to break the cage with pliers. next step, .. send this ugly triple clamp to be sanded and anodyzed (tytanium color like the handle bars)
Not sure that you'll be able to anodise that clamp as it still has the steel tube attached. I tried to get the top clamp anodised too but it wouldn't take as its already had some kind of hard anodising treatment
Mmmm.. that is interesting. I will doublecheck with the anodysing specialist. In principle he told me that it could be fully anodysed. And if you look at the sampleworks he has in his web site, there are several clamps fully restored including the steel shaft.
Well, finally removed the engine. Now this baby is set apart while I figure how to sandblast (or soda blast) it without having to tear it apart. but that will be after summer. No my next step is to send the frame to powdercoat And REALLY GOOD NEWS!!! Finally Steve Bailey raised his hand and sent me the frame brace. No excuses, no explanations.. just sent the piece. So far, so good. A very nice piece of craftmanship, though I would rather have a better communication with the seller. It fits perfect and will be also powdercoated (luckily next week) toghether with the frame. Removing the internal part of the yoke bearings from the frame was a bit of a hazzle. But nothing a good bearing extractor could not handle cheers Tom
Its up to him to communicate but one mitigating factor may have been the fact that a mate of mine has had his laptop in for repairs for a couple of weeks. I need another brace for my other 900SS, I might just get a batch done and then offer an overnight service!
Hi Tom, I tried soda blasting my engine but it was so grubby it had little effect, I used sand, more aggressive but still a good finish, just make sure you block off all the ports, the sand gets everywhere. Also the brace in your picture is correctly fitted, you can fit it upside down and it interferes with the fuel tank as I found out, just make sure you always fit it as in your photo.
Thanks for the tip on the brace Iguana. I didn't realize that. Regarding to sand blasting the engine, I was this morning at the powdercoating shop to give them the frame and asked about sanding the engine. they insisted it had to be fully dissasembled to do a proper sanding, and I'm not too much into that as my mechnical skills are not that good and I fear not being able to bring it back toghether porperly. Did you dissasembled yours for sand blasting? Another option should be carefully degreasing and cleaning and then just painting it with heat resistant paint. I did that with the Kawa and it looks great and has not peeled or weared at all. thanks Tom
For the same reasons as you I didn't disassemble the engine, I used a sand blast gun (with my compressor ) and blasted it in the garden , as long as you tape up seals and plug holes it will be ok. Problem with painting is that eventually it will peel, you will be surprised how clean the engine comes up with a good blast, I used kiln dried fine sand from a builders merchant £5 a bag, much cheaper than the proper grit.
All, In the intrest of health and safety (boooooo) I feel I must warn against using sand, please do some research as it can cause respiratory problems. Be careful out there boys and girls. Cheers Gaz
While considering sandblasting (and after Gaz's serious advice,I will consider it very carefully ) I felt like I first needed to fully clean the engine to find out what is the real need. First I hang the engine to have better acces using a simple winch I have in my garage Carefully sealed all holes and sadly sighed upfront the load of work to be done grease and rust of many years were all over.. Nothing that a couple of hours work and some bottles of KH-7 and other degreasers could not remove.... this is how it looks now definitely.. I needs to be painted.
I also received this morning the frame coming from the powdercoating I'm sure nobody is going to like it.. but here it is Ta Daaaa !!!!!! No, seriously guys It told you I wanted it orange!! picture is very bad quality on the color, as it is a very bright orange I'll try to post other pictures under sunlight. It's challenging I know... but, the more I see it.... Next to the paint shop, swing arm, rearsets, and some other minor parts. Best Tom
