I picked up some nuts to lock down the drive chain adjustment bolts on the swing arm, but my whole rear wheel assembly still loosened up and the alignment would be off again and the chain would slacken after even a light ride around. Serious head scratching, right? Well, closer inspection would reveal that the rear wheel spacer, or what Honda refers to as COLLAR, RR. AXLE DISTANCE 42620-404-000 doesn't seems quite right in my hub as it seems to be free floating between the two rear hub bearings. There's seriously at least a quarter of an inch of play in there so all the load has been carried by the bearings and the dampers, which I would guess is why the slack in the chain. Another potential death defying experience.
Here's a bad pic of the spacer:
And if y'all recall, I was told that the rim was from a 16" Harley which was said to be a common mod back in the day for stability or something like that. But if the collar/spacer was left like that, I would bet that was the reason the bike was kept in a shed after all of those years and was never corrected.
So now, I'm looking to correct the issue. Since it appears that the bearing retainer is shot on this hub, I'll have to scour around for a replacement and probably rebuild that one (including a re-lace and replacement of bearings and seals and retainers, etc. Anyone have a decent entire rear wheel assembly fit for a '77 CB550F?