Well, back at it again for another installment. Now that the swingarm is in place, time to turn some attention to the rear wheel. Here it is, in all of its glory
The spokes were installed at Woody's Wheel Works in Denver. I got their "Superlace Supersize" package that utilizes a heavier-gauge spoke set at a slightly different angle than stock so as to locate the spoke geometry closer to 90 degrees to the hub plane. Here are a couple of pics shamelessly purloined from their website that demonstrates this concept
Woody's says that this will make the wheel stronger and less prone to broken spokes (as on the wheel at left in this pic), and gives a one-year guarantee against loosening or breakage of the spokes
Woody's definitely knows their business. While I was there, Andy Parks from the Vintage Aero museum came by and dropped off a spare wheel set for re-spoking and truing for this sweet little machine
The above plane lives about twenty minutes away from me at a small rural airport. It's a 7/8 scale replica of a Royal Aircraft SE5a, a British fighter ca. 1918. It and this full scale Fokker (pronounced "Fah-ker", not "Foe-ker"; and, definitely not "Fuh-..." well, you get the idea) DR1 replica
plus a couple of others fly out of Fort Lupton for special events around the area. Besides the planes, they have an extensive collection of WW1 memorabilia and uniforms; and I've done volunteer duty there, so it was like old home week to see them at Woody's.
Unfortunately, due to the economic downturn the museum has lost some significant funding, so these birds have been mostly grounded and the museum has, for all intents and purposes, been closed. I can only hope things will get better soon; it would be a shame to see the collection broken up and these iconic warbirds sold off.
But, I digress.
Back to the wheel. I installed new brake shoes, rubber dampers and wheel bearings. When time came to remove the bearing retainer, I did some searching on this site and got several good ideas as to how this could be accomplished. I tried them all, and none of them worked for me. I even had the guys down in the machine shop come up with a tool to no avail (Thanks Guys!). The retainer stubbornly refused to budge (yes, I was turning it in the right direction) and all I ended up doing was boogering up the spanner holes in the retainer. I finally broke down and went to Honda, and the guy behind the service counter said, "Sure, we can get that retainer off for you. There could be some trouble, though..."
I said, "Trouble?"
He said; "Yeah, they weren't one of Honda's brightest inventions; these old things get stuck on there, and they can be a bear to get off. Depends on when it was last removed. I've seen 'em break the tool, or they can twist the hub, or I've heard of 'em shattering into a million pieces..."
By this time I was starting to get slightly alarmed; visions of the retainer exploding into shrapnel and taking out the entire shop almost brought me back to the War. But, of course, it had to be done, so I left the wheel and new bearings with him with his promise to call me if anything disastrous occurred. Fortunately, the procedure was accomplished without loss of life or limb, and I got the potential WMD back the next day replete with new bearings. However, you can see in this shot where they had to torch the retainer to get it to move
This is a shot of the rear axle and constituent parts; axle and nut, wheel spacer, wheel stoppers and chain adjusters, plus a bunch of bolts, nuts and washers
I pre-installed the spacer and chain adjuster, then inserted the axle from the brake side. There's not much reason to grease the axle before installing it as the bearings are sealed, and the axle, once in place, doesn't move. At most, a little grease will help make installation through the bearing seats a little easier, and might help cut down on corrosion. I sprayed the axle down with a liberal coating of Boeshield, before installing it into the hub
Something to be aware of here, are the little punch marks on the wide end of the chain adjusters. Make sure that these are correctly oriented to the top prior to assembling the axle stack because if you don't, you won't be able to adjust the chain and you'll have to take everything back apart again. Like I did.
On the chain side, I slipped on the chain adjuster and axle nut/washer
With everything in place, I picked up the wheel and slid it into the axle slots on the swingarm, spreading the chain adjusters slightly to fit over the slot "legs". On the brake side, the spacer fits between the wheel and fork...
One thing to note about the spacer. There are two types for the CB550: the longer spacer is used on the earlier "smooth" brake plates, like mine, while the shorter one was installed with the "reinforced" plate (inset) that became standard for the "K" models in '77, IIRC. This brake plate has a longer "nose" due to an extended internal axle bearing, so it requires a shorter spacer. These plates are not interchangeable, so the right plate with the correct hub (and spacer) is required
I slid the wheel all the way to the front of the axle slot to more easily install the chain
With the wheel on the bike, I next installed the wheel stops. These fit in between the legs on the axle slot and are affixed with a bolt and washer; the bolt hole in the bottom leg is threaded, so the bolt just torques right in. Of course, anyone who knows me knows my penchant for overkill; I went one better (at least in my own mind) on Honda and used longer bolts here. After torquing them down to specs, I installed washers, split washers and nuts on the bottom just to add a little more assurance that the axle doesn't move (inset). It's not required; that's just the way I am.
On to the chain. I purchased it from David Silver Spares, and it seems like a good, quality chain. I soaked it in lacquer thinner overnight, then used a soft brass brush on it and sprayed it down with a good degreaser to get rid of the packing goop. I'm using Chain Wax for lube
and it requires the chain be warmed up before use; they recommend riding the bike around for a few minutes to get the chain prepared but, obviously, I can't do that. I toyed momentarily with tossing it into the oven in the house, but that wouldn't fly with SWMBO and, frankly, I just don't need that kind of grief; so what I did was stretch it out in the driveway and let the sun have at it.
Anyone who has worked on any kind of vehicle in Colorado knows how quickly steel hand tools can heat up in the sun here at 5,000+ feet. Lay your spark plug wrench aside for a couple of seconds, and the damned thing will nearly fry your hand off the next time you go to grab for it.
Within twenty minutes of laying out on the pavement in high altitude sun on a clear summer's day that chain was so hot I could barely handle it. I carried it into the garage tossing it from hand to hand, then hung it from a bolt on the garage door track and commenced to liberally soak it down from top to bottom with chain wax, paying particular attention to the inside of the rollers. I let it sit for a couple of minutes, then flipped it 180 degrees and hit it again. I left it hanging there while I went about mounting the wheel (about an hour), then wiped it off with a shop cloth to remove the excess wax before installation.
Installing the chain couldn't be easier. It's as simple as
Note that I installed the above master link clip with the closed end pointing in the direction of chain travel (to the right in this case; remember that the chain moves in a counter-clockwise direction during normal operation).
With the chain on, I added a little grease to the bearing surface on the wheel stops for the chain adjuster screws...
...then swung the chain adjusters up, pulled back on the wheel to tauten the chain and ran the bolts in, aligning the adjusters evenly using the alignment marks on the swingarm and the punched marks on the adjusters. This may or may not correctly align the front and rear wheels; there are those who have noted that the swingarm marks are not always accurate, so I'll be using the method outlined in the Chilton's book to check alignment. When I do that, I'll post it here
I adjusted the bolts evenly until I attained the required
3/4 inch chain deflection measured at the middle of the bottom run, then tightened down the lock nuts. This is a preliminary setting, and only because the bike is on the CS; it must be re-checked after the bike is back on the ground, so I'll get back to it later.
Here's the procedure as stated in the '74 CB550 Owner's Manual:
"Adjust to provide approximately 3/4 inch (20mm) of [minimum] chain slack at a point midway between the drive sprocket and the rear wheel sprocket. Rotate the wheel and recheck slack at other sections of the chain. Slack must not be less than 3/4 inch (20mm) at a point midway between the sprockets, regardless of the chain section at which measurement is taken"
So, rotate the wheel and check at several spots on the chain for minimum slack before locking in the setting.
Chain, installed
And, what the heck, since I'm here I might as well add the inner fender. Here it is. No mounting hardware; just a big 'ol hunk of ABS plastic
It slides down into the frame and connects to it by means of three-fingered clips welded to each of the rear down tubes
Left side...
...and right
These should be sufficient to hold the inner fender in place until I install the rear fender
Next, the chain case (chain guard). Here is is with its mounting hardware: three bolts, a nut and various washers; two case collars and an oval-shaped standoff; and a stamped metal brace
Something I might mention here that both of these ABS pieces, and others on the bike, have been restored using Mother's "Back to Black". It's like Flitz for plastic
The brace slides into the case; it's been formed to match the molding of the case...
...and it's attached using one of the case collars and a bolt that are inserted from the inboard (wheel) side...
...with a nut and lock washer on the inside of the case that locks the brace into place
The case fits down over the chain, and is connected on the inboard side by these three clips welded to the swingarm, similar to those on the frame for the inner fender (insets). The case just slips down between the clips, where the middle "prong" has a dimple that grabs the "lip" formed into the perimeter of the case
On the outboard side, I installed the remaining two bolts, case collar, and fender washer. A small oval-shaped standoff fits into a similar shaped hole at the first (front) bolt location (inset); the bolt is then inserted using the fender washer for case support. The little standoff allows some wiggle room while installing the chain case, so I left the bolt loose until everything else was in place
The next (rear) bolt is attached utilizing the second case collar. This bolt runs through the chain case, then the chain case support bracket, and screws into the mounting lug on the swingarm, trapping the bracket between the case and mount (inset). With both of the bolts in place, I tightened everything down to final specs
To complete the chain install, I mounted the sprocket and starter motor covers. The starter motor cover has a little gasket that fits up inside it before assembly (inset)
One thing I'd like to point out in the above pic is that I'm replacing the engine bolts here and elsewhere with stainless allen screws. Stainless steel and aluminum don't really get along very well with each other, which can result in galling and/or galvanic corrosion of the bolt/case threads and of the bolt head itself, either of which will lock those bolts up tighter than a spinster's sphincter. In the case of the bolt heads galvanicaly welding themselves to the cases, a simple washer under the bolt head alleviates the problem. For stainless steel bolts into aluminum threads, it has been recommended... nay, it is
required that anti-seize be used on these bolts so that they may be removed again, if necessary. It's that important
And, for our purposes, Loctite recommends a zinc based anti-seize for use on the cover bolts, especially important with stainless steel.
For the final step, now that everything else is in place, I torqued the axle bolt to spec and added the cotter pin
So, there it is: wheel, chain and guard. While I didn't get as far as I was hoping, I've gone on long enough. Next time I plan to install the rear fender and front brake, and from there, who knows?
'til next time
