Topic: 750 axle cap space

[johnyvilla]

I am second guessing myself because I saw a 750 with its front fork axle-caps, installed opposite of mine on this forum.

They should be installed with the gap in front, right?

[Bill/BentON Racing]

Wrong ,gap goes towards rider.Bill

[johnyvilla]

Yikes!

Thanks.

[GammaFlat]

I believe Honda calls for the gaps to be in the front.  I imagine I could be wrong but I remembered trying to think of a way to remember this little factoid and the best I could come up with was that the gap became a bug catcher.  hmmm, you have me wondering now. 

[GammaFlat]

Here's a very interesting reference on the topic:

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=55545.0

[MCRider]

Wrong ,gap goes towards rider.Bill

I would have agred with you for a hundred years until I read here from HondaMan that the manual is wrong and the gap goes forward. He cites references from Honda Factory mechanics and he himself was an insider at the time. (But I know you were/are also.)

Someone else weighed in with a computer generated stress test confirming the gap should be in the front.

Maybe he'll chime in. I'll search for his thread.

PS: I see GammaFlat has already referenced the thread.

This could become an "oil thread" hot topic.   

[Steve_K]

I put the space to the rear, but I think it is more important to torque the space side last.  I am open to suggestions as to the better method, space front or rear.
Steve_K

[HondaMan]

Not again... 

When I started as a honda mechanic, circa 1969, I was assigned for the first 3 months to be the Assembler of new bikes out of their crates (it was a shop tradition, to teach you about the bikes). ALL of the Hondas came with the gaps in the front, despite what the various manuals said, straight from the factories. It was a point on the cheklist, done by the shop manager, after the assembly. I did get it wrong on a few at first, and was reprimanded, so it was always easy to remember after that.

A mechanical stress analysis will show that the forces involved in a bump incident will enter the rear stud with far less shear (i.e., strees vector enters at an angle) if the faces meet flat. In real life, the studs are so big that I doubt anyone would ever shear one off: I once changed oil on a California rider's bike (at our Illinois shop) who was on a cross-country two, two-up, and one of the nuts on the front cap was missing altogether! There was no damage, and he never noticed until I pointed it out and sold him a nut and the two washers. It was bolted flush on the back side, front one missing.

[johnyvilla]

Thanks Mark!

[mystic_1]

Cripes, and here I've been running mine wrong for years and years now.  Will flip them around when I get around to reassembly.

mystic_1

[Bill/BentON Racing]

Oh this is cool,Hondaman  made good pts,I was going on personal experience,but many a bike got built @ the shops I was in,lots of time F/wheel was main istallation,you got my curiosity up,will check with some other "Honda folks",was not in a Honda dealership until 1978.Bill,I do agree torque the close end first.

[Bill/BentON Racing]

OK,wasn't in the shop in 69,but have a provisional manual from 69 CB750,the one you would get before Official shop manual was released,it has pic of f/wheel with gap in REAR,doesn't make it right,its what it is!Will post pic later tonite,gotta go do the real work thing.Will also call Neil Nicholls he and his dad were builders for me,Neil also old school registered tech and performance nut, and let him chime in.Sometimes theres more than one answer.Bill

[Freaky1]

There is a small raised "F" on the caps also, I recall reading that this needs to be on the outside, am I right?

[HondaMan]

I am second guessing myself because I saw a 750 with its front fork axle-caps, installed opposite of mine on this forum.

They should be installed with the gap in front, right?

Yes. They all originally came from Honda, in the crates, with the gap in the front. The wheel was not mounted, but had to be installed by the Assembler person, and the instructions were, "Gap goes toward the front". The caps were snugged down on the forks in those crates with the gaps to the front as a reminder.

I probably assembled 100 of these bikes when I started as a Honda wrench...