FJ1200 rear wheel swap

[Terry in Australia]

OK, a little more work has happened since my last post. Last Friday week I dropped into All Tools and bought an ex-hire bearing puller kit for the bargain price of $100.00. Sadly, none of the pullers therein came close to removing the front wheel bearings.

No worries, I bought a better looking blind bearing puller kit on ebay for $37.00, with postage. The kit arrived on Wednesday, I attempted to pull the bearing, and one of the claws snapped off. The seller was great, he accepted that it was faulty, and he's sending me a new one on Monday.

Today I saw another kit on eBay for $89.00 which is specifically for removing motorcycle wheel bearings. Bugger it, I did the "Buy it now" thing, and it should arrive by mid next week.

Tonight, after not doing much all day I did a google search for "motorcycle wheel bearing remover" where I found a simple device that you can make in your own garage in 10 minutes, that'll pop those pesky wheel bearings out lickety split. I made said device and thumped the wheel bearings right out. Fantastic!

Anyone wanna buy 3 different wheel bearing removal kits? Cheap?

Here's a pic of my engineering "Hall of Shame" of bearing pullers, the Alltools kit, the ebay kit, and (the latest ebay kit will go straight onto a shelf once it arrives) the puller I made after reading the article I found with google. Cheers, Terry.

[The General]

Hahah! That`s classic, but educational. Thanks for sharing - but no I don`t need a puller. 

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah mate, I feel like a bit of a dope for not first googling before I got the visa card out, but I love that I now know how to make a puller that will work easily without doing any damage, so I'll be using the same principle for removing swingarm bushes, steering head bearings, etc etc.

In the last week I've also mastered welding aluminium (long story) and now the easy way of removing wheel bearings, so my poor old moth eaten brain is copping a hiding! Cheers, Terry.    

[Arnie]

The other "easy" way to remove wheel bearings would have been to ask here.
Quite a number of regulars on this forum would have happily saved you some $$ that you could re-direct into purchase of more important things like petrol and beer. :-)

[oldktmdude]

The other "easy" way to remove wheel bearings would have been to ask here.
Quite a number of regulars on this forum would have happily saved you some $$ that you could re-direct into purchase of more important things like petrol and beer. :-)

Arnie, don't think you have your priorities in the correct order; Beer then petrol!   

[Arnie]

The other "easy" way to remove wheel bearings would have been to ask here.
Quite a number of regulars on this forum would have happily saved you some $$ that you could re-direct into purchase of more important things like petrol and beer. :-)

Arnie, don't think you have your priorities in the correct order; Beer then petrol!   

Nope!  I think its much better to drink after riding than before. :-)  Cheers

[movenon]

The other "easy" way to remove wheel bearings would have been to ask here.
Quite a number of regulars on this forum would have happily saved you some $$ that you could re-direct into purchase of more important things like petrol and beer. :-)

Arnie, don't think you have your priorities in the correct order; Beer then petrol!   

Nope!  I think its much better to drink after riding than before. :-)  Cheers

Cupholders my friend, cupholders .......... 

[oldktmdude]

The other "easy" way to remove wheel bearings would have been to ask here.
Quite a number of regulars on this forum would have happily saved you some $$ that you could re-direct into purchase of more important things like petrol and beer. :-)

Arnie, don't think you have your priorities in the correct order; Beer then petrol!   

Nope!  I think its much better to drink after riding than before. :-)  Cheers

Cupholders my friend, cupholders .......... 

Love the way you think!   

[Terry in Australia]

The other "easy" way to remove wheel bearings would have been to ask here.
Quite a number of regulars on this forum would have happily saved you some $$ that you could re-direct into purchase of more important things like petrol and beer. :-)

Thanks for rubbing it in Arnie, but no worries, plenty of money left for life's little necessities, so no harm done.........   

[fj1289]

Petrol helps you get more beer quicker!

[Terry in Australia]

Well I learned something new today and I'm almost too frightened to mention it here 'lest one of the erstwhile members here tells me that I should have asked here first. Well, for the sake of taking one for the greater good of noobs everywhere, I'll still share my experience, in the hope that someone will pay attention and learn from my experience.

The OD of the FZ6R wheel bearing is 40mm, whereas the CX500 wheel bearings (with 15mm axle hole) is 42mm OD.
Oh well, off to the bearing shop I went. Sadly, when I got there, the bearing shop man told me that there is no such thing as a bearing with a 40mm OD and a 15mm ID. The only bearing with a 40mm OD, has a 17mm ID. Just like the one I removed from my wheel. Poop.

OK, now lesser men than me would have just burst into tears and given up, but (if I must say so myself) I am made of much sterner stuff. I bought a 12 inch length of 1 inch bronze bushing material ($60.50, ouch!) with the intent of making a really cool bush/spacer/bush assembly, i.e., one continuous length of material machined at either end to be a tight fit inside the 17mm bearing ID, then stepped up between the bearings to the exact length of the OE spacer (albeit bored to 15mm) then stepped down again at the other end to 17mm. I went back to work to while away the afternoon planning my evening's mechanical assault.

After a while though, I came to the conclusion that I wasn't 100% happy with the prospect of only having 1mm of fairly soft material between the bearing and the axle. not necessarily a major problem, but not great on a bike that's very heavy, and very fast. I went back to the google machine and studied other bearings available for a 15mm axle. As it turned out, the only one available has a 35mm OD. Hmmnn, so I still need to make a bush, but I'd rather have one 2.5mm thick rather than 1mm thick, so back to the bearing shop I go.

The young bloke who'd served me was great, and actually showed an insterest in what I was doing. He re-credited the $60.50 for the (now surplus to requirements) bronze bar, and fetched the bearings while I browsed the stocks of bushing material. We found some 2 inch dia bronze material, pre-bored to 3/4 inch (or thereabouts) but at $125.60 per 12 inch length, I decided that an alternate material like 6061 T6 aluminium would do fine. The new bearings were only $10.00 per side though, so that was great.

I did read elsewhere in this worthy tome that another member had a similar quandry which he managed to fix quite cheaply by using some sort of drill guide as a bushing betwixt the bearing and axle, so I might go back and read that before I go much further. Regardless, I'm far from beaten, and I will continue on until my FJ is sporting some flash new wheels with better brakes and stickier tyres. Cheers, Terry. 



   

[The General]

Well I learned something new today and I'm almost too frightened to mention it here...
... the man told me that there is no such thing with a 40mm OD and a 15mm ID  like the one I removed!

OK, now lesser men than me would have just burst into tears and given up, but (if I must say so myself) I am made of much sterner stuff. I bought a 12 inch length of 1 inch bronze bushing material ($60.50, ouch!) with the intent of making a really cool one to be a tight fit, then stepped up to while away the afternoon planning my evening's mechanical assault.

After a while though, I came to the conclusion that I wasn't 100% happy with only having fairly soft material between the very heavy, and very fast, google machine.... As it turned out, the only one available has a 35mm OD.The young bloke who'd served me was great, and actually showed an insterest in what I was doing. He re-credited the now surplus to requirements bronze bar, and fetched the 2 inch dia bronze material at $125.60 per 12 inch length ... only $10.00 per side though, so that was great.

I did read elsewhere in this worthy tome that another member had a similar quandry which he managed to fix quite cheaply by using some sort of guide ...so I might go back and read that before I go much further. Regardless, I'm far from beaten, and I will continue on. Cheers, Terry.     

Here ya go...
http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=8155.msg76174#msg76174

ummmm...I`m one of the lesser men that would have just burst into tears and given up! Combine that $60.50 thing with my heavy metal cane (for him ta bend over) and Candy might have to be deported!... He`ll want ta stay forever!
Great to see you taking some risk...Can`t wait ta see`m flash!. Look forward to meeting you on Wednesday. (I luv this stuff!...) please Continue. 

[Terry in Australia]

Well I didn't get a call from Doug on Wednesday, did he make it down to Melbourne? I hope he's OK?

Anyway, the show must go on. After discovering that there's no such thing as a bearing with a 15mm inner and a 40mm outer, I settled for a bearing with a 15mm inner and a 35mm outer. (on the left) I thought about a few different options, but eventually a trip to another bearing shop in the country provided the answers I needed. I bought a bronze bush with a 40mm outer and a 30mm inner.




I could have bought one with a 40mm outer and a 35mm inner (in fact, I did) but I realised that I needed a flange for the bearing to sit against, or otherwise the bearing would just pull into the hub and the wheel could move laterally, which would be rather disturbing at speed. Boring the bush to around 34.8mm was a little too exact for my liking, but after only muffing one, I was able to make two nice bushes that I need to freeze the bearings, then tap them in to fit.





The new bearings were 1mm narrower than the OEM bearings, so I was able to have a 1mm thick flange without any problems reusing the dust seals. The only problem was that the tubular spacer that goes between the bearings was now 2mm too short. After several minutes of quiet reflection, I machined two stainless steel washers to fit neatly between the flange and the bearing on either side, and was able to use the spacer.





I used a piece of 320 grit dry sandpaper to remove any machining lips etc, and tapped the bearings into place. It was a very tight fit, but in this case, too tight is much better than not tight. It's all together now, I've put a 15mm axle in it and spun the wheel and everything feels right. Tomorrow I'll drop out the OEM front wheel and see what needs to be done to adapt the speedo drive, and I'll also have to look at brake calipers. Overall, it's slow going, but I'm happy that I've solved one major problem on my journey to 17inch happiness.



 

[oldktmdude]

Well I didn't get a call from Doug on Wednesday, did he make it down to Melbourne? I hope he's OK?

Terry, I caught up with Doug yesterday evening at Batemans Bay. He was delayed at Cooma with rear brake problems. He is heading up to Sydney today after catching up with Flips at Nowra. He seems to be really enjoying his little adventure.   Pete.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks for that Pete, as it was I wouldn't have been able to show as my dad went into hospital and I had to stay at East Sale to cover for a guy who had a heart attack. (busy week.........) Anyway, I'm glad he's ok and enjoying his "Elephant Ride". Cheers, Terry.