I need to finish my caliper rebuild and will be removing my front wheel and hence the axel. What did you use for grease when you re- assembled? I need to get some before final re-assembly and I'm not sure what to get. The guy who's helping me says to get a lightweight grease. I don't know anything about axel grease so any help would be appreciated...
On Jul 17, 3:50 pm, surfswab <surfs...@gmail.com> wrote: > Relative bearing is a nautical term used for rough calculation of your > position at sea when there are no landmarks to guide you. 0 degrees > is straight ahead, 90 degrees to your immediate right, 180 directly > behind, and so on. Match relative bearings to points of the compass > and though you may not know exactly where you are, you'll have an idea > of which way to go to get where you want to be. > > Relative bearing grease, however, is a fool's errand, a joke played on > a dink (Dirty New Kid), boot or newbie. It doesn't exist obviously, > except as a entertaining prank played on someone not savvy enuf to > know better -- "Seaman Apprentice Smith, go below and fetch a bucket > of relative bearing grease -- Aye, aye, sir !." > > I was amusing myself with these thoughts while attempting to thread my > freshly greased axle thru all of the pieces that fit on it during > reassembly after intalling new bearings -- a chore I wouldn't wish on > my worst.enemy, now that I've been there, done that. > > If you haven't had the pleasure, here's what it's like: > > The cryptic instructions in the manual make it sound straight forward > -- "Remove this, remove that. Installation is in the reverse order of > removal." Sounds easy enough. I can do this...and it was, even though > some pieces fell off and rolled away when I pulled the axle bolt out. > But I retrieved those and put them in a can. Getting the wheel out > from between the forks and from under the fender was a bit fiddly, > But I managed that too. > > Then began the torture. I had read up on bearing removal on every > website I could Google and knew going in that getting the bearings out > of their little cocoons was going to be problematic. But I figured to > beat the odds with this nifty tool from Harbor Freight called the > Blind Hole Bearing Remover (on sale for 29 bucks -- what a deal if it > saves some aggravation!). You insert this tool into the inner race of > the bearing, then tighten a bolt, which causes some magic fingers on > the other end to expand and hook the inside of the race. You then > attach a slide hammer (kinda like a body shop dent puller) to the bolt > and whang on it till the bearing comes out. Simple, no? > > Not. > > The bolt kept coming out of the race without budging the bearing. I'm > thinking I have the wrong size bolt, so I upgrade to the next -- then > the next -- (there are 4 sizes in the kit. The fourth one's too > big). Still no joy. I'm working outside. It's hot. It's muggy. > It's getting dark. And I'm getting frustrated. So I wrap it up, go > have a beer and decide to go at it again in daylight. > > Next morning I see the cause of the problem. There's a spacer in > there, looks like a piece of plumber's pipe about 3 inches long. > Manual calls it a "distance collar." I call it some other names. > It's same diameter as the bearing race, and it's up tight against the > race, so it's preventing my magic fingers from getting a purchase on > the bearing. And due to years of 60 ft/lb of torque, some > crystallized old grease and a little rust.-- it's in there solid! > > I experiment with some homegrown ways of dislodging it and moving it > to the side. The method that finally worked was a sharp cold chisel, > held at an angle and my favorite persuader -- a short-handled 3 lb. > sledge. The chisel dug into the soft metal of the spacer and moved it > aside just a little. That was enough that two of the four magic > fingers could grip enough of the bearing and pull it out far enough > for all 4 fingers to grab it. Whanged on the slide hammer some more > and out it came. Now had access to the other bearing and that one was > child's play. Keep in mind that I have been beating on this damn > thing and cussing it for hours. > > Not knowing what to expect once I opened up the assembly, I had bought > all new OEM parts for the job. Some I didn't need, but used anyway, > just so I would have spanky new parts and reassembly would be a > breeze. I don't know where I get my optimism. Must be from my > mother, who's never picked up a wrench in her life. > > There are 7 items that must kept in alignment in order for the axle to > slide into place. Two are slippery characters, now that they're > freshly lubed and know that you have your hands (and feet) occupied, > trying to balance the wheel and keep the forks from flopping side to > side. One's the damnable spacer, the instigator of our previous > troubles. It's no longer "welded" in place, but slip-sliding around > inside the hub. The other is it's frisky buddy, the "side collar," > which is a short spacer that goes on outside the hub between it and > the right fork. Get one lined up and the other wants to move out of > alignment. Once I got the inside spacer speared and lined up, the > axle would catch an edge of the outside spacer and knock it on the > ground. Whenever that happened (6 times!) it was all-stop, retrieve > the little bastard, wipe it down, re-grease, and start over. To say > this is fiddly would earn you the Understatement of The Year award. > Finally,solved the problem with another homegrown solution -- I shoved > the old axle bolt into the fork from the opposite side, corralled the > troublesome spacer and held it in place while I tapped the new axle > through. > > Finishing up was just like the book says. Torque this, torque that, > reattach the caliper and the speedo cable and go for a ride. And it > works (!) > > If you've read this far, you're probably contemplating doing this job > yourself. You have my sympathy. I'd rather go face the ridicule of > collecting a bucket of relative bearing grease. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. 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