Multi fettling

About 10 days ago (in fact, the Weds before last, when I met Krusty,
Beelzebub and Brownz at Avebury), my ZX10R had a bit of a problem.
I'd been hooning around like a typically twat, and finished the
evening off with a 170mph blast back up the dual carriageway. On
arriving at my gf's little village, am awful metallic graunching noise
became apparent. A rear wheel bearing had cried enough. Glad that
didn't happen on the dual carriageway.

Anway, the bearing was so fucked that it fell to bits when I tried to
remove it, so I dropped the wheel at Fraser's as they had the kit to
grind out the outer cage. I got the wheel back in the week, and also
had oil and brake pads for the Hayabusa.

First things first - bearings into wheel, wheel into ZX10R. Nothing
too demanding, except that fitting a wheel into a swingarm shouldn't
be that difficult. Is the swing arm *meant* to spring shut by a couple
of mm when the wheel is out? Andy?

The the 'busa went on the bench. Which caused it to sway a bit. Oil
and filter were easy enough, except that once again my chain wrench
was useless and I had to remove the filter by hammering a screwdriver
through it.

And then to the brake pads. No wonder the brakes had been a bit, er,
sub-optimal for a 200mph bike - when I removed them they floated to
the floor in gentle arcs. I pumped the pistons out to check they all
moved, and to clean them up, and two of the buggers (one in each
caliper) drew the dust seal out with them, and pinched it on the way
back. Curses. Safe enough for now (it's only the dust seal), but
needs sorting, and I swore I'd never pull a set of six-pots apart
again. Anyway, after putting it all back together I took it for a
blast and crikey - now it has brakes to match the engine. Bendix pads
- recommended.

Paging Eddie - check your email, and let me know where I can get a
pattern seal kit from.

And today I looked at the tyres on the 'busa. The back one has done
less than 1000 miles, and is half worn, and the front is worn out.
Owning several bikes would seem to be expensive.

 

Champ wrote:

Hah-hah.

The number of times I've said that to myself, and then...

Still, the garage is full of Brembos now, which are just lovely.

Done. Although Google Groups would have been quicker...

 

snip>

That doesn't sound right (obviously) and though I could understand it
a bit if the bike had been outside with the sun beating on one side of
it yours would have been in the garage so it shouldn't down to thermal
expansion.

Check the numbers on the bearings again and then try giving them
another smack with a hammer to make sure they're all the way in. I'll
assume you've had the wheel in because you didn't phone and bitch
about it so you might find that tightening the wheel nut has pulled
the bearings in that extra millimetre each side.

I blew some of my hard earned cash on a proper 'socket' and while it
makes life easier it's still a shit job.

We've got a spare set of six pots sitting in the garage that you could
have (1) so you can put new seals in and generally service then you'll
know that you can just change them over and the bike's on the road
rather than finding yourself with a set of calipers still in pieces at
3am.

I was going to phone and ask which pads you were using on the race
bike so I can avoid them. I'm going to give the 10R a service before
we go to the Alps and it's still on its original front pads so I might
as well just change them as a matter of course.

I'm aiming to phone Harris today but I might be too late to get the
plan sorted by the end of August. It was only because I took the 10R
out yesterday and Adie was quizzing me on whether we'd need new tyres
before going away that I realised how close it was getting and I'd got
**** all done.

(1)They're Adies but if I knock them off the shelf onto her LC she'll
want rid of them.

 

Take it from someone who's had the rear wheel out of a 2004 ZX10R model
more times than he's had hot dinners - 14 times in one weekend when the
weather was changeable at Brands. Replacing the wheel is made 10 times
easier if you drop the caliper off the bracket before removing the
wheel. Two 6mm Allen-key cap-head screws is all that holds it on and
you'll save yourself an awful lot of bother when trying to line
everything up.

 

It's certainly not like that on the 06 model.

 

You probaly wont need it but there is a pretty good guide with (many)
pictures on how to completely overhaul tokico six pot calipers here. You
might need to register/login to access it, so don't bother if I have
insulted your mechanical prowess.

http://www.gixerjunkies.net/forum/showthread.php?t=71989

 

I suppose I'd be tempting fate if I pointed out I've managed 37 years
of bike ownership without ever having to rebuild a caliper. So I'll
just keep quiet.

 

I'm sure I could do it blindfold, apart from getting the fluid seals the
right way round.

 

You're not trying to squeeze some POS Avon in there, are you?

 

I'm probably being thick here, but if it's that tight, how does the
wheel actually turn?

 

You are.

Because the swingarm presses on spacers, which in turn press on the
inner part of the bearings. It would take several tons of pressure to
deform those bits enough to stop the outer parts of the bearings (&
therefore the wheel) from turning.

 

it's not unheard of.

ah. Yes. I see.

Move along!

 

Is it possible the funky swingarm on Kwackzilla uses slightly larger
spacers, & you got them mixed up when swapping the shock over?

 

Even Christofire's ZX10 didn't do that and he'd twatted the swingarm and
ground a chunk of it away. They normally spring apart a little (a lot if
it's an SV650) but I've never known one need opening out.


--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19

 

Yeah, so would I. I'd guess that the swingarm had taken a hit sometime in
its life and that could possibly result in a touch of out of alignmentness.


--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19