Bearing up under strain? - page 2 (Vol. 55 - May 1992)

That didn't work so I tried the rubber mallet - carefully. That absorbed the shock TOO much (I must get a copper headed one) and the neat little bearing remained obstinately detached from the swingarm.

I know I should have waited but I had been waiting for weeks already. I was desperate to get the swinging arm in so I could fit the back wheel and rear shocks which would then enable me to fit the engine, which would then enable me to fit those expensive exhaust pipes...

So, foolishly, I pressed on.

Still a bit of cleaning to do with the drill-mounted nylon brush. The dirty clamp shows how well they've polished up. At £12 each new, worth the work.

A reader came to the rescue with much smarter rear shocks (on the right) from a Honda Bol d'Or. The old ones are for sale.

I decided to 'tap' the bearing (two go in each end, butting against each other) with my 'hammer', as opposed to mallet, you see. Ever so gently, of course, but it edged in and the jacket of the bearing seemed able to withstand the taps.

The corpulent Dave Thompson had arrived by now and I was feeling confident. The first bearing was driven inside the swinging arm using a thick washer of the right diameter and an old spacer of the right diameter which I found in the garage.

No problem. The second one tapped in easily as well - until it butted up against the first. I had anticipated this but figured the second bearing would drive the first further in. Wrong. They came to a halt and the 'tapping' evolved into something beyond delicacy.

Something dropped out of the other end - a couple of needle rollers from the bearing! Inspection with the torch showed they had gone all askew despite being packed with grease. "You'll never get those straight," was Thompson's less than helpful contribution. I tried but failed. Half of them came out stuck to my bloody fingers...

"Why the hell didn't you stop me!" was my aforementioned anguished retort. There was nothing else for it - abandon hope with the bearing stuck fast (the outer one had cracked by now anyway) and and retire to the squash club to weep into my Guinness.

Thompson was able to gleefully relate the whole episode to an enthusiastic Sunday lunchtime audience.

The shattered six-in-to-one Marshall system. It was the only way to get the exhaust clamps off. The silencer is in good condition and the junction of the down pipes could be welded. Ring Ape Accessories on 0563 516078 if you want it for nothing.

PLAN C. I didn't have anything suitable around to drive out the damaged bearings so it was over to Ape in the week to ask them to bash them out for me.

"What you want," opined Colin at the time, "is a suitable drift." I know, I know. "Get someone to make one up that will fit inside the bearing to hold the needles in, with a shoulder on it to fit against the jacket of the bearing. Summat in soft metal. "

All this of course I have read many times in this illustrious journal. Told you I should have waited. Thompson helped here. "I was talking to Terry (a local engineer) at the club," he said on the phone, "and he said he can get you some replacement bearings of the same number and will make you a brass drift to drive them in."

Great! I'm determined to do the job myself properly and its all part of the leaming process isn't it..?

THANKS to reader Derek Scott who phoned to say he had a set of rear shocks from a Honda VF1000 Bol d'Or that looked identical to the rusty ones from the CBX pictured in the magazine.

Was I interested in seeing them? Too right. Derek agreed to post them and trust me to send a checque if they would fit the CBX. In fact they are slightly different, but onlv in the length of the springs, which are shorter. Everything else is the same.

By looking carefully at pictures of various CBX models in our files, I reckon these shocks were fitted to later models than my Z. By counting the coils on the pictures I could tell the later twin shock versions used the ones with slightly shorter springs.

Derek accepted my offer of £60 so I now have just about everything to get the back end completed - once the swinging arm is on of course.

Other readers rang inquiring after the Marshall 6-1 exhaust system but none of them turned up to collect it. It would probably have been a waste of their time anyway, the downpipes were so rusted-in that it was impossible to get them out despite efforts to be delicate - and I had to get them off to release the top clamps to clean them up. At £12 each I'm not buying new ones.

In the end my efforts with the rubber mallet just tore away at the rusty metal where the pipes merge into one and it is effectively scrap. I've kept the Marshall silencer though, which is in good nick. A clever welder should be able to restore the mangled metal. If anyone wants it they can have it for nothing. Call Ape Accessories on 0536 516078 if you're interested.

--Bob Berry

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