WHEEL MAINTENAINCE

MAKING THE WHEELS GO AROUND IN ROUND
 

INSPECTING YOUR WHEELS
 

   OK, now you have checked your tires and tubes, and replaced and repaired everything that you found to be not quite up to snuff.  Before you go and put the rubber back on it might just be a good idea to check and service your wheels and hubs.  While you’re at it, you might as well do a brake inspection since the wheels are already off of the motorcycle, and you don’t want to go through all of that again. 

   There are a few things that you are going to want to check for on your wheels and hubs.  You will check that your rim is straight and round, and has no cracks or major dents.  You need to check that not only are all of your spokes still there, (there are 40 of them) but that they are all nice and tight.  If they aren’t all tight I don’t suggest that you just grab a wrench and randomly start tightening all the spokes as tight as you can.  This will only result in your wheel being pulled out of alignment.  We will get to that part a little later on in this chapter.  Just be aware that if your spokes are loose or missing, you will have to correct that situation before putting the tires back on and going for a ride.  I know you have already done a cursory check of your wheel bearings before you removed the wheel and axle, but you might want to take this one step further, especially if you found some play in your wheel.  Finally you will want to check your brakes and brake drums for wear.  I know that this sounds like a lot of work, but it’s not so bad as long as you haven’t been adjusting the level of the vodka bottle too often. 

 

WHEEL HUB MAINTENANCE
 

   The wheel hub is the center part of the wheel that houses the bearings and brake, and joins to the rim with the spokes.  Generally speaking the only repairs that are necessary to maintain the hub are the wheel bearings, and the brake drum work surface.  We will deal with the brake drum surface a little later on, and just concentrate on the wheel bearings.

   Let’s just assume that there was nothing really wrong with your wheel bearings, but they were just a little bit loose.  Not enough to cause concern, but you are the type of person that just has to be absolutely sure that everything is A-OK.  So now it’s time to remove the wheel bearings, give them a good cleaning, inspect the whole works, re-pack the grease and put the whole thing back together.  First off you have to get the whole assembly out of the wheel. 

   Once again you are going to need a clean towel or rag to lay the parts on as they come out.  This way each part can be individually cleaned and placed back in the same order.  First you remove the lock ring, undo the compression nut and remove the L. H. spacing sleeve, (this is often referred to as a top hat bushing due to its shape).  Take the axel and insert it into the spline side, and press the bearing out of the hub, then remove the center spacer, the other bearing, race and R.H. spacing sleeve.  If you gently tap the axel with a hammer, everything should come out in order.  Lay out all your parts in order and one at a time clean and inspect each part and replace it onto the clean rag, being sure that you do not reverse the direction of the bearings or top hat spacers.

 

  

   If you find that your wheel was equipped with the older style ball bearings in separate races, it is generally best to replace them with Timken style bearings. 

 

NOTE: The roller bearing part # 7204-A can be replaced by a tapered bearing identified by the international industry  standard #204.  This # is a standard that denotes the size and type of bearing.  This standard is world wide.  Each manufacturer will have their own stock # but it will contain the “standard” identification # within it.  That said, here are a few of the more popular brand stock #’s for the replacement bearing. 

1)      Timken – #30204M 9/KM1

2)      NTN – #4T-30204

3)      Nachi -  #H-E30204J

4)      J C Whitney – #AGB024225X

5)      NSK – #HR 30203J

6)      Carquest  - #30204

FYI the 30204 series of bearing specifications are 20mmX47mmX16mm.

 

 

  This is what the assembly will look like after you switch the roller bearings to taper bearings.

 

   Now you can begin to clean your bearings and spacers with a cleaning solvent such as Varsol, carefully inspecting each part as you go.  If the motorcycle has been ridden a lot with the bearings misadjusted too loose, the center spacer may have worn down from spinning.  Generally speaking, if this is the case, you will see shiny wear marks on the axel itself.  If you find that your center spacer is worn and your axel is showing signs of wear it is an inexpensive part to replace, and will save premature wearing out of your new bearings.

   Before you replace the wheel bearing assembly, you want to make sure that everything is clean and dry.  No matter whether you are re-using your old bearings, or have replaced them with new ones, they need to be re-packed.  For this you will need a tub of bearing grease.  No, you can not use bacon grease or cooking lard as both of these will melt and leak out as soon as the wheel bearings begin to heat up.  A tub of bearing grease is relatively inexpensive and looks good up on the workbench shelf.  You are going to need this for a variety of other purposes which we will get to in future chapters.  A pair of rubber gloves is not a bad idea for keeping your hands clean when packing the wheel bearings as this is a mucky job.  Personally I keep a box of un-powdered “NITRIL” gloves on my work bench.  I prefer Nitril gloves over Latex or Vinyl as they are a lot more durable and puncture resistant.  Vinyl gloves are pretty much worthless, and Vinyl breaks down quickly when exposed to petroleum products.  The Nitril’s have micro bumps in the finger tips so that you can maintain a better grip, and best of all they come in cool colors like blue, purple and black.  These are the gloves that you see the guys on TV using to keep their hands clean while working on those expensive show bikes.

   Take a wad of grease and place it in your left palm.  (You can put it in your right palm if your one of those “lefty’s”)  Now take your bearing and plunk it down sideways right into the middle of the palm full of grease.  Roll the bearings about ½ an inch, lift them up and do it all over again plunking a fresh bit of bearing surface into the grease.  Keep doing this until the entire bearing is all gummed up with grease, and every bearing is totally coated with the stuff.  If you’re not sure keep on doing it, because there is no such thing as too much grease in your bearings, but not enough will surely result in premature bearing failure.  Do this with both sets of bearings, being sure that when you put them down you do so on the flat side, and place them on that clean rag.  Don’t put them on the ground or anywhere that they will pick up sand and grit, because sand and grit are not your bearings friends.   You will also want to put a light coat of grease on all the other metal parts that are going to go back into your hub. 

   You are now ready to re-assemble your wheel hub.  First you will the thrust washer and R.H. distance sleeve (top hat spacer) into the hub so that the sleeve collar seats into the thrust washer recess; now press the bearing race in so that the tapered hole lower diameter faces the thrust washer.  The bearing should hold the thrust washer in place.  Nest you will fill the hub hole about 1/3 full of grease, and slide the middle spacer into place.  Press in the second bearing being sure not to put it in backwards, (see pictures above) being sure that the smaller diameter is facing the hub nut.  Now fit the L.H distance sleeve (top hat spacer) with the collar assembly on the side facing the bearing.  Tap the whole thing with a drift pin to ensure that everything is nice and snug, then tighten the adjuster and the lock ring nut.  Do not over tighten the nut as there is such a thing as too tight, and could result in what is known as rotational drag. 

   Now it is time to check your spokes for tightness and replace any broken or bent spokes, and check your wheel for excessive run out. 

   Let’s deal with that pesky little axle seal with the little coil contractor spring.  You know, the little spring that somehow always manages to slip out of its groove just moments before clearing the oil relief groove.  WWID?  Here’s a handy little tool that you can make yourself in a matter of minutes with something you can probably dig out of your trash barrel.  Here is Ivan’s method of overcoming that problem.  Take an empty tube of caulk, and cut the end off of it, and clean it out really good.  This will be used to make your own seal installer.  You take the seal and spring side out, slip the whole thing over the end of the caulk tube.  Now slip the caulk tube over the rear drive member.  Pull the tube back out gently AFTER you finger tighten the seal cover plate back on over the tube. Don’t forget that you need to clean out the oil return passage that is located at the bottom of the plate.  Now you can go back and properly tighten the plate.  Be sure that you DO NOT overfill the rear axle reservoir.  Too much will cause an unpreventable leak.

 
HOW IVAN PACKS HIS WHEEL BEARINGS
FOR TIMKEN STYLE BEARINGS
There is a bit of a trick to properly packing Timken style bearings such as the ones used in later model Dnepr wheels.  I suggest using high quality wheel bearing grease, or disk brake wheel bearing grease (synthetic). 
Here are a few pictures.

 

.

From:  VW NATE

I find it easier to work the grease in from the bottom of the bearing , it looks to me like Sam held the narrower portion of the bearing to the grease .

You only take a little nibble at the very edge of the blob of grease each time, the first time it'll feel odd and you'll think you're doing it wrong but keep at it until you see the grease pooching up between the rollers and then rotate it a little bit in your hand and continue until there's grease coming out from between all the rollers. this one looks really clean and neat , you'll probably make a big mess but that's O.K. ~ when the bearing is packed , you'll see grease coming up past the rollers with each dab no matter how much mess you've made .

I like to put a blob of grease in my palm and then I whack the back of that hand on my knee to flatten out the blob, this makes it easier to control.

 

RIM AND SPOKES                                                                                    SPOKE TIGHTENING
 

Spoke tension is checked in a slightly unorthodox way.  It is known as using the audible method.  That means the most important tool used to check the spoke tension is your ears.  First you take your wax pencil and make a mark on one of your spokes.  It really doesn’t matter which one as this is just so that by the time you get all the way around, you know where you started.  You can also just start anywhere and count to twenty. You take a metal object such as a wrench, or drift pin, and start tapping your spokes with it.  If all the spokes are tight they will ring with a degree of consistency.  If however you find that when you tap a spoke, it sounds flat, or a dull thud, that is an indication of a loose spoke.  Mark that spoke with a different colored wax pencil, and continue around the wheel until you have checked all twenty spokes on that side.  Turn the wheel over, and repeat the process tapping the other twenty spokes, marking the ones that sound flat.  Using a spoke wrench, or a small crescent wrench, gently tighten the nipples of the spokes that you marked as loose, until they ring fairly close to the same tone as the rest of your spokes.  Of course, unless you have perfect pitch, this method is not infallible, but it is the generally accepted method of checking for loose spokes.  This is a “learned” method of tightening the spokes.  Be sure not to over tighten your spokes when doing this as it will cause the rims to have excessive run out. 

   If you are going to be doing any off road racing or just tearing about in the dirt and rocks, you might want to consider tying your spokes together where they cross with some zip ties.  This will just prevent any broken spokes from wrapping around your wheel, or flailing around doing damage to your leg, paint or even your monkey if you are carrying one.  One or two broken spokes will generally not prevent you from getting home, but a spoke thrust through your tire can really be a time consuming problem, not to mention the added expense of having to replace another tire and tube unnecessarily.  As soon as you get home you can replace your broken spokes in the comfort of your own work space.  If you do break a spoke and decide that you would rather cut it out than tape or wire it in at the crossing point, then leave the nipple in place to fill up the hole in your rim.  The spokes and nipples on these old tubs tend to rust together after a few years, and this makes it necessary to cut the broken spoke out.

 

LACING YOUR WHEEL
 

If you have had to replace your rim, or if you have just installed new spokes, then the process is somewhat more complicated.  Lacing your wheel is the term used to describe the process of installing a new hub, spokes or both.  This is not an easy job, and for the most part I would suggest that you take your new rim, spokes and hub to somebody who is knowledgeable about wheel lacing because if you’re not already bald, you just might be by the time you get a set of wheels laced and trued.  It can be a truly hair pulling chore.  If you can’t afford to have someone else do this for you, or you are simply one of those people who has to do everything for themselves, then continue on, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

   First off you are going to need a wheel truing stand.  This alone will probably cost you more than having someone else do the job for you.  If you’re wondering WWID if he didn’t have a wheel truing stand, chances are you would find him sitting in the dirt using his front fork and axel as a rudimentary truing stand.  No doubt our friend Ivan would have fashioned some sort of piece of wire to act as a run out gauge and have a handy bottle of Vodka nearby to act as a sedative to prevent him from tearing out those last few hairs.  Another method is to take your axle and clamp it into a vice sticking straight up in the air.  Place the wheel on the axle and spin it like a record on a turntable.  (If your too young to know what a record is, then you better go to the club and ask the DJ)  You will also need a hammer, a spoke wrench, and a good pair of end cutters and a file or high speed rotary (Dremel) tool.  It seems that most tool kits come complete with a nipple wrench, and oddly enough a small handful of spare spokes.  The factory tool is # B3-4503 for those who insist on doing this Ivans way.  If you are replacing just a few spokes, then remove the ones to be replaced.  Its always helpful to squirt a little penetrating oil such as WD 40 up into the threads where they go into the nipples the night before you are going to remove the spokes whenever possible.  If you don’t have that much advance notice, use the penetrating oil as early as possible as this will greatly reduce the binding up of the spokes to nipples due to rusting.  If you are changing the rim, or all of the spokes, then all the old spokes need to be removed.  (remember lefty loosey, righty tighty)  You will have in front of you a hub, (preferably with bearings and spacers in it) a rim, 40 spokes and 40 nipples.  Laying the hub onto its side, fit 20 spokes onto one side, observing the lacing pattern pictured below.  Lay the hub onto the work bench, and place the rim around it.  Fit the spokes through the rim into the correct holes, and screw a nipple about ½ way on to each one by hand.  When you get all twenty spokes into place in this manner, turn the whole thing over, and repeat by putting another 20 spokes into the hub, and through the remaining twenty holes in the rim, hand screwing all twenty nipples into place.  If your wheel doesn’t look like the one in the picture, then you did it wrong, and need to go back, and do it all over again, being sure that you space the spokes through the rim properly.  Next, you screw all the nipples uniformly tight, using a hammer to set the spoke heads tightly.  Once all the spokes are started go around the wheel tightening each spoke a few threads until they begin to get tight.  This is the point where you need to start spinning the wheel to find where your runout is located.  Adjust the rim run out and end play relative to the wheel axel not exceeding 2mm of run out.   If you are using a wheel truing stand with run out gauges then this is pretty simple.  If you are using either of the axle methods, then you need to attach your wax pencil or a magic marker near to the rims high mark.  I find a nice stiff piece of wire like a coat hanger and a little bit of tape works quite well.  This is to pinpoint deviations in your run out.  Spin the wheel, and gently bring the wax pencil down until it begins to touch the rim.  These marks are your high spots.  When making your spoke adjustments do it just a small turn at a time.  When you are getting close, it doesn’t take much of a turn on the nipple wrench to make a huge difference in the run out. 

 

 

 

   First you need to adjust your axial (up and down) runout.  The idea here is to loosen the spokes at the flat spot, and tighten the spokes on either side of the flat spot starting about 25 degrees on either side.  A larger flat spot needs a little more area.  Using your run out dial, or piece of wire and wax pencil, locate the highest point of your wheel and mark the spoke at that point.  Call this your center or #1 spoke.  Tighten this spoke just a little bit.  Then go to the spoke next to that one and tighten it just a little bit less, continuing on like this for 4 or 5 spokes, tightening each one just a little bit less than the one before it.  Next you return to your center spoke, and repeat the entire process in the opposite direction.  Once you get that high spot out, spin your wheel again and find the next area that has a high spot, and do the whole darn thing over again.  For fine balancing, or if you run out of threads on your spokes, you can get weights to go over the spoke nipples and place them on the spokes directly opposite the side you just ran out of threads on.  Ivan uses chunks of solder wrapped around his spokes because there are no spoke weights available in Siberia.

  

For lateral runout (side to side wobble), you need to loosen the outside spokes, and tighten the spokes on the inside.  The amount of spokes you need to loosen or tighten is

determined by the size of the lateral deviation.  More deviation, more spokes, as the deviation is reduced, less spokes need to be adjusted.  The idea here is to pull the rim in line with the center of the hub.  Loosen the spokes that are away from the center and tighten the ones that are pulling it towards the center.  Once again using your run out gauge or pencil, spin the wheel to locate the highest point.  (This time by highest point, I mean the furthest out point from center.  Mark the spoke at that point, and tighten the spoke, keeping in mind that the spoke you are tightening goes to the opposite side of the hub.  Now you do the same thing as you did before except that this time you tighten every other spoke, being sure to tighten each one a little less than the one before.  This time you only need to tighten 3 or 4 spokes in either direction.  Go back to the center spoke and repeat this in the other direction.  Occasionally you will find that in order to achieve this you will have to tighten or loosen the spoke nipples on the opposite side of the wheel from the ones which you are working on.

   If this doesn’t make total sense to you then get out your bottle of Vodka, take a couple of good healthy swigs, and go back to the beginning and read it all over again until it either makes sense, or you decide that I was right in the first place, and you take it to somebody that knows how to lace and true a spoke wheel properly.  If you insist on doing this yourself don’t get all “gung ho” and start wrenching the living daylights out of your spokes because this will just make the whole thing get worse, and if your really stubborn and keep on tightening you might just end up with a rim that was worse than the one you started with in the first place.  Just remember that “SLOW and EASY” are the key words here and patience truly is a virtue when it comes to doing this job.

   Last but not least, once you have the rim centered and the up and down play pretty much eliminated you can go on about making sure that all of your spokes are nice and tight using lots and lots of little tiny turns on the spoke wrench until they all make a nice ring when you strike them with the spoke wrench or drift pin.  Now, before you celebrate by killing off the bottle of Vodka, check that none of the spokes have been tightened down so much that they are poking through the nipple and protruding up into the area where the tube will be, causing a nasty little puncture.  If any spokes are protruding just a little, grind them down until they are flat with the nipple.  If they are sticking way up through the nipple take your cutters and nip them off, then grind them down.  Now you can put that rubber band thingy back onto the rim to make sure that any little tiny sharp edges are covered up and can’t come into contact with the innertube.  Some folks even go so far as to install a second even wider rim strip such as the one sold by Coker, where our friend Ivan just gets out the tape and tapes the whole gutter up.  Now you can celebrate.

 

 

Here are a few tips from Ivan and his friends for those of us who plan on doing a bit of winter riding in the snow and salt.  These tips are really meant for the hardy few who ride all year round and are not afraid of foul weather, and extreme road conditions.

1)      Thoroughly sand the inside of the rims, adjust the spokes and true the rims, then spray the inside with Rustoleum primer, let it dry then spray them with trunk bed liner!  This is tough, thick, black material that foams when sprayed.

2)      For a rim that will be used in winter and will come in contact with salt on roads, the salt will work it’s way down into the rim and do it’s dirty work.  It helps to lay a bead of clear silicone, (a nice big one) on the nipples inside the wheel.  Then use strapping tape or such, but never masking tape.  If you do it proper it will seal the nipples but not the threads.   Put a drop of 90-140 transmission oil on each spoke at the nipple and spin the wheel.  This will send the lube down the thread.

3)      What I do to my bike wheels for the winter is AFTER they are trues up and I am ready to put the BIG knobbies on, I make certain that they are rust free and start the “patented ScooterBob Russian wheel treatment.  I put the wheel on the stand and spray the living poop out of it with Extend or other rust neutralizer while I rotate it.  After that I hit the middle with rubberized undercoating, (I tar my nipples!! Har har har!!).  THEN I use rubberized Duct tape and go from bead to bead with three or so layers in the middle.  THAT keeps ‘em perfect!  The clean up for the next time is usually pretty easy.  Leave a pull tab ont the tape to get it off, mineral spirits for the undercoating if you need to get it off (usually just some soaking with a spray bottle and some wiping) and the Extand WON’T come off, so there you are. 

4)      I suggest a good knobby or semi knobby for winter use, all the way around.  Start with a fresh set at the beginning of the snow season and plan on a second set late in winter if the season is long and you have done a lot of riding.  Carry a jack, a cordless screwdriver and some small machine screws in case you encounter ice.  You can jack up the bike and rotate the wheel driving 2 or 3 screws into every other knob to stud your tires.  Make sure your screws are shorter than the depth of your knobs. 



 

WHEEL HUB MAINTENANCE

 
A PHOTO ESSAY

 

 

 

 

 

 
BEFORE YOU PUT IN THE RACES AND BEARINGS.
You will put in the washer with the protruding side facing out, than the R.H top hat washer with the lip inside the hub.
INSERTING THE BEARINGS AND RACES

You will need a properly sized drift and a big hammer to drive this race all the way down into the hub.  It will fit snug against the washer.  Be careful as the top hat washer can flip inside the hub during this process.  I prefer to install the race and then put the top hat washer into place, then grease the bearing and drop it down into the race.
THE REST OF THE COMPONENTS
Finally I pack the hub spacer with grease, and place it inside the hub, followed by the next bearing which has been packed with grease being sure that the taper is facing the top. I now take the second race and using my drift I pound it into place being sure to make it snug but not over tight. Finally I insert the deflector assembly with the top hat washer installed with its collar on the inside. Using the spanner wrenches you tighten the deflector and then the lock nut and the job is complete. BREAK OUT THE VODKA TO CELEBRATE.

Wheels out of Round?

Ken Ulrich at U-2 Cycles offers a service that I thought would be of interest to Dnepr riders.. He rebuilds our almost round Dnepr wheels. Even though I have the chrome, export version of the wheels, not one of the seven in my possession are round. I have had them tweaked by the best wheel adjusters in my area, but adjusting spokes won't bring these Russian rims into true.
So it's Ken Ulrich to the rescue. He will rebuild your wheel for you. I de-laced the spokes from my wheel and sent Ken just the hub and spokes, keeping the rim. When Ken can get to it, because he is a busy fellow so you need to be patient, he will: 1. Remove the Russian wheel bearings and install good "American" wheel bearings. 2. Put the hub on a brake lathe and get that hub, (quoting Ken) "dead nuts true" (he makes it very round). 3. Most importantly he will lace on a new, chrome, Harley 19", extremely shiny and extremely round rim. 4. He will repaint your hub silver so it looks like it just came for the
factory.
Again let me say that if you contact Ken and what your wheels done, prepare to wait awhile. It's not that Ken is lazy, it's because Ken does more than rebuild wheels. He is one of the best engine rebuilders for Dnepr’s also. So he stays busy…so be patient!
I had four wheels rebuilt and received them last week and installed them a few days ago. I cannot tell you how much of an improvement these wheels have made in my ride. No more odd vibrations at different speeds or slowly moving and feeling like you are on some carnival ride… moving slowly up and down. The ride is very smooth now. All I feel is the engine and texture of the road. The constant bouncing and movement cannot be good for the suspension either. So this wheel improvement should save me from having suspension problems in the future. Also my brakes work smoothly as they should. No more egg shaped brake drums.
The rims are beautiful… they look great and I think that if you ride you Dnepr almost everyday as I do, then this is something you need to do.
Contact Ken, He's the got the email machrat@aol.com ….. I won't quote prices because prices change sometimes and I don't want to put Ken in a bind. I think this is one of the biggest improvements you can do for your Dnepr.
David Spisak