Category: wheels/tires/chain

Oil out; front brake lines, chain guard installed

Progress today

Drained the engine oil. Very thick and black. Not much sediment, however.

Cleaned, reinstalled, and torqued oil drain bolt.  Removed old oil filter.  Fitted new, but found the one I had belongs to 1982-88 VF700/1000s, not this VFR.

Will find another filter locally.

Scrubbed, wire brushed, and cleaned the center stand with WD40.

Side stand looks good, too, after reinstalling spring.

Installed two stainless braided front brake lines.

The double banjo arrangement at the master was a little fiddly. Fit only with left side hose down. Instructions a little ambiguous on that, but probably consistent.  Torqued all three banjo bolts to 15ft/lbs.

Installed the chain guard and routed the new rear brake line through the slots on the guard.

New chain installed

Progress today

Checked/tightened rear brake banjo bolts with torque wrench – to 15ft/lbs – as recommended by Galfer.

Removed old clip-type master link from the nasty old chain.

Used the old – now split – chain to pull the new chain around the front sprocket. Used WD40 to free up sticky rear hub (eccentric) adjuster.  Adjusted rear end to forward-most position. Fitted new clip master link to the new chain.

Also have new, gold, rivet-type master link for the new chain.  May either buy tool to do it myself later, or ask shop to install it.

Adjusted chain slack and retightened the rear hub pinch bolt.

Also scrubbed, primed, and painted side stand gloss black.

Forks and Front Wheel On

Posted updated checklist [V7]

Progress today

Touched up black paint on front and rear rims – mostly scratches near edges. Some historical, and some from damage I did with tire spoons.

Reassembled right fork leg with new seals and oil. Found new stainless 8mm x 30 bolt was a bit too long to seat, leaked. Reused original (good) brass bolt and it sealed well.

The custom 41mm seal driving tool worked well. Pounded on a wood block from the top to seat both the upper bush and oil seals.

Bought a new stainless 8mm x 25 bolt for the left leg. Completed reassembly of left fork with new seals.

Reinstalled both forks on the bike. Reinstalled both clip-ons.

Installed front wheel.  Found the new stainless left fork bolt protruded very slightly into axle space – its head longer than the original Showa bolt’s. Next time we’ll buy OEMs.  Filed it down and polished surfaces and axle to fit.

Reminder: Will need torque wrench to verify all fasteners installed today are correctly tightened.

Wirewheeled and polished heads of the 4 rear wheel lug nuts.

before and after

New tires mounted

Progress today

Removed old tire and half mounted new one on the front wheel.

Wrestled for an hour or so and couldn’t get the 2nd bead over the rim with the irons.

Pulled and scrubbed the rear wheel.  Wrestled – with no results – trying to even get the old tire off the rear wheel. Hard as rock and not moving with the spoons.

Took the wheels and tires to Ancient City Cycles, who made quick work of the job.  They mounted the tires immediately, at a decent price, and had me out of there about 20 minutes after I got them the tires. Nice.

Day’s end:

Front wheel, forks off

Posted an updated checklist (V5)

Progress today

Removed front wheel.  Wirebrushed/cleaned axle, spacers.  Washed wheel and disks.  Polished disk with scotchbrite, brake cleaner and fine sandpaper to clean all braking surfaces.

front wheel (before)
front wheel (after)

Fabricated wheel balancing stand from flange and iron pipe on workbench leg.  Tested. Looking good.

Made seal and bushing driver out of vet pill bottle. Cut off the bottom and added two hose clamps. Fits perfectly on stanchion tubes. Will see how it works on re-assembly.

Removed  clip-ons from forks, then fork legs from the bike.



forks fresh off the bike

Cleaned outside of forks, scrubbed with scotchbrite pad. Removed stickers, degreased and sanded lowers (sliders) in prep for prime and paint.

Pulled bottom bolt from left fork, but couldn’t break the right one loose. Starting to strip the hex head. May need to do bolt extraction.

Disassembled left fork leg:  pumped oil out of bottom hole. Pulled out rotten dust seal. Found retaining ring a little corroded. Oil seal significantly deteriorated with solid crud crust. Took considerable slide-hammering to remove it and the bushing. Both bushings in good shape with no scoring or noticeable wear.



left leg parts (before)

Cleaned inside slider tube and pried off fork protector. Did final scuff sanding and degrease on slider, then primed and painted it.

left slider after paint

Polished both stanchion tubes to flatten rust pits. Used (000/0000) steel wool and WD40. Used fine file with no pressure to clear the larger spots.  Not perfect, but they are very smooth to the touch with no raised edges to catch rubber seals or score the bushing.

stanchion tubes after polishing