Yesterday we tried out our new tire machine mods and mounted 3 new tires, that worked out pretty good, I've pretty much made back my investment already.


One of those was the front for my 97 flhtcui, so today bearing grease and new seals.
Here's the problem , after removing seals and bearings from both sides I found a total of 8 spacer/shims and 2 spacer washers over two sides.
The spacer I'm referring to is #10 on page 2-5 of the FM, the parts manual is no help as it only has a spoke wheel diagram.


According to the FM there is one spacer washer and one spacer, on one side only.
According to FM spacer washer has a shoulder , so I have that ok, the spacers I have are like shim stock, very thin, is that correct?


Any ideas why so many spacers in my wheel?
I don't see anything about measuring any clearances in the FM.


Thanks for any help.

 

you should have 1 shouldered spacer and however many shims to get the proper end play this should be on one side. If it takes all of what you of what you have to get proper end play then you have wrong spacer or the bearing races are not seated properly.The spoke wheel and cast wheel are the same as far spacers and shims

 

Thanks, that's good, I see that in the FM now.
It reads thicker spacer for more end play and thinner for less end play is that correct?
Seems backwards.

 

Yep that is correct, I just did mine a few weeks back, the thicker shims push your inner race out further from the outer race.

 

Ok, thanks.


I assume I can check end play with the one seal out , so I don't have to keep pulling it out and screwing it up?

 

Yep ...the seal has nothing to do with end play...make sure you torque the axle to the specs before you check end play.

 

Thanks again.
I started looking to see if I could use a spacer as FM suggested so I don't have to install wheel more than once.
I found this, which seems pretty good, maybe someone else will find it helpful.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2Tw...ature=youtu.be

 

We know that the MoCo went to sealed ball races a few years later and I suspect the only reason they did so was to remove that process of setting end float. I suspect that can involve a couple of rebuilds per wheel, even on the production line and with skilled workers. The good ole tapered rollers however are likely to way outlive the sealed things, so it's worth taking the time to get yours right. My Buell needed new sealed races at it's first tyre change - less than 5k miles!

 

Some of the earley XB series Buells had defective wheel bearings I believe the defected ones had black rubber seals. The old Timken bearings would last forever if they were repacked when tires were replaced.

 

I did as the video above, and it worked well, not too hard, a little time consuming is all, and now I know it's right.