Took time today to clean and sand the front hub. Went from 320 to 1500 grit. I don't think it was originally polished, but cleared over fine sanding, like the fork lowers. Can anyone confirm this?



This is the first time I couldn't remove the bearing races with my drifts. I'll bring it to the local shop tomorrow so they can use a race puller. After that I'll either polish it or spray with clear as-is.

 

I went to a swap meet and came home with this 16" front wheel for $75. From what I understand the spokes are polished stainless. I will disassemble it and after blasting the spokes, lace it to my rear hub. Sound good?

Unfortunately there were no good 19" wheels or rims to be found, so I ordered Buchanan SS spokes for the Dixie rim that I have.

 

Front rim on my 78-1/2 FXE appears as your description (bike is almost all original).



And if you prefer OEM over Dixie... Has some pitting on the inside, but none on the outside.



Rim is not all beat to hell. Chrome good, no dings or dents but will need to be redone since you are going full-on resto.

 

yes, @panz4ever I do prefer OEM over Dixie. I sent you a PM. Thanks, Joe

 

Joe, just messaged you.





Dave

 

Dave's wheel arrived last week, and I spent some time cleaning and polishing it and the take-off 16" front wheel I got at the swap meet. First I mounted the front hub with bearings and rotated it against some 1200 grit paper to get a factory finish. Then I painted it with adhesion promoter and clear paint, so it should stay nice.



I mounted the axle with some spacers in my vice and tried to measure free play. As it turned out my quick and dirty check last month was correct - Zero Play!!! I will have to buy a longer spacer. I don't know how the previous owner got away with that, and I'll never go to the shop he used!



There was some rust inside under the rim strips, so I cleaned and treated that. Then gave them both a good polishing with a buffing wheel on my drill. Spoked wheels are a lot easier to clean without the spokes, haha.



The swap meet wheel has this sticker with a 1980 part number, so I'm guessing it belongs on my bike too?



I was hoping the OEM spokes were stainless, but they are not. The nipples are different too. They clean up OK, but the first few I cleaned up have some dark spots that may be noticeable when the wheel is assembled.



I don't know if you can see in the picture but the OEM spokes have a curved triangle stamped in the heads, where the Buchanan ones have a raised B. If I could reproduce the stamper, I could grind off the B's and press the correct marking on them. I could grind off the B's anyway, and just polish them.

OR - I could get away with these zinc spokes and buy new OEM spokes for the front wheel. They deduct a full point for each wheel for incorrect spokes and nipples - stainless makes it worse. Marred plating would be ź to ˝ point deduction, but only the one wheel.

Spokes & Nipples
Incorrect Spokes ˝
Incorrect Spoke Nipples ˝
Incorrect Lacing ž
Polished Stainless Steel when should be Cadmium or Glass Blasted ź

Back to my spoke conundrum.

@Architect I bought those 20 NOS OEM spokes for the front wheel on eBay. I found the other 20 but the part number is slightly different, and no pictures. I asked for some clarification before buying them.

I think zinc spokes will be OK on this bike, it will be well cared for. I have to keep reminding myself it’s supposed to be as original, no improvements!

 

the last time i did a wheel resto i was able to pop the hub into mums oven when she was out shopping.......race fell out nicely and i was able to plop the new one in...without burning my hands this time........................there are still some dedicated spoke makers in the UK......have you tried any of them.....maybe you could get an exact replica made if you post them yours?

 

While waiting for the other set of front spokes I assembled the rear wheel. Timken bearings, powder coated hub, cleaned and polished spokes, nipples and rim, and the correct bearing spacer. The last guy in here shimmed a shorter spacer but the shim rubbed on the bearing and became dish-shaped. $10 to do the job right!



I torqued the axle using the new spacer and un-greased bearings. Clearance came out to 0.005 which is perfect.



First side done according to the book. Paint stirring sticks and 2x2s held the rim exactly in the middle of the hub.



Then the other side and snugged everything for now. I'll true it later after I do the front wheel.



Something I can't explain is this side spokes are supposed to cross their counterparts on the first side, but when I tried that they wouldn't reach the correct holes by a lot. If I oriented them opposite they lined up perfectly. This wheel was originally a front wheel with the newer aluminum hub. I laced it to the old style steel hub from my FXR. When I bought the wheel I checked the online fiche and the spokes on a Road King or Heritage Softail front wheel are the same part number as the rear wheel for my bike, 43241-05, from 2000 up to 2012 which was the date code on the tire. Any ideas?

 

You can get shim kits for the wheel spacers if you haven't settled that yet.

Old school shop trick for stubborn races is run a narrow weld bead around the race, when cool 9 out 10 times it'll just fall out when turned over. Mig is real handy for this one.

 

Cleaned up the new spokes and laced the front wheel today. Bearings measured 0.010" with the correct spacer.



NOS spoke and nipple sets, some from Japan market



Happy with this wheel too.



I was going to use the axles and my vice to true them, but realized I have a few more wheels in my future so I ordered a real truing stand. My wife will be happy because I can work on the honey-do list for a few days.