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For one reason or another I have had my front wheel (1984 FXWG) on and off the bike a few times lately.
One particular design feature of the right hand side wheel spacer makes me wonder why it is made like it is with the lip on the inboard side. (first pic)
I can see that a benefit is that the spacer will tend to stay on the hub when the wheel is removed from the forks, however when the spacer is purposely removed from the hub it seems to displace the spirally metal ring within the dust seal.
Considering the left hand spacer is the speedo drive as well and it does not have the same lip on it, then why the blazers does the spacer actually have that pesky lip?.
Wouldn't it be easier to put that lipped edge of the spacer on the fork tube side, or just get rid of the lip all together?.
Okay, it is not a huge deal. Just wondering why it is like that.
Cheers
Plenty of reasons I can see, the surface area of the lip creates a more dispersed area of tension across the bearing face disallowing hot spots, it creates a place marker for oil seal aiding in not overshooting the .015 maximum inboard hub seal depth, allows for less penetrable area for fine particle to find its way inboard of the hub, and lastly creates a surface between the bearing and oil seal limiting direct contact and the subsequent drag and possibly early degradation of seal. Just some thoughts though.
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Wheel spacers.
