Motorhead wrote:well I use them "O" rings myself in many many places..... motor, forks, where ever I can fit them some in my Motor and when I took my heads off the "O" rings are in good condition cheap to replace them 20 each size so I have lots
Buna rubber type
I stayed with the solid Bronze rocker bearings in mine LOL
That's the way I usually like to do things. Find quality cheap.
That's a funny thing about those bronze bushings vs bearings. In the VW world needle bearing rockers are shunned and bronze bushed rockers are the thing to have even with racers. Complete opposite with airheads. Both are aircooled flat motors. Go figure.
Motorhead wrote:well I use them "O" rings myself in many many places..... motor, forks, where ever I can fit them some in my Motor and when I took my heads off the "O" rings are in good condition cheap to replace them 20 each size so I have lots
Buna rubber type
I stayed with the solid Bronze rocker bearings in mine LOL
That's the way I usually like to do things. Find quality cheap.
That's a funny thing about those bronze bushings vs bearings. In the VW world needle bearing rockers are shunned and bronze bushed rockers are the thing to have even with racers. Complete opposite with airheads. Both are aircooled flat motors. Go figure.
I think that I read in Gene Berg's catalogue that he made his rockers with bronze bushed type because the rockers do not move very far and that the needle bearing is meant for things that spin around. I could be wrong, but that's what I remember. If Gene Berg said it, it's probably true.
Interestingly, the shifter levers on BMWs which don't spin around, have needle bearings. I'd guess that is because they are not lubed very often whereas the rockers have pressurised oil as the engine is running.
mattcfish wrote:
That's the way I usually like to do things. Find quality cheap.
That's a funny thing about those bronze bushings vs bearings. In the VW world needle bearing rockers are shunned and bronze bushed rockers are the thing to have even with racers. Complete opposite with airheads. Both are aircooled flat motors. Go figure.
I do believe our motors tend to turn just a bit faster though. That may be what makes the difference.
Most of my airheads have been classic era or /5s with bronze bushings. It is pretty much impossible to make the valve train as quiet as needle bearing rockers, especially the late 80s version. Plus the bushings need to be replaced around 40,000 miles, but they are not expensive.
Success! Unclogged the offending oil feed last night. Of course I had to tear the whole side down but it was worth it. I did not want to remove the cylinder stud, so I tried using a very thin piece of stiff wire to get at the clogg. That did not work.
I then got inventive and I'm pretty proud of what I came up with. I cut a piece of aluminum tubing to fit over the stud that had no blockage. I put a rubber washer against the block and hooked my air compressor to the end (tubing cut to be longer than the stud). I turned the motor so that the main bearing feed hole was not dirrectly in line. Then I filled the tube with carb cleaner and then applied 100psi pressure. I had to block the small hole in the center of the cylinder spigot with my finger. At first only a small amount of oil and carb cleaner would spit out of the clogged side. After a little fiddling with the wire a piece of orange silicon the size of a rice grain started to emerge above the stud. And then pow, it was outa there.
Orange silicon, I hadn't used that on my bike for over 15 years. It looks like it had been residing in the center spigot squirter feed hole all this time(the Siebenrock kit doesn't utilize this squirter hole , so I'm guessing later bikes don't have it?).
Somehow when I did the rebuild it migrated to the intake oil feed hole. Glad I caught it early.
The new needle bearings arrive tomorrow. I pushed the old, ground up one out last night with my big vise and suitable sockets. Any advice on pushing the new ones in without loosing needles or crushing cages?
The new ones come with something (grease?) that holds the needles in. Use a socket of slightly smaller diameter to press them in. Note: there is a rounded end and a flatter end to the bearing cover/sleeve, I'm pretty sure you want the flatter end "out".
Tim Shepherd wrote:The new ones come with something (grease?) that holds the needles in. Use a socket of slightly smaller diameter to press them in. Note: there is a rounded end and a flatter end to the bearing cover/sleeve, I'm pretty sure you want the flatter end "out".
Thanks. She's all back together and squirting oil like she's supposed to.
Last edited by mattcfish on Sat Jul 09, 2011 11:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
