Wheel & Tires

1985 RZ350

Front Wheel

Before the powdercoating I banged out all the bearings oil seals and other bits out of the front wheel. I good trick I use is to zip tie all the bits together in the order they should be fit. That way when the new parts arrive I have the old ones as reference and can see the order and what way things should face. Above is the layout of the front hub from speedo drive side on the left.

Starting on the non speedo drive side I set the first bearing in the hole as best as I could by hand. This bearing has a sealed side on the inside but the outside face is open to the ball bearings.

Then I used a metal socket just a hair smaller than the outside diameter of the bearing, and banged it in to position. It is very important to only bang on something that connects with the outside body of the bearing, not the ball bearings or the inside circle.

Once the bearing is set all the way in the hub, I used some grease to further grease the bearings and then followed it with a new oil seal. The oil seal can be pushed in place by hand but should be flush with the hub.

Flip the rim over and drop in the central spacer piece....

...followed by the bearing in the same manner as before. On the front hub both bearings are the same.

Grease up the bearing and fit the speedo drive clutch. The ears should fit in the recesses in the hub, and the vertical ears should be facing up.

Followed by the retainer dished washer....

...and finally the oil seal where the speedo drive will sit.

I installed the disks next making sure that they dished outwards from the mount. Always use some sort of locking compound like Loctitie on these bolts. The last thing you want is for them to come loose while riding.

The last step before being bolted in to place is installing the brake disks (here they are shown roughly fitted with only two bolts) and then dropping the speedo drive in to place so that it meshes with the protruding ears.

And finally add the non-speedo side spacer into the oil seal. Now the front wheel is ready to be bolted in to the forks.

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