Bringing my R60/5 back to life.

[agent9]

Part number 6 is installed already on your part number 5. It fits in the groove in between and acts as a seal. Hard to describe, but I hope you see what I mean when you look at your part number 5.

Yes, I know exactly what you mean, and that is what I was hoping.

The new felt might be hard to install. A bit fiddly.

I got a slight idea of this when trying to reinsert the rod with the old felt on it. Is there a trick or suggested technique? I would not be surprised if there was some $50 specsil tool for it

[20774]

The nipple you refer to is a grease nipple so the clutch arm slides on the pin. It looks like your grease nipple is a bit of a bodge...like the original required a refurb and this was the solution. As long as grease gets to the pin, you're fine.

How is that rod held in place on the clutch arm? I see the grooves cut into the pin...usually that means there's a circlip that snaps in to secure it. This is one of the difficult clips to put in and take out. It needs to be securely fastened in such a way so that the pin cannot fall out. If the pin does migrate out, one pull of the clutch will put uneven loads on the tranny bosses and snap one off.

As for the felt, get it positioned on the rod already soaked in oil. Start the rod with felt from the front and help the felt into the bore of the input shaft. Once in you just need to keep applying firm pressure on the rod to slide it home. I'd leave about 1/4" of the rod showing on the front end.

[agent9]

The circlip was missing, but there is a pin that goes through the mounting arms on the transmission and blocks the rods movement by aligning with one of those notches. I do not know how much good the circlip would do anyways since the rod moves freely out either side. Obviously someone has been in there monkeying around before and perhaps replaced a few Parts. I may order a replacement nipple / rod / circlip / pin. It sounds like a failure here would be pretty substantial.

[20774]

The circlip is likely the later design...that's what I have. I think the earlier arrangement was the cotter pin which is probably easier to install and more secure. The main thing is to keep this pin installed between the two bosses, and greased up, so that the clutch arm can freely rotate on it.

[agent9]

That all makes sense, I went ahead and ordered a new pin and grease nipple, seems like i should be in as good of shape as possible. I gave getting the nipple off a half hearted attempt and it did not seem to want to budge, so I may need to hit it with some penetrating oil and heating it up a tad.

thanks again.

[agent9]

So I am feeling pretty solid about the clutch / tranny / etc. I am hoping to get it back together in the next few evenings, which will bring me to my next part of the project, working on the front forks. I have dug through the information on both duane and snowbum's sites and have what I feel is a pretty grasp on alignment of the forks with the cold flow and all. Before I get there I wanted to do a good cleans and rebuild of them. I have new fork seals, but know there are probably some other parts that should be replaced in there (she was sitting for 4 years), and the forks were never perfect even before sitting.

So i guess my main two questions are:

1) what all should I replace in the forks for good measure

2) what is the best way to really clean them out?

At a later date I am thinking of replacing the fork springs and rear shocks with progressives, but for now I am going to try to keep em stock.

Thanks.

[mhughey64]

I went and looked at a '72 R60/5 today for sale. Could not get it started. Seller is headed out on vacation with his family so we decided to hold off till they return. Plus it gives me some time to do some research. Been reading this thread and it has been helpful. The one I'm looking at has not been startd in over a year. Needs battery, fresh gas, carbs cleaned up etc.
Getting good info - thanks!

[agent9]

Mine sat for two years, I charged up the battery, and she fired right up. Then I let her sit another two years, and thats when I started this thread. As long as the bike is close to tuned (valves, point gap, etc) I almost guarantee that with fresh gas / charged battery / clean carbs the bike would fire right up.

You may be able to talk him down a lot on a bike that is not starting, save a little money in exchange for him saving some effort. But if you do want to start it before purchasing I would suggest swapping out the gas, taking the carbs and dropping them in a chem dip for 20 or 30 minutes (with the plastic bits etc removed) then blowing them out thoroughly with some carb cleaner, and either charging or replacing the battery. Also check the oil levels etc, maybe even put a little wd40 in through he spark plug hole just to lubricate the rings a little since they will potentially be dry. I am willing to be the bike would start.

If purchased I would definitely go through the whole thing bit by bit to get it in good tune. The airheads are truly wonderful bikes to work on. Best of luck.

Out of curiosity what is the asking price for the bike?

[agent9]

I have the bike back together, but have not fired her up yet. She is still on the lift with the fluids drained. I did notice that once I re-attached the rear wheel and set the clutch cable all up I can hear the clutch rubbing when the clutch is pulled. It is definitely engaged when I release lever, but when it is pulled and I rotate the back wheel or move the kick start I hear what I am pretty certain is the clutch plat lightly rubbing the pressure plate.

Is this normal? Is there an adjustment I missed (adjusted the cable to have a slight amount of play, then adjusted the bolt on the back of the transmission to just be just shy of making contact with the throw out assembly).

I am hoping this is just from not having the clutch broken in yet, but any advice would be appreciated. I am not afraid to tear it all down again if needed.

Thanks.

[barron_williams]

Not sure I understand your description of how you adjusted the clutch. Might be right, maybe not.

Do a quick search of this forum on clutch adjustment and you will get a nice description. It starts by using the adjuster at the handlebar lever to get the arm on the back of the transmission positioned properly, then using the bolt on the back of the throwout bearing to get the free play right for the hand lever.

Barron

[20774]

Look for the Airhead clutch adjustment procedure in the Resources and Links thread...under General Maintenance. Making the adjustment to be "just shy", etc., might be what's causing the noise. In addition, under real engine load, once the clutch has been separated, the clutch disk is supposed to float on the tranny input shaft. In the non-running situation, there's nothing to make the plate float or move around on the splines. So, it could be rubbing just because it hasn't moved yet. I'm sure you did grease the input splines...

[agent9]

yup, splines are nicely greased. I am going to go through the adjustment process again, and throw some fluids in there and see if it is still happening.

Thanks again, will post some pictures of the bike cleaned up and put together. Finally got an original wheel back on there. Forgot how sext that /5 hub was.

[agent9]

screwed in all the way at the handlebar clutch lever I am still about 10mm shy of 201mm. So I am thinking I simply have the wrong cable on there? May have to grab a new one next week. Bummer.

edit: I went through the rest of the adjustment, and it seems to have gotten rid of the sounds almost completely. Going to fill up all the oil and see if she is catching nicely.

[agent9]

Ok, instead of filling her up I decided to dive into the front forks. May as well while she is off the ground, and this will give me a great opportunity to clean up a lot of those hard to get to parts in the front end.

So the forks on this bike have never been right, always sluggish and lazy feeling. I know there is some gunk in there, etc, and assumed they need to be aligned as well.

The geters were split from sitting (I found a fresh set in a box, sweet).



And the fork seals were covered with crap



The fork sliders have a bunch of crap in the base



I may want to even remove the screw plugs to really be able to get in there to clean.

I went ahead and pulled the springs (one is about 1/4" longer then the other, may be time to replace with some better progressive springs, suggestions would be greatly appreciated).

The pipes were gross, and there is so much gunk build up i can see why they were preforming so poorly











The fork tubes look to be in good shape, and a quick check shows that they appear to be aligned well already (but I need to do more detailed tests)



Is it normal that the holes in the fork tubes are not aligned?

here is everything pulled out



and now a little bike porn to show how the back end cleaned up and went back together

Looking pretty nice a shiny




Final drive cleaned up really nice



/5 wheel looks great back on there


this side did not clean up quite as nice as the other but still pretty solid


I am heading out of town again, but hope to get back into the garage next weekend.

Will read over the fork articles in detail until then.

Thanks everyone.

[barron_williams]

My experience has been that you can get the adjustment in the "ballpark" if you have had the clutch assembly out, but it probably won't be exactly right until you have run the engine.

Once you get it started and engage/disengage the clutch five or ten times, things will settle in where they belong. I wouldn't worry about that 10mm, difficulty pulling in the lever, or any minor sounds just yet.

Run it a few minutes, exercise the clutch, the go back and redo the adjustment.

Barron