Question regarding front axle spacer

[kbert777]

Well, I am doing some last minute fixes and upgrades before Ft. Collins, so I installed the Venture Line front rotor covers and caliper covers I had laying around for a while. Somebody mentioned a while back that the rotor covers require a shorter axle spacer to adjust for the thickness of the covers. I bought the covers used, of course, without a spacer or installation instructions. Just gave it a try this afternoon while the bike was on the lift, unbolted the calipers, pulled the axle and dropped the front wheel. The covers went in without a major problem, just held the covers in place and then lowered the bike over the wheel. Really no interference with the extra thickness of the covers. I tightened the axle and torqued the pinch bolt and installed the caliper covers. The covers must have been made for an earlier bike, mine is an '89, I had to cut some material out for the anti-dive wiring and put a little notch in the lower portion to clear the fork tubes.

 

Anyway, the front wheel now does not turn as easy as before, feels as if there is a lot more friction, most likely due to the thickness of the rotor covers. Has anybody installed these covers before using the original spacer? Was there a shorter spacer for the right side included with the original Venture Line kit? If that's the case, does anybody have a shorter spacer or an extra spacer that I can mill down to match? Or should I not worry about it and try a few miles?

 

Another thing I would like to know is if the inserts in the chrome were available in matching colors for the bike, I can not recall ever seeing a blue inlaid set. The caliper covers are inlaid black and gold, the caliper covers brown and tan.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Klaus

[Cutty]

There was a shorter spacer with the rotor kit, sorry i don't have one and would not use with longer spacer. Yamaha either ran out of certain colors or did not make and suggested using the black decals. You might consider removing the caliper decal and leave it all chrome or paint it black. I have the same set you have and added the ring of fire to the rotor covers.

[buddy]

If I remember right its your caliper is causing the friction due to the wheel covers I had to install real thin shims,lucky for me I had EGR Valve shims in my toolbox some folks will know what I mean by these shims, any way once I shimed the calipers it straighten right out.If I'm right i put the shims between the forks and calipers allowing the calipers to move more toward the rotor.

 

buddy

[Cutty]

Buddy, by using the shims you now have forks tubes adding a wear factor on the seals and bushing in your lower fork legs. Your forks tubes are doing this now / \ .

[kbert777]

Thanks for the fast responses, I ended up having a totally different problem.

 

Per Cutty's post, I disassembled the front wheel again, removed the fender and the Super Brace and measured between the lower fork legs. In relaxed state the measurement actually appears to be slightly wider on the bottom then on the top by about 0.025". Installing the front axle without the rotor covers and torquing the axle down seems to make the lower legs almost parallel, its really hard to measure accurate with the front wheel installed, I ended up with a result of +/- 0.005". Doing the same with the rotor covers installed did not produce an appreciable difference, the legs still measured parallel within 0.010", with the upper measurement being minimally affected. Without the calipers installed the wheel spins nicely with minimal resistance, no noticeable difference between cover installed and not installed.

 

While checking for interference of the caliper brackets per Buddy's post, I noticed that on piston on the left side did not easily reset, I moved the pistons in and out a couple of times and now they feel like they slide the same way. With the pistons retracted there is no interference with the rotors of rotor covers, so I torqued everything back, including the fender and Super Brace, and the problem seems to be gone (for right now). I guess I will end up rebuilding all three calipers, just got through rebuilding the rear master cylinder and flushing all the lines.

 

Ultimately I am going to order a new spacer and have it milled down the thickness of the caliper covers, just don't want mess with it before Ft. Collins, was planning on replacing the wheel bearing anyway.

 

Thanks again,

 

Klaus