I only stripped a couple with a jig I had made and when it CRACKED free, the noise was rather louder than I had expected. I had them rebuilt by the late Graham Bird in Eltham, VIC and decided at that point that it was better to let someone with a press and the experience put them back together.
I recently threw out half a ton of stripped rusty cranks and I have a couple here that are 80% junk. Big end pins and the center pin are usually rust pitted. Now I'm down to my last few NOS crank webs and rods, so I'm not sure what I'll use next time.
Jerry, do you have any preferences on paired versus single rollers? I used to have a box of single roller race kit big end cages but that supply dried up years ago. For the street, I'd expect either design to work but I'm a bit wary of paired rollers at high speed. Any thoughts on that one?
Crankshaft disassemblyThanks Jerry.
I blew a couple of cranks with stock paired rollers on my racer, and never had any issues with race kit cages. I still have a box on NOS brass/bronze replacement cages - OEM were aluminum - but I can't bring myself to use any of them. Of course I just had a CB77 54mm crank stripped and machined down. And then remembered that I was planning on using a 50.6mm crank in the next motor. Now I need to build two motors, just to use the parts up. Doh! I'll try Capellini Moto to see what sizes they can supply. Thanks The AdventureWell.......
I won't have $5,000 in my whole bike. I am not building a racing machine. Its just for fun. All of the guts of the crank I am trying to reclaim were and have been in the engine with fresh oil for years. It probably has a lot of crud in the crank from centrifugal force, but thinking about it, ALL bikes of every make will have that same malady. Yet, people start these old bikes all the time and run them after years of just sitting - which seems the norm and not the exception. Apparently 70% of the cranks in running engines have the rust pitting which has been brought up and which should cause us some concern, and yet forum members seem to run these bikes for years and lots of miles after "restoring" them and apparently without ever dealing with that issue. Since I was unable to find a previous thread concerning how to disassemble a crank, I have to wonder if most forum members disassemble their crank when rebuilding their motor. And yet, lots of 305's are running up and down the road. Jerry, I appreciate your expertise in this area more than I can say and I believe everything you have warned about is accurate. I am just trying to figure out how to balance legitimate concern with what seems to be overwhelming empirical evidence that most people just don't concern themselves with the crud and rust in their cranks, but ride their bikes lots and lots of miles. I don't think they ever intended to try to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear; they just wanted the fun of riding their bike - and got it. If 70% of the cranks out there were ready to bite people it seems like there would be an enormous level of discussion about crank issues on this forum, yet I found very little. Again, Jerry I really appreciate you sharing your experience in this thread. I am just trying to figure out if there is a reasonable path for those of us who are not going to put $5000 into a crank, are not going to race and who just want to have fun riding these bikes now and then. It would seem that figuring out the best way to remove the centrifugally impacted crud and then derusting everything might be a happy medium. If all the bearings are within tolerance that is all the Honda shop manual advises is necessary. If anyone disagrees I would sincerely appreciate your gentle rebuke. Iron sharpens iron, so please sharpen me up. We will all benefit. Jerry and Teazer, special thanks to you both. Dear Conbs, No offence taken in any area, Over the years (30) Ihave run my engineering business and have learnt very quickly that we live in a society of not wanting to take ownership of all kinds of things. I own the business and therefore take responsibility for what is produced by the business. Life is a gamble and obviously in racing I am a gambler. The same applies to business. In this scenario I play the percentages game. Since I dont like to lose (racing or business) I make everything as good as I can or if I cant or the customer does not want me to then I suggest they go elsewhere. ( My way or the highway) With this attitude or philosophy I have managed to keep problems to a minimum as you can well imagine. On this Forum I am happy to expolain how to dissassemble and reassemble a crank but will not go any further. As far as race and road cranks go there is about 40 hours difference in labour. Please understand also I am not here to offend or upset anyone and yes like LM I can be brutally blunt but I DO care and admire what you guys do out there. All the best Jerry
HelpJerry you are a class act. Thanks for your generous offer to help with assembly and disassembly, especially after all my questioning.
So, I am pretty sure I am in over my head, but how could it be an adventure without that? I got more acetylene today and am going out to the shop to work on the jig for pressing the crank apart. Stay tuned. Good on YOU young feller. I think you realise and understand that I cant pass opinions on how a possibly? compromised crank would work as I have never tried that. Good luck with your adventure. You will learn and get satisfaction from what you are doing . Just REMEMBER I was there once also. All the best Jerry
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