Philb714
Active Member
Thought I would post this modification that I did to my suspension link on my Ten this weekend.
After stripping a couple of Tenere suspension linkages recently (with one of them being having a badly corroded bush & bearings …. nothing worse than a rough bush.... ) I thought I would fit a grease nipple to the most exposed part of the linkage like I have on my XT600E.
This only took less than an hour to do from start to finish, (but I have had the linkage off and greased it recently & I had swopped the frame / linkage bolt around to ease removal when I fitted Arrow headers).
Before shot...
Removed the Relay Arm from the bike. (Roller Bearing & Seals remain fitted).
After removing the bush / collar (#90387-14014), a look inside showed that there would be enough space between the two roller bearings in the casting to drill, tap & fit a grease nipple.
So out came Grandads old Tap & Die Set & the Matika…
Pilot drilled (2.5mm) where I wanted to position the grease nipple, then carefully opened it out to 5mm. (I took it real steady whilst drilling, using a slow speed setting and I greased the flutes on both of the twist drills to catch all/any swarf... as it was, the aluminium cut into 'spirals' as I was drilling with hardly any loose pieces of swarf).
Using a 6mm '1st' Tap I gently ran a thread 3/4 of the way through the casting... (I did put grease on the tap flutes again to catch any loose swarf, I also backed out the tap a couple of times to take off any accumulated swarf, regreased the tap & carried on)... The 6mm grease nipple I used only had a short amount of thread so I felt that there was no need to cut a thread all the way through.
Once I'd finished I made sure there were no pieces of swarf inside, gave it a clean, regreased inside the casting ready to fit the nipple.
(Crappy photo of the cut thread below).
Fitted the grease nipple using Loctite Thread Sealer (Loctite 542... other sealants are available at major stores & retail outlets! …) it doesn't need to be tightened using a 6 foot bar on the end of a ring spanner either... just nip it up so it seats nicely.
Greased & fitted the collar, put the linkage back on the bike, greasing all the bolts...as you do... then torqued 'em up.
Greased up the linkage using my new grease gun packed with fresh bearing grease... Just a couple of pumps and that was it... all over... (Sounds like my missus wrote the last sentence ).
Fitted a spare brake bleed nipple rubber cover I had and that was it... Jobs a Good Un!!
So why didn't I fit grease nipples to the other two bearing locations?
I wanted to use the smallest diameter / physically sized grease nipples I could; if I used angled nipples so I could grease the other bearings in situ, the nipples are physically larger and also they might not face in the right direction when tightened up. (Yes you could use a washer/shim to orientate them the way you want but there is not a lot of thread on those nipples).
If I used 6mm straight grease nipples like I did above I would have had trouble getting the grease gun on when fitted to the bike.
Tools / Parts used:
2.5mm HSS Twist Drill.
5mm HSS Twist Drill.
6 x 1mm Metric M6 - 1st Tap.
M6 x 1 (6mm) Straight Hydraulic Grease Nipple Fitting.
Loctite 542 (Or use a similar thread locker - PTFE tape would do it if you have the patience to wrap it round a short 6mm thread... I don't..)
Brake bleed nipple rubber cap.
Bearing grease!
If I've broken any engineering etiquette / standards / recipe's (or any of your own homegrown theories or robbed ideas from 'Mythbusters') whilst carrying out this modification / bodge please keep it to yourself as I'm well happy with the result.
Phil
After stripping a couple of Tenere suspension linkages recently (with one of them being having a badly corroded bush & bearings …. nothing worse than a rough bush.... ) I thought I would fit a grease nipple to the most exposed part of the linkage like I have on my XT600E.
This only took less than an hour to do from start to finish, (but I have had the linkage off and greased it recently & I had swopped the frame / linkage bolt around to ease removal when I fitted Arrow headers).
Before shot...
Removed the Relay Arm from the bike. (Roller Bearing & Seals remain fitted).
After removing the bush / collar (#90387-14014), a look inside showed that there would be enough space between the two roller bearings in the casting to drill, tap & fit a grease nipple.
So out came Grandads old Tap & Die Set & the Matika…
Pilot drilled (2.5mm) where I wanted to position the grease nipple, then carefully opened it out to 5mm. (I took it real steady whilst drilling, using a slow speed setting and I greased the flutes on both of the twist drills to catch all/any swarf... as it was, the aluminium cut into 'spirals' as I was drilling with hardly any loose pieces of swarf).
Using a 6mm '1st' Tap I gently ran a thread 3/4 of the way through the casting... (I did put grease on the tap flutes again to catch any loose swarf, I also backed out the tap a couple of times to take off any accumulated swarf, regreased the tap & carried on)... The 6mm grease nipple I used only had a short amount of thread so I felt that there was no need to cut a thread all the way through.
Once I'd finished I made sure there were no pieces of swarf inside, gave it a clean, regreased inside the casting ready to fit the nipple.
(Crappy photo of the cut thread below).
Fitted the grease nipple using Loctite Thread Sealer (Loctite 542... other sealants are available at major stores & retail outlets! …) it doesn't need to be tightened using a 6 foot bar on the end of a ring spanner either... just nip it up so it seats nicely.
Greased & fitted the collar, put the linkage back on the bike, greasing all the bolts...as you do... then torqued 'em up.
Greased up the linkage using my new grease gun packed with fresh bearing grease... Just a couple of pumps and that was it... all over... (Sounds like my missus wrote the last sentence ).
Fitted a spare brake bleed nipple rubber cover I had and that was it... Jobs a Good Un!!
So why didn't I fit grease nipples to the other two bearing locations?
I wanted to use the smallest diameter / physically sized grease nipples I could; if I used angled nipples so I could grease the other bearings in situ, the nipples are physically larger and also they might not face in the right direction when tightened up. (Yes you could use a washer/shim to orientate them the way you want but there is not a lot of thread on those nipples).
If I used 6mm straight grease nipples like I did above I would have had trouble getting the grease gun on when fitted to the bike.
Tools / Parts used:
2.5mm HSS Twist Drill.
5mm HSS Twist Drill.
6 x 1mm Metric M6 - 1st Tap.
M6 x 1 (6mm) Straight Hydraulic Grease Nipple Fitting.
Loctite 542 (Or use a similar thread locker - PTFE tape would do it if you have the patience to wrap it round a short 6mm thread... I don't..)
Brake bleed nipple rubber cap.
Bearing grease!
If I've broken any engineering etiquette / standards / recipe's (or any of your own homegrown theories or robbed ideas from 'Mythbusters') whilst carrying out this modification / bodge please keep it to yourself as I'm well happy with the result.
Phil
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