Clean front fork and swingarm

Two posts ago I mentioned that I was cleaning up the front fork.  I never posted pictures of that finished work so here it is.  The first two photos show the front fork and swingarm before and after after rust was removed.  

You can see the fork cleaned up very nicely.  The original paint and primer came through like a champ.

The swingarm is aluminum so no rust just some cleaning and grease removal.  I then hit both pieces with some clear coat making sure not to get the clear coat in to the bearing races.  The bearings were all very solid and spinning level so need to pull or replace those.  The roller bearings for the front hub (underneath that large 22mm nut) will both need to be reseated slightly as they came off their respective bases just a bit when removing the hub itself.  A little love tap on reassembly will take care of that detail.  The needle bearings in the swingarm pivot however were a different story...see below.

So inside the swingarm pivot at the end of the fork are these nifty needle bearings.  This kind of bearing consists of the bearing shell (which you can see as the center circle) and then the needle bearings themselves.  The shell is constructed so there is a lip on each end.  The needle bearings roll around held in place by the lips on either end of the shell and the swingarm pivot which goes through the center.  But when you drive out the pivot the bearings are free to roam about as they please.  This normally means needle bearings all over the place.  If you are lucky your grease has held the needles all in place so they can be removed  cleaned and repacked.  In my case that is exactly what happened.  18 needles per bearing, one bearing on each side of the opening so a total of 36 needle bearings to be individually refitted back into their respective shells.  Once the needle bearings are in place carefully drive the swingarm pivot back through the hole and you should have a functioning swingarm pivot.

Cleaning and prep...tire rims

When you get an old scooter body there is a lot of cleaning and prep.  When you have a job and a family and a house to take care of you do not  have all the time in the world to spend with your scoots. I have also been distracted by some work on my Allstate project and regular maintenance on my VNB.

Anyway this project is moving forward and every part I take off and clean is one more part ready for reassembly.

I have been working on the front fork getting all the bearings out and cleaning up the swing arm assembly.  That is mostly done with new bearings on order from SIP and potential reassembly in the not too distant future.  I still have a fair amount of work to do cleaning the frame including some rust removal.  That will be finished up after I get all the outlying pieces taken care of and off the floor of my garage.

So here are a few photos of the latest part to be cleaned up and ready for rebuild.  You remember the rims which were rusty and the paint was falling off and unprotected.  Well I finished removing the rust with my favorite Evaporust product.  I then gently cleaned and dried the remaining paint and coated that with several layers of clear coat to seal the paint which remained and prevent the rust from returning.  

On the inside of the rims I spent considerable time grinding off old rust and rubber which had been stuck to the rims for years.  This was done with a drill and wire brush.  Once I got the surface down to a smooth enough condition that I felt a rubber inner tube would be OK resting against the rim I coated the inner edges of the rim with a rust sealer/converter to help prevents the insides of the rims from corroding too quickly in the future.

Below you can see the before and after pictures.   Rust is gone, paint is sealed, metal interiors are sealed and these rims are ready for tires and mounting.  The second pair was a bit more beat up and took more work on the interior to get a smooth surface for the tube, but it ended up looking nearly identical to this rim when all was said and done.  Once I slip some new 8" black-walls on these rims they will look great.

This is before:

This is after, ready for tires:

Front suspension cleaning

Starting to get serious about cleaning the front end suspension and fork.  Here are a few pictures of the progress.

This is the front spring and shock before cleaning.  For greasy parts like these I lather them up with GOJO hand cleaner.  The GOJO really gets after the grease and loosens it up for easy removal with a rag or towel or water and brush whatever technique is appropriate for the piece.  Because I did not want to introduce water to these pieces I wiped them down with rags once the Gojo did the hard work.

I did nothing to the shock after cleaning off the grease.  There is still some decent resistance so I think I will put it back on the scoot and see how the front end responds.  If it is too bouncy then I will replace the shock later.  I rarely use the front brakes so I suspect it will be fine.  I hit the spring with some new aluminum color Rustoleum paint and it looks super.  The spring will probably be the best looking part on the finished scoot.  I will likely do the back spring the same way so they match on the final product.

Here is the front suspension half disassembled.  Next off is the swingarm pivot.  Then remove the axle and finally get down to some rust removal.

And here is the swingarm pivot removed.  I took this photo just in case there is any question how these pieces go back together during reassembly.  This is the exact order in which the various washers will go back on to the swingarm pivot post during rebuild.  They all cleaned up very nicely and will be reusable.