Dr. Smutty's Bike Surgery

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These are Hints, Tips and Tricks from Dr. Smutty's own casebook (Dr. Finlays got ruined by a bottle of whisky and a frustrated Haggis).Dr. Smutty has years of experience with bikes generally and practical experience with Evo Sportsters and Shovels (no not spades). You can contact his Surgery for a consultation via e-mail to here. Please use this service with due respect - keep it short, keep it sweet - as if it gets abused we'll all lose out.

Get your Bear Rings or Balls versus Rollers!

Almost all motorcycle manufacturers I can think of use caged ball races for their wheel bearings. Except of course, H.D.. They use taper roller bearings. Taper roller bearings carry a greater load for the same external size, so they last longer before showing signs of wear. Then, provided they have been kept greased, they can be adjusted, bringing us to the point of these ramblings.

Taper bearings need a small `Running clearance` to operate without overheating. HD specify 5 to 25 thousandths of an inch. 5"thou is plenty, in fact 5"thou at the bearing can just be `felt` at the rim without needing specialist tools, while 25"thou feels like the wheel is falling off! Worn bearings with more than 25"thou clearance will give the steering response of a supertanker rather than a superbike.

To check the bearings;
Jack up the bike so the wheel is clear of the ground.
Holding the wheel at top and bottom and try to `rock` it.
    Feeling a slight `click` is ok, seeing movement isn`t!
Next, spin the wheel and listen to the bearings.
    A slight hiss or silence is ok, grinding or rumbling noises aint!

Adjustment is done by selecting the correct length of spacer tube to fit between the inner races of the bearings,
    The spacer tubes are colour coded to denote lengths.
If you have access to a test dial indicator, or dial micrometer, take out the wheel and measure the end float of the spindle.
Subtract 5"thou from this figure to give the reduction in spacer length you need.
You can now either buy a shorter spacer or machine down the original - the machined ends must be dead square!.

Use a good quality high melting point grease on the bearings, and if you ride in wet weather a lot, waterproof grease for marine applications will last much longer.
    You probably thought all grease is waterproof, but it aint. Ordinary grease, when hot, emulsifies with water and is washed away.

With your wheel bearings adjusted to the minimum tolerance, your full dress Electra glide still won`t handle like a 916, but it should feel slightly more like a motorcycle!
Cheers, Smutty
    ..er isn't 916 on of those Boy Bands and if so who the hell would want to handle one of them?? ..ed

Motor in Frame - it's what living room carpets are for (honest pet)

If you want to put your motor back into the frame, without damaging that shiny new paint, try this.First, plug all the oilways and breathers on the motor. Now tip it carefully onto one side on some thick carpet [yes, the living room floor will do nicely!]. You will need to keep it level and stable by packing it with newspaper or something similar. Next, put a blanket or thick sheet over themotor [no, not a duvet, idiot!]. Now, with assistance, place the frame overthe motor, drop the mounting bolts in, and catch the nuts on. It should now be easy to lift the whole plot upright, remove the sheet, and Viola! (what the hells a fat violin got to do with it? ed.)

Motor in Frame - Continued - Fire it up

So, you`ve now got the whole thing back together, and you`re ready to fire it up. Hold it! First, take out the spark plugs, fit them into theleads, and rest them on the motor so they have a good earth. Now press thego button. This allows the oil pressure to build up while the motor is notunder load [if the oil light does not go out, you may have just averted adisaster!]. It also gives you the opportunity to check for a fat, blue sparkat the plugs, saving time if it subsequently fails to start. Incidentally,if you spin the motor over with the plug leads not connected to anything,you risk damaging the lead or coil insulation, as the spark tries to find away to earth. This will probably show up next time you ride in the rain as amisfire, with sparks jumping from the leads to your left buttock [I`m thinking of the coil position on most big twins]. Also, if you have electronic ignition, spinning the motor with the leads off can send thesparks back through the black box [ignition amplifier], with terminalresults!

Add a laminated plastic card to your toolkit

...the tale of our trip from Devon to Roddies funeral[God rest him].
We rode up [2up on my 74 shovel], with Phil and Jo, to meet TJ and Susan, Alan andPatsy, Shuggie etc, north of Birmingham, where TJs clutch cable broke as we left the services,[due to a bad engine earth connection, the starter current returned to the battery via the clutchcable. You have been warned!].
Travelling next to last in the group, the shovel died a couple of miles over the Scottishborder. As the others sailed on, I pulled in, followed by Barry? from Manchester. I took off thepoints cover, to find the advance unit retaining bolt had snapped off. It was beginning to rain! Itlooked as though the 3/16in gap between the bolt head and points cover was enough to allowthe drive peg in the cam to miss the slot in the advance unit. If I could fill that gap, preferably with something springy and low friction, it might limp to the next services.
I thought about acredit type card, but it seemed too brittle, then Barry produced a  Rainy City H D dealerslaminated plastic card. I folded it in four, stuck it to the cover with some insulating tape foldedinside out, fitted the cover, and when I hit the button , it ran for a few seconds! A momentsthought, and I realised that without a tight bolt, the advance unit was wobbling enough toprevent the points being opened properly. Cover off, card out, whack the points fully open, andthe motor ran as well as ever! It got us to Stirling, to the funeral and back, and all the way home, with stops to refold the card when it lost its spring, when going very slow,[too muchheat!]. I'm glad I can`t afford an Evo, with electronic ignition!

Bleeding Brakes !

Here are some tricks of the trade for bleeding brake [or clutch] systems, on bikes or cars. If you`ve tried all this,and still can`t get a good brake, Email me.[Or lob it in the nearest canal!].

Part of the problem people have with bleeding brakes is that the bleed nipples are at the bottom of the system, and they forget that the air naturally wants to go upwards! Air will collect in high points, so try to remove them by turning the `bars to the left and either moving the `bars or the master cylinder so the union end is lower than the lever end.

If you are filling an empty system, renew all the sealing washers on the unions first. They only cost pennies, and the system must be airtight, not just fluid tight. Use only fresh, clean fluid, preferably DOT5 [synthetic], or DOT4 [mineral]. They have similar performance, but DOT5 is non corrosive and non hydroscopic, whereas DOT4 is the finest paintstripper known to man, and absorbs moisture from the atmosphere, which can boil and turn to steam under heavy braking [heat transfer from the pads], leaving you with no brakes at the critical moment! DOT5 does not mix with any of the lower numbers, so bleed or drain all the old fluid out first.

The rubber bellows under the reservoir lid is a vital component as it isolates the fluid from outside air and dirt, while allowing the level to rise and fall. If it is damaged or ill fitting, renew it.

Inside the reservoir there is a tiny hole, at the bottom, near the lever end. This is the inlet port, where fluid is drawn in and, just as importantly, returns to the reservoir when the piston returns to its rest position. During the first 1/8" of piston travel fluid is pushed up through this hole, so cover the reservoir during bleeding, or a jet of fluid will land on your freshly painted tank!

REMEMBER! The fluid in the reservoir will always go down faster than you expect when bleeding. You will run out of fluid just when you were nearly finished, and will have to start again, so get a lovely assistant to top up for you!

Because rear brake systems tend to be more or less horizontal, they can be difficult to bleed. Try unbolting the caliper and lifting it as high as possible, then bleed it. [A small amount of air trapped in any caliper can be dislodged by unbolting the caliper, and twisting it about so that the nipple ends up at the top before bleeding]. If you are bleeding with the caliper unbolted, you must wedge something between the pads, or the pistons will pop out!

If you have rubber hoses, you can find out where the air is in the system by fitting a brake pipe clamp, starting near the top. If the lever feels `soft` straight away the air is in the master cylider, if it stays `hard ` right to the caliper, that`s where the air is. If you have twin discs on the front, clamp off one caliper feed pipe near the top, and bleed the other one. When all the air is out of that side, swap the clamp over and do the opposite caliper. Never try fitting a brake pipe clamp to goodridge type hoses, it instantly wrecks them!

Before you actually start to bleed the brakes, put lots of expendable cloth anywhere that fluid might land if you spill it, [That nice cardigan your mother gave you for Christmas will do!].

Right, you`ve got everything ready, pour in clean fluid. You may see tiny bubbles rising from the inlet port. This is a good sign! If you pull the lever back ½" and let it go, you may get some more air out. The more air you can get out of the inlet port, the less bleeding, and the less mess! Now try slowly pulling the lever right back, and suddenly letting it go. This may pull more air from the inlet port. When no more air comes up through the hole, if there is still no resistance to the lever, try bleeding the master cylinder union. Wrap it in rag, and slacken the union off ½ a turn or so. Pull the lever back and tighten the union before releasing it. Do this until clean fluid comes out, with no bubbles.

Now bleed the caliper[s], [the highest one first if you have twin discs.]. Fit a clear plastic tube on the nipple, its free end immersed in clean fluid in a glass jar. Open the nipple and work the lever in and out until clean fluid comes out, free of air, then close the nipple. If no fluid emerges, check that the nipple is not blocked. If it still won`t bleed, close the nipple then pump the lever hard and fast to build up pressure, hold the lever in, and open the nipple.This should blast some fluid through. Repeat until it bleeds normally. If you have twin discs with a splitter under the bottom yoke, air can be trapped inside it. Try unbolting it from the yoke and moving it around to dislodge the air, or undoing the union at the high end ½ a turn, pulling the lever back, and tightening the union. Repeat `til clear fluid comes out.

If you`re one of those lucky buggers with access to a compressor, you can buy vacuum bleeders. Connect to the nipple and open it, turn on the compressed air , and watch it suck out all the air, old fluid, spiders etc. Magic! In case you wondered how it`s done at the factory, a Machine is connected to the reservoir in place of the cap. When it`s turned on it pulls a huge vacuum in the system. If the vacuum holds there are no leaks so the operator turns a tap, shutting off the pump, and allowing the vacuum in the system to instantly suck in the fluid. Job done in less time than it`s taken you to read this!

I hope this helps some poor unfortunate sod

Smutty.