Adding a "US" generator light in the "proper" location

BMW used the traditional "generator" bulb socket for high beam low beam (to meet Federalization requirements) on later model /2 bikes.  The generator lamp was moved to an auxiliary socket.

I am not sure which models got the generator lamps here. Perhaps someone can comment.

For some reason, Ned's 1968 R69US had no generator lamp anymore and he wanted to restore its original appearance. So I set about devising a method to locate exactly where on the nacelle the US lamp is located.

Location of red generator lamp on a 1969 R69US.

Location of generator lamp in aux location.

The lamp socket sold by Benchmark Works.

The lamp center lies in the tangent to the speedo circumference that is perpendicular to the direction of travel and touching the speedo circumference at its foremost point.

A line drawn from the speedo hole center (needle spindle) through the location on the dial indicating 5 mph is about 26 mm from a point at the speedo hole circumference to the center of the gen lamp hole.

By locating a pencil and turning the nacelle on a flat surface....

...a line is drawn.

The center of the speedo hole was located by placing a ruler and locating the widest point....

...and locating a point on the other line that is 26 mm from the edge of the speedo hole. 

 A compass is set to 8.5 mm, the radius of the new lamp socket.

And the location of the generator lamp is revealed.

Installing new tapered steering head bearings and headlamp nacelle mounting

These new tapered steering head bearings should be a standard upgrade on any Slash Two that still has ball bearings in the head stock.

I removed the bearings and races in a previous blog post. Now we are installing the new bearings. 

Tap the bearing races home with a suitable drift and heavy mallet. 

Removing the old races from the nut isn't a problem if you....

Stack the assembly on a 22mm socket.

Then place a 41mm socket on top and tap with a plastic mallet.

Even though the new bearings came greased. I like to thoroughly clean them with solvent and run them in my fingers to check for smoothness. 

Then I grease the bearings in my trusty bearing packer.  Compared to a royal sized mess packing using your fingers, this method only makes a medium sized mess!!

Tap down the inner race on the fork using a brass drift.  Tap only on the inner race and go evenly around to ensure it settles in evenly.

Press the other bearing inner into the cap nut using a vice.

Arrange some support for the fork and front suspension assembly.

Locate the fork in the head stock.

Spin on the nut and cap assembly and tighten down past the point of snugness.  You want to settle the bearings, then back off to the point where the play is eliminated.  Go back and forth a few times to make sure you have it right. You want to snug it up just to the point where the play is eliminated.

When you put the upper fork plate on, check the clearance provided by the old spacer. It may have changed with the new bearings. If so, get a different spacer, or add spacers. You want the plate to settle evenly on the outer fork uppers and the inner nut cap.  You don't want the plate to bend when you tighten down on center nut.

Now we'll mount the head lamp nacelle. Place a piece of rubber hose about 3/8" long in the hole.

Arrangement order: outer washer, rubber washer, headlamp ear, rubber washer, headlamp shell.

Servicing the Earles fork

Today, let's focus on servicing the Earles fork.

I always try to keep a new set of tapered bearing and sleeves on hand incase a customer bike comes in with worn old style ball bearings, or even worn tapered bearings.  It is too dangerous to ride with bad bearings and I will always recommend replacing them as soon as possible with new bearings.  Tapered bearings far outperform the original 23-ball-race factory bearings.

Tear down on this R60/2 showed me that the head bearings need to be replaced. They had a notch at the center position. You can check this when the front wheel is off the ground and the steering damper all the way loose.  Move the steering left and right through its travel and if you feel a "notch" or drag at the center position, the bearings are probably shot.  Later in this article, I will also tell you how to determine if your steering bearings are too tight or loose.

State of affairs.

Support the front of the bike on jackstands or blocks of wood.  I normally connect a safety strap to a ceiling joist when I am jacking a bike. Remove the front wheel, brake and set aside.

Remove the swing arm axle nut and unscrew the bolt.  The nut serves as a lock nut.  The bolt is threaded into the fork and tensions the bearing.

Earles Fork Spacers are bike-specific and side-specific.  Some don't use one spacer, or both are on one side. Note the position of the spacer washer(s), if any.

Earles swing arm pivot bearings. These are lubed and looking pretty decent.

Left side looking good too.

Clean bearing races of old grease. 

Outer races for Earles fork swing arm bearings are worn (showing bearing shadows) but not detented.

The other side looks ok too.

Apply new grease. (Wheel bearing grease.)

Fresh grease.

Seals look good.

Before repacking with grease, I did spin the bearings dry to get a feel if they were smooth.  They were.

State of affairs.  

Removing the Earles fork top plate.

Someone had arranged the harness through the fork square so I had to remove the wiring harness from the ignition board in order to remove the headlamp nacelle.  A bit of a delay, but it gave me time to clean and seat the bulbs in the green and red sockets.

Upper lower race. Rusted and detented.  There was only a little dried grease here.  These may have never been serviced in 50 years. 



Lower upper race looks like original factory grease. Race is dented.

Lower inner race.

Upper top race is detented and dry as a bone.  Pitted.