Let me start by saying that before I tried this my GS was running perfectly. I recently purchased a 98 Katana rear wheel for the conversion on my 96 GS. I installed everything except the bent brake arm (yet to be bent) and the chain guard (yet to be trimmed). I swapped the GS cush drive into the Kat wheel, I shimmed out the sprocket, I used the GS axle...everything I'm supposed to have done up to this point. I bolted everything back up and tried to take it for a slow ride around the block and I got about 50 feet out of the driveway when it locked up on me. I thought initially I had stalled it, but when I saw the motor was still running and I tried to go it wouldn't. Not wanting to break anything I walked it back to my driveway backwards since it would not roll forwards and gave up for the day. Today I tried again. I realized that when reassembling it I had left the chain adjusters off the end of the swingarm. Hoping that was where I had messed up I took it all apart, put them back on, and bolted everything back up. I took it for another test ride. I had gone a block with seemingly no issue when it started to slow down at level RPM's. I stopped it and it smelled like burning rubber. I slowly let out the clutch and added some throttle and nothing. Didn't go anywhere. Throttled harder to see if I could even move it and again nothing. I walked it home (forwards this time) and put the kickstand down and noticed the cush drive was half hanging out. Now I'm just frustrated and don't want to go through the effort of having it towed to a shop to get it looked at/fixed. Any suggestions? I'm hoping I just put something on backwards or something to that effect. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.
Ryan
I never shimmed the sprocket on my Kat wheel. And that was like 5000 miles ago. Can you give some more detail there?
What size tire do u have on it , i believe the 150/70 doesnt need to have it shimmed because there will be 1/8 of clearance anyways , its the 160/70 that would need it , just to be on the safe side
how could you walk it home and not ride it home
check the assy diagram....you missed a part....i'm guessing...
http://houseofmotorcycles.bikebandit.com/parts/Suzuki/GS500ET/1996/724409#stay#stay
part # 9
Quote from: Jay_wolf on October 16, 2007, 06:20:35 PM
What size tire do u have on it , i believe the 150/70 doesnt need to have it shimmed because there will be 1/8 of clearance anyways , its the 160/70 that would need it , just to be on the safe side
Yes, I mounted the 150. So I guess my question is did you shim the drive sprocket equally?
I can't remember,is there a spacer between the cush drive and swing arm?If the caliper and/or hangar was just hanging there,it could have wedged between the wheel and swing arm.I'm just guessing.Was there a spacer between the bearings inside the wheel?If that gets left out you'll have a lot of problems with the bearings locking up.That's all I can think of right now.
I think u may have Shimmed it out way to much the Cush drive , into the wheel is how the power is put the wheel , thus that needs to be as snug as you want , as Mr Turd said that f that isnt done ,could be fatal effects,
If u think when Turd mounted his 160 ,he had around 1/16 Clearance , he needed to get 2/16 , or 1/8 Clearance
if working in Cm a inch is 2.5 cm , 1/8th of that is 0.31 cm
so if u are mounting a 160 tire, and could u mention the Tyre please because not all tires are known to work , u need 5 shims of 0.31
unless ur using a 150 then just mount it like a normal wheel , as Gsjack for instance has a 150 on his standerd rim and mentions no problems what so ever , im glad this topic is open as im doing the swop myself at the moment ,with a 150/70 bt45
Hope this helps
I am using the Dunlop 160 that was on the wheel when I bought it. I know there are forums saying that it doesn't clear but it really does. I shimmed out the sprocket on all 5 bolts and I have almost dead on 1/8" clearance. I'll take it all apart tomorrow and post pictures with all of the parts I'm using so maybe someone from the outside looking in can see if I'm having one of those "duh" moments. And I have no idea how I was able to walk it home when it wouldn't run but I did. There was definitely some resistance but less than I had expected. And I had my roommate look while I was on the bike and walking it and there's nothing rubbing anywhere...not the tire on the fender not the rotor or chain on the tire or swingarm. I'm sure I left out the Johnson Rod (family joke for unknown part) or something stupid like that, but I checked my little pile o' parts and didn't see what I would have left out...pictures to post tomorrow and you all can hopefully show me what I did wrong. Thanks so much for you your help.
Ryan
if you didn't bend your brake arm.... I'm betting thats where the rub is.... and hence the burning rubber smell.... mine rubbed enough with a 150 that I noticed a horrible difference in performance and didn't even get 50 yards from my house, and if you don't have the brake arm on, I'm sure that your brake is just flopping about causing all sorts of havoc (like pulling on the line and compressing your brake pads maybe?)
And YES! there is a space between the cush drive and the swing-arm.... whoever asked that.... its about 3/4 inch thick.
Quote from: TragicImage on October 17, 2007, 01:28:23 AM
And YES! there is a space between the cush drive and the swing-arm.... whoever asked that.... its about 3/4 inch thick.
That was me.Been a while since I had the rear wheel off.
I'm in class right now so I can't post the pictures yet but I never even put the brake arm or the chain guard back on...it's still sitting in my pile of parts and tools. I haven't found anyone in Boulder, CO who will bend it for me. Anyone who can do it seems to be smart enough to know what it is and won't bend it because of "liability issues". But at this rate I won't need a rear brake the wheel will just stop itself!!
To bend the torque arm, I used a $6 propane torch and a 15-lb sledge hammer and some scrap 2x4's. I think you're making it more complicated than it needs to be.
I didn't bend mine...
I had a notch welded out of it with a reinforcing plate welded in, cost me about 40 bucks, but i liked that idea better than bending it for the "liability" issues.... and considering that it might adversely effect the rear brake.
I called a local guy that advertised that he did "hot rods and customs" and told him what I needed to do, and he said "no prob, but I'll beef it up a bit for you too".... Check your yellow pages.
So I couldn't find my camera but I ripped the whole assembly apart and realized I had put a spacer inside the cush drive when it should have been outside on the sprocket side. I reassembled everything and smashed the living hell out of the cush drive so it would sit nice and flush and tight. Hit the axle and bearings with some fresh grease and tightened everything up, started her up and warmed her up, got 50 yards out of the driveway when I heard a pop and looked down and the cush drive was hanging halfway out again. Getting frustrated and downright angry...any suggestions?
You may have wrecked a crucial part in phase one. Take everything apart and check for signs of damage.
Did that...when I bought the Kat wheel I didn't know exactly what parts I would need so I took them all. I compared all of the parts of the Kat to the GS ones and they all look the same (proportionately of course). It rolls fine if I'm going slow as hell but if I try to give it some throttle it pulls the cush drive right out.
"Cush drive hanging half way out"? Please describe better. If you are unable to describe what you mean, take pictures.
Do not ride the bike again until you get the bike properly fixed. A rear wheel locking up at even 25 mph will send you sliding on your ass.
I don't mean to be rude, but working on and modifying the rear end of a bike is not a project for someone with limited experience or without guidance. This seriously could kill you.
-Turd.
Oh I don't take it as rude at all I appreciate the concern. The rubber inside the cush drive is exposed by about 1/2". I could hear the pop when it dis-lodged itself. It's still connected to the wheel but again exposed by 1/2" or so. I'll take a picture(s) to better show what I'm poorly describing when I find my camera. I always prided myself on being somewhat mechanically inclined after pretty much re-building my old Eclsipse GSX, but I'm finding cars and motorcycles are not so similar.
You should have the cush spaced so the chain is in a straight line form the front sproket to the rear when looking at it from the back. You get your cush where needed to attain a straight chain on the sprokets and then you use washers as necessary to get the proper fit. When I did my Bandit wheel (same principal) I ended machining a spacer to fit, washers would do the same thing if you dont have access to a lathe.
I had this thought...doesn't the axle go through the rear brake assy? Maybe that extra piece being off is throwing off the balance/spacing. Any merit to that or am I being stupid again.
Also...TragicImage...could you send me the specs or a picture of that brake arm you had cut and welded? I would love to not only see what it looks like but be able to take a picture or specs to a machine shop and be able to say "do this". Thanks again...this forum is really quite helpful
Holy shite I can't believe I am reading this
1. Yes the rear caliper bracket is very important to be installed with the wheel. It acts like a 0.5" spacer. With out that the wheel can move left and right 0.5 inches. Dude before you ride this I assume you at least spin the damn thing around a few times. All the spacers that came of the bike need to go back on the bike. If you are not sure about what goes where buy a clymers manual or at least look at a parts fiche.
2. If you install the rear caliper bracket, then you need to also mount the brake stay, because if you don't the caliper bracket will be able to turn and then smash into the swing arm and could cause a major issue.
3. If you are just swapping the rear tire you should not have "extra" parts
My guess is you mixed up GS spacers and Katana spacers and "close enough" will get you killed due to failure.
From what I have read....
Sounds like you are using the Kat cush drive spacer, which is longer than the GS spacer. You must use the GS spacer with the GS sprocket carrier.
If you are using the Kat spacer and not using the caliper braket would leave too much of a gap to tighten the axle properly. This would allow the rear wheel to twist.
Like I said I'm not used to working on motorcycles, but having a good background in cars I guess I got a little over zealous. My last bike was an R6 and the only thing aftermarket I had to do to that bad boy was oil. I'll give this one more go before I take it to my local shop. Thanks again to everyone who has helped me through this god awful process I really appreciate it. From now on I think I'll stick to riding it and doing simple mods and leave the fabrication work to the big boys.
Oh, I assumed you left off the torque arm (which you'd get by with, except for the aforementioned possible swingarm damage... further assuming you wouldn't try to use the rear brake).
I actually thought of mentioning that the caliper bracket is a necessary component, but I thought "no one would leave that out". :oops:
Yeah big old oops on my part, and I thought riding these things would be the tough part.......
the only parts from a kat6 you need for the swap.....
wheel with tar and bearings still installed
rotor
rear caliper bracket
all other parts are reused from the GS