82 450 suspension arm caps.. any work around?

[Jerry Thurston]

I bit the bullet and my frighteningly expensive ball joints are on their way across the Atlantic ready to recondition the rear end of my 1982 450.

I am now trying to see if i can avoid another wallet shrinking tussle with Ebay

The genuine caps for the uni-trak rocker are as you know, simply a thick washer with a stepped rubber lip moulded to them...

I can buy them new old stock but by the time I get them here to the UK with shipping and tax I'm going to be into the equivalent of $150.

Has anybody successfully come up with an alternative way of sealing the rocker bearings from dirt/wet ingress?

I have a lathe so machine work isn't an issue...

thanks a million

Jerry

[bufftester]

How about cutting rubber washers the appropriate size from an old inner tube and gluing them to the metal washer? I have done that on an old Honda Odyssey I used to have and it worked fine. Other alternative would be to pack them in watertight grease and service regularly.

[kdxsully]

I had this dilemma on my 87 200 with an 84 motor. The swing arm fits a bit differently. I didn’t want to do any grinding on the cases, so I used a properly sized o-ring or two on the bearing collar to (sort of) protect the bearings from dirt, and covered it with a machine bushing. This may or may not work for you, but I sourced everything from my local hardware store, and probably spent less than $10.

I did have two of the four original collars I needed, so that did help.

[bufftester]

If you have access to a lathe you could probably turn a set of washers with a O-ring groove in them to retain it.

[Jerry Thurston]

Because the Washer protrudes slightly I don't think I can bias a conventional O ring groove enough to the inner side to provide enough seal. Current thinking is to turn a 'step' (with rounded edges to keep the O ring in good shape) in the edge of the washer and use it to sandwich the ring against the bearing outer... I'll keep you posted.

[bufftester]

Yes, thats what I envisioned, the washer compressing an o-ring against the outer edge of the bearing.