I know nothing about the hub of which you speak. Pics would help.
I’m assuming it uses free balls and not press in ball bearings.
Mounted point grinding wheels in a milling machine spindle won’t have the required speed (SFM) or bearing rigidity. A bearing race with chatter is worse than a bearing with pits. Are you using an auxiliary high speed spindle, mounted to the quill ?
What kind of dresser will you use to generate the radius on the point and do you have an optical comparator to check your result Or a good enough CMM ?
Will you mount the hub to a rotary table or are you using a CNC mill ? If you have access to a mill…do you also have access to a good lathe and tool post grinder ?
Will you use oversized balls and where will you source them ?
Bearings are magic and have JuJu. They don’t allow compromises. At least for very long.
I’ve been machining stuff for 55 years. You’re asking questions. I’m asking some too.
Together, maybe we can figure this out without ruining anything or putting your life in peril.
As for the drum, remember it needs to be laced up and trued when you’re resurfacing and then you want to radius your shoes to match the result.
Way back in ‘79 I tried re-facing my single side ‘54KHK front hub. Chucked it up in a lathe with a tool post grinder. Got it dial indicated concentric with the axle. Blued the inner drum surface and just cleaned it up to perfection. Got a brand new set of Buchanan spokes and laced it up to a 21” rim. On the truing stand you could see the warps and ripples in the freshly ground drum as the truing process torsioned the drum out of round/true. I still have those spokes.
The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
I salute your intention to save this part and keep it original.
I know nothing about the hub of which you speak. Pics would help.
I’m assuming it uses free balls and not press in ball bearings.
Mounted point grinding wheels in a milling machine spindle won’t have the required speed (SFM) or bearing rigidity. A bearing race with chatter is worse than a bearing with pits. Are you using an auxiliary high speed spindle, mounted to the quill ?
What kind of dresser will you use to generate the radius on the point and do you have an optical comparator to check your result Or a good enough CMM ?
Will you mount the hub to a rotary table or are you using a CNC mill ? If you have access to a mill…do you also have access to a good lathe and tool post grinder ?
Will you use oversized balls and where will you source them ?
Bearings are magic and have JuJu. They don’t allow compromises. At least for very long.
I’ve been machining stuff for 55 years. You’re asking questions. I’m asking some too.
Together, maybe we can figure this out without ruining anything or putting your life in peril.
As for the drum, remember it needs to be laced up and trued when you’re resurfacing and then you want to radius your shoes to match the result.
Way back in ‘79 I tried re-facing my single side ‘54KHK front hub. Chucked it up in a lathe with a tool post grinder. Got it dial indicated concentric with the axle. Blued the inner drum surface and just cleaned it up to perfection. Got a brand new set of Buchanan spokes and laced it up to a 21” rim. On the truing stand you could see the warps and ripples in the freshly ground drum as the truing process torsioned the drum out of round/true. I still have those spokes.
The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
I salute your intention to save this part and keep it original.
I decided to just clean the races and run them. Path of least resistance. The Brake drum is going to be replaced. See my other replies ti Tim.If you take off enough material to get rid of the pits, would the races then have too much play for the balls? Or can you source oversize ones? And (not knowing anything about stuff this old) are they plated, heat treated, etc., and how would you restore that?
You sound like you know what you're doing, but just thought I'd give this a bump 🙂
Good idea! See my reply to Tim The Grim.Since we're asking questions. How about sending some pictures? Is this bike going to be road very far, like 1000 miles, or just a couple of miles to the watering hole? What I'm getting at is assuming not far, I would assemble the hub with new balls after cleaning the races and feel it. It maybe good enough for your needs.
Yes I am. The only NOS one I found was $850!!Are you on a tight budget ?
Surely new old stock complete hub exists ?
Do it right once.
I know nothing about the hub of which you speak. Pics would help.
I’m assuming it uses free balls and not press in ball bearings.
Mounted point grinding wheels in a milling machine spindle won’t have the required speed (SFM) or bearing rigidity. A bearing race with chatter is worse than a bearing with pits. Are you using an auxiliary high speed spindle, mounted to the quill ?
What kind of dresser will you use to generate the radius on the point and do you have an optical comparator to check your result Or a good enough CMM ?
Will you mount the hub to a rotary table or are you using a CNC mill ? If you have access to a mill…do you also have access to a good lathe and tool post grinder ?
Will you use oversized balls and where will you source them ?
Bearings are magic and have JuJu. They don’t allow compromises. At least for very long.
I’ve been machining stuff for 55 years. You’re asking questions. I’m asking some too.
Together, maybe we can figure this out without ruining anything or putting your life in peril.
As for the drum, remember it needs to be laced up and trued when you’re resurfacing and then you want to radius your shoes to match the result.
Way back in ‘79 I tried re-facing my single side ‘54KHK front hub. Chucked it up in a lathe with a tool post grinder. Got it dial indicated concentric with the axle. Blued the inner drum surface and just cleaned it up to perfection. Got a brand new set of Buchanan spokes and laced it up to a 21” rim. On the truing stand you could see the warps and ripples in the freshly ground drum as the truing process torsioned the drum out of round/true. I still have those spokes.
The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
I salute your intention to save this part and keep it original.
A NEW APPROACH TO THE WL 750cc FRONT BRAKE SITUATION.Has anyone ever renewed the 1/2 hub [3/8" axle] bearing path and brake drum surface on a Harley 45 WL ? I have rust pits in both side of my bearing surfaces where the ball bearings run and the brake drum inner surface where the brake shoes contact is heavily pitted. I worked in a machine shop for 3 years running a surface grinder and we dressed grinding stones to various configurations. My idea is to grind a shaft mounted dressed round grinding stone and gently renew the bearing races on a milling machine. For the inner brake drum surface I would assemble the inner bearings and hollow center shaft assembly and spin the drum/spool hub assembly on a lathe and retrue the inner drum surface. I would buy a new center hub assembly but OEM Harley hubs are $850 and I don't trust the ones from Tedd Cysle/ V-Twinn to be made correctly or the bearings races to be hard enough. Any thoughts or experience is welcome.
