71 750 Dissemble

I am finally kicking off my restoration. I soaked the pistons & cylinder for about five days. Then on January 12, I filled the tires and rolled her away from her tomb where she was buried for the lasts thirty two years. I was truly appalled by her overall condition! I rolled her down the driveway three times in an attempt to free up the pistons in their cylinders to no avail. It was raining lightly, yet it didn't matter a bit as it just felt good to have my legs over her again. I loaded her up in my truck and moved her to an area I have secured for the dissemble! I washed her of thirty years of dust and grime, I scoured the rusty fenders, rims and every bit of chrome. She looked sooo much better but unfortunately she is still sporting quite a bit of scrap metal. I soaked every external fastener in penetrating oil and let her sit another two days.

Limited on time on the 15th I stripped the first few bits from her frame, the front fender/ mudguard, both rear foot peg assemblies and only the right peashooter. The left muffler didn't want to budge from the header so i soaked it some more and walked away. I know some of these items I should cut off, but I won't. A vary small step but its a start. By the way I found the pistons were free in their bore.

A couple of questions:

I read some nuts are easier to remove on the bike rather than on the bench, I just can't recall the specifics. This was gearbox related, but anything that comes to mind would be appreciated.

Can you tell me the size of a couple of the larger nuts?
Countershaft sprocket nut
Sump filter body
fork tube nut
clutch center nut.

It depends on the nut location and how fused in or buggered up its head is.
Air impact can really help. But standard is heat the smoking snot out of the thing then spray on penatrant, like ATF and brake fluid or melted candle way and give it go, may have to repeat over days if not just twisted in right off in 'eagerness'.
Series of hammers to sludge and various Stout drifts will be handy as fasteners likely trash anyway. Keep torch and extinguisher handy.

What ya do need to know is the big 1.5" nut on tranny sprocket is LH/reverse threads and IIRC a couple others in tranny or wheel list or manual can alert.

The sump and drive sprocket nut (LH thread) are 1 1/2", you can get one for reasonable price at walmart or Harbor freight (tow ball nut wrench). Standard US socket will fit on clutch centre nut. Fork tube nut is a mystery to me too, I use a big adjustable, carefully.

Good luck.

Dave
69S

1-5/16" SAE wrench or socket will fit the fork top bolts (why everyone seems to call them "top nuts" is beyond me!). Will also fit the steering stem nut on 71-on forks. CNW actually sells a 1-5/16" socket if you can't find one locally.

Debby

Thanks Debby, I never tried my 1 5/16 socket, and I even have one.

Dave
69S

Be sure to take some good "before" pictures. This is gonna be a good one...

You are doing the right thing by spraying penetrating oil and walking away from it rather than going wild cutting things off and using brute force. When getting new parts it is valuable to compare them to the old ones. For example, MarshalNorton got brand new carb cables which had the inner wire too short and held the slides up so the idle speed could not be adjusted.

Russ

Thanks you all for the info on nut sizing!

So back to my first question:

What nuts should be loosened in the gearbox prior to removal of the gearbox?
(I believe applying the rear brake assisted in keeping this mystery nut from turning.)

Any other items that are best kept in the frame to loosen prior to full dissemble?

I think it's only the sprocket nut. It helps if you have the drive chain on and use the brake. I already had it off, and clamped the gearbox on a bench, wrapped the drive chain around the sprocket, used some vice grips to bind the chain and somehow strapped that to the bench so the sprocket would not turn. If you want to take the sprocket off with a socket and the gearbox assembled, you are going to need a very deep socket. Some here have taken 2 - 1 1/2" sockets and made one long one that will get over the spindle. I think I also used a chain strap wrench to hold the sprocket when I tightened it. Seemed to work. Remember it's LH thread.

Swooshdave did a long thread on the gearbox if you care to find it. OB has a nice write up on the GB too.

Dave
69S

One small and I hope helpful tip- for the fork top bolts and the steering stem cover nut/bolt, I have found that a cheap set of plumber's bells has been very useful. It keeps me from having a crescent wrench slip off and ding something. Just a thought... good luck!

T95,Dog ,remember that the sprocket nut is also chamferred on one side, gearbox side , and should be reassembled that way(larger contact area). One nice bike just the way she is.

askdoctorday said:

One small and I hope helpful tip- for the fork top bolts and the steering stem cover nut/bolt, I have found that a cheap set of plumber's bells has been very useful. It keeps me from having a crescent wrench slip off and ding something. Just a thought... good luck!

Click to expand...

"Plumbers bells"
I can't figure what they are.

Bob

I have found that a cheap set of plumber's bells has been very useful.

Click to expand...

:shock:

That's a new one to me. A Google search turned up nothing. Please explain.

Ron L said:

I have found that a cheap set of plumber's bells has been very useful.

Click to expand...

:shock:

That's a new one to me. A Google search turned up nothing. Please explain.

Click to expand...

There a set of double sided cheap metal deep sockets for various plumbing jobs. They have a hole drilled through it to stick a screwdriver through as a lever. They are carried on a big steel diaper pin and they clang. Possibly useful for sprocket nut.

pvisseriii said:

Ron L said:

I have found that a cheap set of plumber's bells has been very useful.

Click to expand...

:shock:

That's a new one to me. A Google search turned up nothing. Please explain.

Click to expand...

There a set of double sided cheap metal deep sockets for various plumbing jobs. They have a hole drilled through it to stick a screwdriver through as a lever. They are carried on a big steel diaper pin and they clang. Possibly useful for sprocket nut.

Click to expand...

Plumbers Bells? It must be adapted from the "ching ching" sound a cash register makes. Of course when a plumber turns those wrenches he is surely making big money!

Thanks,
I do have a set of plumber bells and likely would have overlooked using them.

Hi guys- just checked back in. Sorry that my post was cryptic- I assumed that "plumber's bells" was a widely known term, I guess not so widely known. I find them useful for many applications, including motorcycles. They tend to be an imprecise fit to standard bolt head sizes, which strangely enough makes them a perfect fit for some of the odd sizes on my Norton. The bells are hard enough to apply some serious force, but soft enough to "wedge" onto an oddly sized bolt head and get a real good grip, such as the fork bolts. They usually come with a solid rod to slip through the hole in the bell and use to turn- this rod is slightly soft and easily bent, which I like better than a screwdriver because it tells me when I am working too hard Good luck!

Thanks to all for the information. I especially liked the tip on the plumbers bells. I happen to own a set and they do fit the the top bolts perfectly.

I had a fairly productive day dissembling the roadster. I needed to get the exhaust nuts off and didn't have a spanner. I spent over as hour fabricating one that still need time to be refined. My impatience got the best of me and I decided to use my chain wrench. I was vary concerned with stripping the threads, this seems to be a reoccurring topic with these old bikes, so I was cautious. As it turned out both sides released with vary little pressure. To my surprise just about every nut I put a wrench on came off effortlessly, regardless of the amount of corrosion on and around it. I am sure this is a testament to the use of penetrating solvents and the repeated application over the last week.

So I drained the oil, removed the exhaust headers, headlight shell and the associated switches and lights, front wheel ( dam that thing weighs a ton), handle bar controls , handlebars, fork legs, lower and upper yoke & bearings, rear tail light assembly , rear fender, right hand peg, air cleaner and probably a few other items that I have forgotten. I was finally able to get my eyes on the red tag, she has a manfactured date of march 1971. I also took a ridiculous amount of photos to document and help in the rebuild phase.

Well, the good news is the inside of the headlight, tail light and handle bar controls were corrosion free and the electrical connections are in good shape. The bad new, just about everything I took off is scrap metal.

>>I also took a ridiculous amount of photos to document and help in the rebuild phase.<<

Trust me, there will be a lot of times when they save you from a lot of hair pulling and guessing on reassembly.