greasing isolastics

The service notes describe lightly greasing all parts with silicone grease RELEASIL No. 7. I got the usual funny look at the auto parts store when I asked about silicone grease. I have silicone grease for plumbing repairs and a half dozen different kinds of automotive grease. Does it really matter if I use marine grease or the usual multipurpose grease?

christulin said:

The service notes describe lightly greasing all parts with silicone grease RELEASIL No. 7. I got the usual funny look at the auto parts store when I asked about silicone grease. I have silicone grease for plumbing repairs and a half dozen different kinds of automotive grease. Does it really matter if I use marine grease or the usual multipurpose grease?

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Go to a different auto parts store. Fast. Never go back there. No to Marine grease, and multipurpose grease. Petroleum will ruin the iso rubber. Go to NAPA, ask for Silglyde.

http://www.amazon.com/Sil-Glyde-Silicon ... B0054DWS1W

Thanks much.
I haven't started on the front isolastics, yet. It looks like I have to remove the right exhaust to remove the bolt; don't want to have to redo them any time soon. When I do the rears, I'll have to take off so many parts, I might as well remove my left kidney.

All auto parts stores carry silicone grease; apparently some of them just don't know it. Ask for di-electric grease; it's the same thing. It's usually located with all the various gasket sealers and such - permatex and other brands. Any Brittbike owner should have a tube of dielectric grease for all those pesky elec fittings anyway!

Any Brittbike owner should have a tube of dielectric grease for all those pesky elec fittings anyway! [/quote]

Crap I've been a Norton, Triumph and BSA owner for the last 40 years. Nobody ever told me

Cushions are tough cookies and can stand anything to help bash em in, talcum powder to axle grease. A bit of dish soap or bar soap rubbed inside, all about the same to the over size cushions. My best lube is swiftest slam bam then some bumps to center. Can tell ya how pleased I am with smooth blunted engine sense after beveling two sets of front bumpers about half thickness and stuffing extras in the rear.

"Crap I've been a Norton, Triumph and BSA owner for the last 40 years. Nobody ever told me "

Glad I could be of help!

Re the isos - silicone grease (di-electric grease) allows them to be pushed in easily by hand with no strain or cursing.

Well, I have lots of dielectric grease.
Armour All is also silicone based and a great lubricant for rubber bushes and for pulling/pushing wires through heatshrink tubing and stuff like that.
P.O. used general purpose grease on the isos, of course.

Can tell ya how pleased I am with smooth blunted engine sense after beveling two sets of front bumpers about half thickness and stuffing extras in the rear.

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Will you elaborate on this please?

When I do the rears, I'll have to take off so many parts, I might as well remove my left kidney.

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?

I just did my own and a friend's front and rear isos complete replacements.

Yes the rear is more fiddly and requires a small jack under the motor and an assistant but it really goes quite smoothly all in the frame, in fact I don't recall having to remove anything other than the silly stock shaver charger on the right side and of course the head steady so you can move the motor more easily up and down to match up the main stud holes through the Z plates but that is an easy removal.

why would you believe you had to remove all kinds of stuff to do the rear?

Hullsfire said:

Can tell ya how pleased I am with smooth blunted engine sense after beveling two sets of front bumpers about half thickness and stuffing extras in the rear.

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Will you elaborate on this please?

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Yeah, Steve; a bit more clarification/details on how you deviate from the FSM, please. I'll be doing mine this fall, and I'd love to know if there's a way to coax a bit more isolation action out of these. Thanks!

I'm not sure that dielectric grease is the same as silicone grease. I'm thinking of De-Ox which is used mostly on AL wire connections to prevent corrosion and thus high resistance, and silicone grease is typically used as a lubricant to pull wires through conduit or thermal compound (insulgrease) for insulating heat transfer with transistors usually.

I certainly wouldn't use De-Ox in my isos.

Then there are some that say the isos should bond to the tubes, so forget the grease. When I took my originals out, they were stuck to the tubes, but I did use silicone grease for assembly. There is also assembly lube which evaporates, leaving nothing.

I'm ambivalent, but not about the De-Ox.

I stand to be corrected.

edit: looks like dielectric grease is not de-ox, but a silicone waterproofing grease for electrical connections.

De-Oxit is a cleaner for electrical contacts/connections. Di-electric grease is a grease for electrical connections to "seal" them from moisture, etc. Despite what some folks think, It is NOT conductive and is not supposed to be. It should be used on virtually any electrical connection that is or can be exposed to the elements. If you pull the electrical connectors on any recent automobile, you will find the connectors stuffed with di-electric grease.

It is NOT smeared on AFTER making a connection. It is placed on the connectors (whatever type they are - push type, screw terminals, yes - Lucas bullets, etc) and the connection is then made normally. The mechanical connection displaces the grease at the point of contact and the Di E grease then seals the connection. There must be a good mechanical connection in the first place.

A typical process when working on car/boat/bike electrical connections is: Break the connection, do any serious cleaning or replacing of connectors that may be needed (wire brush corrosion, or cut wire back/install new terminal for example), spray connectors with De-Oxit, wipe off if they are screw terminals if push terminals make/break connection several times, break connection and coat connectors with Di E grease, remake connections.

1. I use Kopr-shield on electrical connections. I may have bought some from Eastwood's years ago. It prevents corrosion of connectors plus the copper powder in it is conductive. This is my weapon of choice against bad connections (and running ground wires instead of relying on the frames.
2. Perhaps I'm intimidated by the rear iso's since I can just barely see and touch them, whereas the fronts are right out in plain view. The shop manual states that the rear can only be dismantled completely after stripping the primary transmission. Then later, it states that a complete strip of the rear requires removal of the power unit. It looks like the Z plates (including foot rests, pedals, silencers, etc. have to come off. Then it looks like the battery carrier is attached to the bolt. Just shimming the rear can be done from the right side, but I don't think the rear bushes have seen the light of day since they were installed in 1974 and I worry (maybe unnecessarily) about their condition.

You can remove the rear isos with no assistance and without removing much of anything major except the swing arm and the upper iso mount (engine head to frame). I did it most recently about two years ago on my '73. Basically you are going to remove the pieces necessary to allow the engine carrier to rotate downward from the front ISO mount. You will have to remove the drive chain and the exhaust header pipes and with the chain off and pipes out of the way and the engine rotated as far downward at the rear as possible, the rear iso will be exposed and you will be able to remove/replace all the relevant parts. If your bike has one, you will have to remove the oil filter assembly to allow for sufficient downward movement. There are other parts that need to come off as noted in a previous post - I'm doing this by memory. Basically, anything that would interfere with the rear iso dropping far enough to be accessable from the side has to be removed

It's a bit fiddly but it isn't really difficult at all and the complete R&R of the ISOS can easily be done by one person in 4-5 hours, more if you have help or any beer.

interesting Mike,

I have now down four different rear iso replacements and found no reason whatsoever to remove the swing arm or rear wheel or anything other than the head steady and the right side shaver outlet thing.

Thank you, guys.
I am more encouraged by the posts about the rear isos. It makes more sense to remove the head steady and tilt the gearbox down. I made the mistake of reading the service manual, which makes it sound much more difficult. The rear gaitors aren't on correctly so the isos have been exposed to the elements for possibly years and only protected by old oil and grease. It sounds like another project for a rainy day (if we ever get rain here again).
BTW, I now have plug for the outlet, which I attach my battery tender to.

"I have now down four different rear iso replacements and found no reason whatsoever to remove the swing arm or rear wheel or anything other than the head steady and the right side shaver outlet thing."

Guess I did a lot of extra work! Either that or my memory is faulty re the specifics...I suspect the latter, thanks.

I'll be back home tomorrow and will be able to pull up my log notes of the job to verify what I actually did.

I have no idea why it is necessary to move the gearbox

it is not in the way, leave it

the rear iso is just not that difficult but it is fiddly and you need a small jack to move the motor slightly

you also need an assistant with strong hands to grab the engine plates and apply some leverage when needed

you can PM me if any more help needed

1up got it right but rear can [ugh] be done single handed with jacks and levers and enough undone to pivot cradle up/forward, heat steady, carb boots, drive chain, headers and maybe ignition condener coil rack. Its more wise and healthy to have an "interested" helper doing this for a number of reasons. One fella review his turmoils testing his mechanical manhood. All's I've learned though is crying and swearing is useless expet for their slight relief breaks and pain dulling which just wastes more time. Tag about 2 min mark.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcIJo5BXZ3Y[/video]