rear wheel bearing spacer

and another Q here.
I have stripped the bike and doing quite a bit of work- had no time to post pics as all the (little) spare time is dedicated to rebuilding, but will do.
Question on the rear wheel bearing.

I have a 72 (or a 73 -see previous post...) and the bearing spacer according to the book should not have a long and a short shoulder, as I have 2 single row bearings and not a double and a single like in previous models.

But this is my bearing spacer:

so, as you can see it is longer on one side, it looks exactly like the one Dave has in his bike (but he has a double row bearing -earlier model...)...
is this wrong? if it is wrong, is this bad? when putting the rear hub together I had the impression it was all good with this spacer...(longer shoulder on the speedo drive side).

That looks correct, as you said, the speedo drive side. This extended shoulder spaces the speedo drive so there is clearance on the drive tangs. There should be a plain spacer between the speedo drive and the swing arm.

HTH Richard

Plain spacer: do you mean the one I show below?

In any case I was under the impression that there were 2 different types of bearing spacers. one (earlier, fitted when a double row bearing and a single row are used) with a longer shoulder, and one (later version -fitted when 2 single row bearings are fitted) with the 2 shoulders of the same length.

I can confirm that the early bearing spacers have different length shoulders. Mine did, and it's really sort of counter intuitive in that the single row bearing goes on the longer shoulder. If it's put together with the single row bearing on the short shoulder, things bind up and won't turn. But I can't speak anything to the newer ones that have the bearing in the brake hub. I was under the impression that they all had both single and double row bearings, but I'm not sure unless I would look at the parts book which is available at Old Brits.

Dave
69S

yup, the double row bearing is still there, only it's in the brake hub, and there are 2 single bearings in the drive hub. According to the book this should use a different spacer to the one you have... (this is what I'm trying to figure out. If I got the wrong one...).

the following are the 2 quotes from the book I was referring about:

'some minor variations will occur with regards to the type of bearing fitted to the left hand side of the hub, depending on the year of manufacture. Early models have a double row bearing, later models have only a single row bearing. this is because the later models carry a cush drive assembly in the hub, necessitating the addition of an extra double row bearing within the brake drum itself to ensure rigidity of the modified assembly'.

Click to expand...

-and I defo have the later model with the 2 single row bearings.

(...)

'...pre 1971 models employ a spacer with ends of different lengths so that the longer hand will locate with the bearing on the right hand side of the hub.'

Click to expand...

so this implies that later models employ a different spacer. but I do seem to have that same spacer with ends at diff lengths...

has anybody got the answer as to what my spacer would look like? and if the one i show above is wrong?

You have the correct spacer. The cush drive hubs have a spacer with one end longer than the other. As stockie2 says, the longer end goes toward the speedo drive. Can't vouch for the early spacer, my '68 has a cush hub with the early style wheel disc to give the appearance of the original.

The long shoulder on the 69/70 without the cush drive goes towards the speedo gearbox too. I have that in my workshop manual notes since I messed it up first time.

Dave
69S