A post on the Gromlins facebook page showing quite a lot of excess play in the gear pedal got me thinking, I wonder what type of ball joints they've used in there?
So I went to have a look, and lubricate the pedal (mine was squeaking a bit) at the same time.
Start out with circlip pliers on the reverse of the pedal. It's not threaded on, but just held on this way (cheaper).
Just in case you don't know what circlip pliers are - there's all levels of mechanical ability on the forum.
Next I undid the m6/10mm hex bolt holding the linkage to the engine.
Which is when I found out that to get the whole assembly away in one piece, you'd have to actually remove the footpeg plate - remember this is what holds the swingarm on.
I thought never mind, I'll just peel back the cover and lubricate the joints. Remember not to use mineral grease here, it will degrade the rubber covers in time. Only silicon grease or other rubber safe products!
It's when I found this.
Dafuq? So I opened the split pin and took it off for a look. And this is what's in there.
Literally just a bent bit of metal running "plain" against another plain bit of metal. No bearing, nothing to prevent wear.
For the time being I have greased it and put it back together, but this will give me nightmares if I leave it there, it's just such a crappy engineering solution. There's still plenty of play in there:
If you buy full rearsets you will get a "proper" tie rod. If you buy "rearless sets" without a new lever assembly, then you've still got this crap on your bike.
So I think I will try something like this as a better quality solution. 1 Pair of Rod Ends M6 R/H Thread. Male + Female. ROSE JOINT.TIE ROD. TRACK ROD | eBay
Just a Male rod end thread into a Female rod end and a locknut to keep it steady.
Normally you have a LH female joint at one end, RH female joint at the other and a bit of threaded rod in the middle with LH at one end and RH thread at the other, allowing you to easily adjust lever height, but there's not space or need for that on the MSX. I just need to find a solution that gives a 52mm centre to centre measurement.
One annoyance is Honda have used 7mm holes. Rod ends are m6 or m8. I am not sure whether it's better to use m6, crank them down and secure using nyloc nuts, hoping the spherical bearing self-centres, or whether to drill the holes out to m8 but the hole will be bare metal (rusts) and the joint has no chance to fit in the OEM cap.
I think m6 is the better compromise here?
So I went to have a look, and lubricate the pedal (mine was squeaking a bit) at the same time.
Start out with circlip pliers on the reverse of the pedal. It's not threaded on, but just held on this way (cheaper).
Just in case you don't know what circlip pliers are - there's all levels of mechanical ability on the forum.
Next I undid the m6/10mm hex bolt holding the linkage to the engine.
Which is when I found out that to get the whole assembly away in one piece, you'd have to actually remove the footpeg plate - remember this is what holds the swingarm on.
I thought never mind, I'll just peel back the cover and lubricate the joints. Remember not to use mineral grease here, it will degrade the rubber covers in time. Only silicon grease or other rubber safe products!
It's when I found this.
Dafuq? So I opened the split pin and took it off for a look. And this is what's in there.
Literally just a bent bit of metal running "plain" against another plain bit of metal. No bearing, nothing to prevent wear.
For the time being I have greased it and put it back together, but this will give me nightmares if I leave it there, it's just such a crappy engineering solution. There's still plenty of play in there:
If you buy full rearsets you will get a "proper" tie rod. If you buy "rearless sets" without a new lever assembly, then you've still got this crap on your bike.
So I think I will try something like this as a better quality solution. 1 Pair of Rod Ends M6 R/H Thread. Male + Female. ROSE JOINT.TIE ROD. TRACK ROD | eBay
Just a Male rod end thread into a Female rod end and a locknut to keep it steady.
Normally you have a LH female joint at one end, RH female joint at the other and a bit of threaded rod in the middle with LH at one end and RH thread at the other, allowing you to easily adjust lever height, but there's not space or need for that on the MSX. I just need to find a solution that gives a 52mm centre to centre measurement.
One annoyance is Honda have used 7mm holes. Rod ends are m6 or m8. I am not sure whether it's better to use m6, crank them down and secure using nyloc nuts, hoping the spherical bearing self-centres, or whether to drill the holes out to m8 but the hole will be bare metal (rusts) and the joint has no chance to fit in the OEM cap.
I think m6 is the better compromise here?