1984 GL1200 Standard rear wheel/drive issue

[flyin900]

Ok so did you tap the flange in and now it lines up like your Red S and both the Black and Red S have the same spacing? Also the 86A LTD has only 1/8" of spacing too?
If this is the case then I do need to look at mine further I think, even though everything seems to line up as far as the axle spacer and the caliper and bracket assembly.

[calif wingnut]

Notta. Red is in, Black out like all my others Hmm ?

[jdvorchak]

Probably saw this too late but to me it doesn't look like it's fully seated. If the wheel and spacers all fit without forcing them in then it's ok. I've owned a few GL1200 and that last little fraction of an inch is hard to find. You have to keep rocking the wheel back and forth until it fully seats.

[flyin900]

Yes it fits together without forcing anything and when I took it apart the second time and had the wheel and rear end and on the floor I tried all sorts of movement and looked at the sections closely. I did at that time also remove the flange drive and clean that up and reinstall it without any change.
I don’t like the fact that there is no real overlap of the parts, so it seems dust and water if I rode in the rain could possibly enter.
Don’t know how it was originally so possibly it was always like this and no issues previously so I will go with it a this point. Too much messing around to get the wheel off and not have any change in the alignment as the last go round resulted in no change.

[jdvorchak]

I still think you don't have it put together fully. None of my 1200's had a gap and you could not see that bright aluminum between the wheel and drive. As I remember there are 2 steps on those shafts. The first step the wheel would easily align and I remember putting the bike in gear, on several occasions, and continuing to rock the wheel forward and back until it dropped that last 1/4 inch or so.
Good luck.

[jdvorchak]

IMG_0264.JPG (98.12 KiB) Viewed 686 times

Here you can clearly see that there is no gap on my 84 Std.

[calif wingnut]

I have a spare r.end/wheel that I'll play around with.

[flyin900]

Need anotherr angle on that shot as mine would look the same shot from that side and angle. Shot from the left side of the bike down into the wheel area would be better.
I think the wheel should be over further too, yet everything lines up without anything needing to be forced into place such as the wheel spacers. The caliper and rotor are spaced correctly and I wonder if it moved over 1/8 “ what would happen to that alignment.
I will play around with rocking the wheel back and forth with the bike in gear like you indicated and see if anything changes.
I did lots of messing with the wheel and rear end when I pulled it off again after the initial install to no avail or difference. Even after pulling the flange drive and cleaning and lubficating it and reassembling it all again and playing some more with the fitment of both parts with them still off the bike.

[jdvorchak]

Sorry that is the only pic I could find of my 84. I don't own a 1200 now so I can't oblige with another pic. But trust me there is no bright aluminum showing when it's installed properly. I do remember that every time I had the rear wheel off I went through the same thing as you. Then I learned that the gap has to be smaller and just dealt with it.

[jdvorchak]

I would be willing to bet that if you rode it around the block, the way you have it, when you return the gap is gone and your axle nut is loose.

[flyin900]

I have ridden the bike about 60 miles a week ago and will check if the gap changed and the nut loosened. Didn’t notice anything unusual when riding with noise or a different experience from the bike than normal.

Update: I did check today and the drive hasn't moved from where is was, so even after a 60 mile ride things remain the same. I am starting to think this is what it is on the bike, as I also looked at the wheel with the same camera angle as you show and it looks just like your picture does.

[calif wingnut]

With 65 lbs torque on the axle nut, I can't see how it could ever loosen up with the spacers/brake bracket fitting perfect ?
On my red S, I noticed the dust quard plate has a double inner side flange while all my others has just the bottom dust lip which has no bearing on this discussion. So the red s wheel lip is just inside the dust quard, while the Black S is just outside of. I installed the spare wheel on the spare r.end and with a solid clunk, that's as far as it went per btm pic so who knows ?

[calif wingnut]

Once the flange gear is bottomed against the inner rear end rim with axle torqued, that's as far as it will go and looking at the Black S, the wheel bead is a tight seal to the dust guard unlike my spare that has a huge gap.

[flyin900]

Yes thanks for the follow up on this as I have been riding the bike and the rear end hasn’t budged from the aligned position as I originally noted. The bike seems fine and everything went back together without any forcing of the spacers, so I will leave it alone.
Switched the tires to the cheaper Shinko brand the 230 series I think from the Dunlop Elites and I do notice a difference in the ride overall, especially on grooved pavement. The Dunlop’s were far superior on grooved pavement. Fortunately not something you see too often, yet even on road cracks they tramline a little more readily too.

[calif wingnut]

Once torqued, it is what it is. I have Shinko Tour Masters on the Black S but haven't ridden it to see how the tires perform. On my 1500 years ago, I installed Michelin Pilot tires and I can tell you, they were the most incredible handling tires I've ever owned like riding on rails, an "incredible" feeling. I have Dunlop 3s on the red S and they handle superbly also.