Sorting out the rear wheel, 1970 Commando

I bought a frame and engine and have been sourcing parts to get this baby sorted out and on the road. The back wheel is a puzzle to me. I have procured a back wheel which I think they call a "cush hub". It has the studs and rubbers. As far as I can see from parts manuals, the 69 - 70 did not come w/ "cush hubs", Can anyone confirm this? If this be the case man, can I get this "cush hub" to work on the 70 frame? If so, what do I have to do to get her right?
For now, I have her assembled. New bearings in the hub assembled by a Norton Mechanic. This wheel sits to the left as you can see in the pics. Also, if you look at the fron of the wheel where it comes closest to the swing arm, there's an inch of spacing between the tire and swing arm on the left side and a 1/4 inch on the right. Considering the wheel appears to be off to the lest, I would think there would be less spacing on the left side (between tire and swing arm). Also, in the pic (close up) of the left side (brake side), there is a considerable gap between the spacer and brake plate. Do I just have all the wrong parts and need to start over???

This thing has me perplexed, frustrated and has caused a bit of drinking I dont normally do.

Jaxson said:

I have procured a back wheel which I think they call a "cush hub". It has the studs and rubbers. As far as I can see from parts manuals, the 69 - 70 did not come w/ "cush hubs", Can anyone confirm this?

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Yes.

Jaxson said:

If this be the case man, can I get this "cush hub" to work on the 70 frame? If so, what do I have to do to get her right?

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The two wheel and sprocket assemblies are interchangeable. http://www.oldbritts.com/1971_g16.html

Jaxson said:

For now, I have her assembled. New bearings in the hub assembled by a Norton Mechanic. This wheel sits to the left as you can see in the pics.

Do I just have all the wrong parts and need to start over???

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No photos showing.

Jaxson said:

Also, in the pic (close up) of the left side (brake side), there is a considerable gap between the spacer and brake plate.

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I can't say for sure however there's a chance your "Norton mechanic" could have fitted the 062069 inner bearing spacer the wrong way around?

rear-wheel-instalation-t18923.html

Some have put the cush drive on the early bikes, I'm sure they will respond, or there have been several threads about it if you care to search. Like L.A.B. says that bearing spacer is tricky, it's counter intuitive how it goes in, the longer outer spacer goes on the single row bearing side. If it's backwards the whole thing will bind up when you tighten the axle nut.

DogT said:

that bearing spacer is tricky, it's counter intuitive how it goes in, the longer outer spacer goes on the single row bearing side.

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But, with the cush hub, both "hub" bearings are single-row. http://www.oldbritts.com/1971_g16.html [26]
The double-row is the brake drum bearing [48].

Thanks for the replies. I've not figured out how to add pics on here. The spacer seems to be installed the right way.

Thanks Rohan!

It looks as though the rear brake plate bush and stay has an extra spacer between it and the swing arm.? Also, the brake shoe pivot pin seems to not be located or just not slotted all the way in.?


Mine looks like this...




Later cush rear wheel schematic for reference...

Thanks snortin74. Yeah, the brake pin isn't pushed in since everything is loose. I didnt understand what you meant by an extra bushing? There is only one bushing where the brake plate and stay are. There is still a gap there between that bushing and the brake plate. The bottom line is, I believe this bike came with the non-cush drive hub and I'm attempting to install a cush hub which is narrower. I've searched in labs on how to make it work but no solution seems to be there. I'm going to call Randy at Baxter tomorrow to see what he says. I'll post it.

I run a cush drive rear wheel on my 1970. I recycled the thin aluminum plate with the 3 access rubbers on the right so it looks the same as a 1970. Just follow what is in the parts book for a later model commando and it will fit up fine.

Hi baldy, I have it together just like the later diagram but the wheel is off to the left by an ~inch.

Jaxson said:

Hi baldy, I have it together just like the later diagram but the wheel is off to the left by an ~inch.

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Wheel? Or wheel rim?

Entire wheel, hub, rim and tire

Jaxson said:

Entire wheel, hub, rim & tire

Click to expand...

The rim offset could be wrong-as it doesn't seem possible for the complete wheel assembly to be around 1 inch further over to the left within the swingarm than it should be?

It can be done. Could you post pics of wheel and brake plate off the bike . Could be wrong stub axel or internal bearing set up.

Wheel. The wheel is assembled and on the bike and is off to the left

Is the rim laced central to the hub, or offset to the left ?
Do you have the correct brake drum, with the paddles for the cushdrive ?
Is your swingarm nice and tight, with nice solid bronze bushes - and doesn't flop around if you push it side-to-side ?
hth.

I'm unsure I have the correct drum. The swing arm needs shimming. Has 1/2 movement. I've heard of offset laced rims but this is one is center line and true. When I drop in the brake plate w/ shoes into the drum, the shoes outer edges rub the back of the drum. It doesn't seem correct. I removed the drum bearings, shims, cir clip etc... and all the parts are together properly looking at the link provided.

That all looks like the correct cush drive drum, and parts.

And yes the wheel rim should be laced centrally to the alloy hub.

If your shoes rub inside the back of the drum, on my spare drum here there is a thin little steel washer
that goes on the dummy axle before the brake plate is fitted to it.
Part No 21 in the diagram, (although its tough to see from the diagram, this would space the brake plate out a bit).

Its not ideal trying to fit this up if the swingarm still needs new bushes.
With that done, 1st thing to do would be to see that the chain line is all aligned and correct, and then go from there....

BTW, a couple of those images are missing the first ] and don't display. [Codes corrected - L.A.B.]

Rohan, does that little washer you spoke of that goes over the dummy axle slide over both small and large shoulders? I would assume it seats all the way down against the drum....correct? Mine does not have that washer.