More Bogie Wheel Discussion-Washers, Powder Painting & More

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More Bogie Wheel Discussion-Washers, Powder Painting & More

Post by Go Go Diablo » Sat Jul 25, 2009 8:21 pm

Hi all,

Spent the last few days working on sets of bogie wheels for the upcoming restorations. I've had a few new revelations I'd care to share and as always, appreciate feedback and discussion.

Powder Painting - My previous bogie reconditioning has been to sandblast and clean bogie stations, then spray paint with a rust inhibitive paint. They seemed to hold up ok, but for all the work we go through with this part of our restorations, I've always wondered what would be better. So I picked up a Powder Painting Kit from Harbor Freight ($70) and tried a little home grown powder painting. For those who don't know what powder painting is: you spray a paint powder onto a part and then heat it in an oven where the paint melts and adheres to the surface of the part. Put on right, it should be permanent and hard as nails. Although its messy, I was pretty happy with the results. Any body else ever use this paint method?

Washers under bumpers - Have you ever noticed that some 502/503 bogie bumpers have washers under them? The double bogies after the Drive Sprocket and the single bogies in front of the Idler Sprockets have heavy flat washers under them. I presume Bolens wanted these bogies to have a little more lift than the others to assist the track coming off the drives and on to the idlers. Would be best to put them back in place if you have them.

This also brings up the topic of the importance of the condition of these sets of bogies. Having washers under the bumper won't do much good if the wheels are flat / worn or if the bumper is worn. For these two pairs of stations, I'll be using new rubber tires and bumpers along with the washers. The other 5 pairs are not as critical. Put your gently worn tires and bumpers here, but replace any that are too worn.

Grease your bogie rims under tires - Ever see a tire that looks out of round? Typically what happens is the rim gets rusty and the tire gets pushed to the side by a rock or stick and does not slide back in to the rim. Then it's out of round. When that happens, it eventually slides on the track and gets a flat spot. To cure this, during restoration, pull off all the rubber tires and inspect the rim. Clean and paint if necessary. Then apply grease to the rim and reinstall the tire. Now you have a tire that sits down in the rim likes it's supposed to and is straight. If it gets pushed aside, the tire will pull itself back in place.

Oil versus Grease - I'm still a big proponent of oiling instead of greasing bogie wheel shafts. Grease can push out the bushings. Is also must be thick as heck come winter when it's below zero and the bogie shaft has to plow through it. I've been using oil in a grease gun (specially designed for oil) and it's works great.

Anybody else restoring sleds this summer?

Bruce
Too many Diablos and parts to count.
Yamaha 600 SX

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Re: More Bogie Wheel Discussion-Washers, Powder Painting & More

Post by vmaxx4 » Sat Jul 25, 2009 9:05 pm

Yes, I noticed the washers on my 503 but I had assumed the previous owner had installed them for more lift. As usual, thanks for the info. Where did you bake your powder coating? I didn't see an oven in that new shop :P

....Mark.

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Re: More Bogie Wheel Discussion-Washers, Powder Painting & More

Post by Go Go Diablo » Sun Jul 26, 2009 5:58 pm

The oven is outside in the big shop (aka - the rest of the pole building). It throws off some noxious fumes so when I do that, I have the big door open.
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Re: More Bogie Wheel Discussion-Washers, Powder Painting & More

Post by Go Go Diablo » Sun Jul 26, 2009 9:07 pm

Update 7/26/09 - all the bogie wheel pictures and discussion has been moved to the new website. Added a few more details when the information was moved. I put all this discussion into a page by itself as there is so much to share.
Too many Diablos and parts to count.
Yamaha 600 SX

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