restoring a Up-Tite 87 250 XC...

Gee what a shame I do not have a monoshock swingarm kicking around. Might be because I never owned one

I have actually done the ride fast tighten it up plan and it works well as long as the wheel isn't rubbing on the swing arm.... I don't actually recommend it, I like the look of the old monoshock trueing device

you just recommended it!

forgot to put the "tongue in cheek" emoticon in.
any moons ago, I borrowed a rm125s to go mx racing, the owner had lost interest having just taken on a BBCB..(big breasted chicky babe..)
the bike was short on maintenance and long on work required. one issue was a wobbly front wheel with half the spokes NOT playing a tune.

The wobbly wheel was not high up the list as it was a blubbing mess and struggling to find the zing zone. after an airfilter clean, carb clean, new plug, chain tension and cable oil etc, I took it out for a fang... whaa whaaaah whhaaaaa into top and flat strap down a local road, all good, doing everything a 125 should do. back in the shed I noticed the front wheel was straight! so I tightened all the loose spokes and all was good.

i call that dumb luck, but I like dumb luck

its actually worked a few times since on other bikes so it wasn't actually dumb luck (only the first time... ) but its still better to sort it in a brace first.

I used one of those stupid harbor freight pipe benders to true my wheels they work great for wheels but suck at bending anything.

I picked up my engine cases from the powder coaters --- but I had them ceramic coated instead. Ceramic coating goes on thinner and is harder. The look is much sharper, not those dull rounded edges.

Rather than the standard black, I tried a new color called Sniper Gray, using a Cerakote brand gun finish coating.
http://www.cerakoteguncoatings.com
Looking good I think.

I'm ready to start building the engine now, I think I have all the parts on hand. Can anyone recommend a good engine build thread here for reference?

I like that "stealthy" matte finish.

that looks very nice indeed.

It seems "puckerbush" knows a thing or two. Or if you have a problem and no one else can help, turn on the Bat signal for "Huskydoggg"

usually one of us can answer any questions for reassembly..cant remember a guide here for putting one together tho. pretty simple long as you have some kind of crank puller. i have one of the original husky tools which are nice and smooth but the universal tusk works too..

I have a thread with some reassembly pics somewhere on here. It's not a complete engine build but pics always help. Assemble everything in the left side case first starting with the crank then the trans. Make sure the shift forks & their rollers are in place. Right case then should set over everything.

Guys, thanks for all the suggestions. I'll do some searches here and see what comes up. I know I've seen some 87 rebuild threads here over the years, but I didn't bookmark them.

I'm using the 86 Workshop Manual for reference. It would be nice if it didn't jump around from disassembly to assembly. Looks like I'll have to start a thread on how to assemble straight-though.

justintendo, I have some original Husky tools and a Husky puller, but it's not exactly the one called out in the 86 Workshop Manual.
I was thinking of getting that Tusk puller and almost ordered it a couple of weeks ago just in case I needed it.

oldbikedude, thanks for the assembly pointers. Yep, pics always help. I'll see if I can find your thread.

I finally got the shock linkage and swing arm mocked up together after having the pieces machined to use the US-made COM10T heim bearings.

For the helm bearings in the linkage, I had to make some circular fiber seals for around the top-hat bushings, the original seals aren't available. Hall's sent me what they had, but not enough... one on each side of each bearing.

Thanks to darrel78, for his help and assistance with the COM10T bearings.

Also, I found some new Ohlins decals for the shock, getting it back to original. Looks good. Wheels next.

That's looking really good!

Looks great. I like your bike stand.

Ha, ha. Thanks. Yeah, an ad-hoc bike stand. Gotta prop the frame up on something!

I do like those Giant Loop orange straps I'm using to hold the frame down.
Elastic enough and you can really tighten them, I use them everywhere.
You don't have thread them like a nylon strap, they are holed like an old Buster Brown shoe buckle. Brilliant idea.

I was actually talking about the stand with the straps. I didn't even notice the other stuff supporting things. Too busy checking out that clean bike (or the start of a bike). The straps are a good idea.

OK, I'm back working on the 87 250 XC project after playing around with my 86 430 Auto.
I took my 86 Auto out for a hard rocky ride and the fork seals and the rear shock started leaking, so I pulled the shock and sent it off for a rebuild.
The Auto is hill climbing / rock garden riding animal. Can't wait to get it dialed in again.

I got the bearings into the 250 cases. Its the first time I've done this.
I heated up the cases to 350 deg F in the oven ( my wife didn't complain too much) and froze the bearings overnite.
The bearings went in pretty easy, in spite of not having a arbor press.

Thanks a bunch to oldbikedude for posting pictures of his 430 re-build - bearing replacement, the pics helped a lot. See his thread here:
http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/l-c-430-right-crank-bearing.27095/

The crank bearings I used were old stock (thank goodness) SKF (Made in USA) and FAG German bearings. All the other bearings are quality Japanese made.

left hand case with inside crank seal on:


right side case: