I had to make my own wheel spacer / hub cover to deal with the new gap in the front. I took a lathe class and put my skills to work.
I started with 1 1/4" round stainless 304 stock. I measured up the old speedo steel spacer (embedded in the speedo gear assembly) to use as a starting point and took a 16 gauge sheet of stainless and made the hub cover out of it. I matched the OD of the spacer to that of the wheel bearing's inner race but then enlarged the OD in addition to creating a lip to hold down my hub cover plate. The OD of the spacer on the fork is end is 4mm larger than where it rests on the bearing. I drilled out the center then had to use a boring bar to turn the ID down to just larger than the front axle. For such a simple part, it took quite a bit of thinking and helped me regain my confidence on the lathe.
The shop I'm using the lathe at doesn't have the best selection of tool bits so my next step is to buy a selection of my own tools before I turn any more parts.
Here's the photo show, probably more than you ever wanted to see for a wheel spacer:
Turning the OD at wheel bearing and creating lip for cover plate:
Final part before getting correct ID:
Final part on bench:
Cover plate fitment:
You can see a slight gap between the lip and the cover plate. The poor selection of tool bits and my novice lathe skills are to blame. I couldn't get a perfect 90 degree angle at this critical point:
Fitment on wheel:
on the VX:
Super clean front end!
This weekend will find me milling my new front fork brace and hopefully finishing bashing out my aluminum front fender.
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