Thread: hub restoration

Hi there..new guy here. Just bought a 74 ct in very good condition. 2300miles. Anyhow, I have a few questions you may be able to answer. My hubs need more then a polish. What can I do to bring them back to there original state. I was thinking of painting them the same color as my rims (silver), if my options run out. Also..some of my crome is a bit pitted. Any suggestions? Re crome is $$. Thanks!

Depends on what chrome you are talking about. Fenders can be had brand new which may be cheaper then rechroming. Not much can be done with pitted chrome other than replacing the parts with new or rechroming. Many sites available for replacement parts. Shop and compare to rechroming.

If you have lots of scratchs/pits on the brake hubs, you can use some 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper, then follow up with tripoli and a buffing wheel. For minor scratchs/pits, forego the sandpaper and just use the tripoli and buffing wheel. Being they are aluminum, it is nothing a little elbow grease can't work out.

As said, replacing chrome rather than rechroming is going to be cheaper. Except for the engine guard or handle bars. Those are not made anymore for the 1974 model and next to impossible to find in mint condition, so if your's are just ugly looking but otherwise straight, rechroming is the best option. Otherwise you are stuck with e-bay and someone elses idea of "mint" condition, which I have often found to be somewhat lacking.

Steel wool is your best friend.

On the hubs you really don't want to spray paint them it would look bad. they are aluminum castings and you can buff them out with a muslin cloth wheel and white rouge(jewelers polish). The rims are steel and spraying paint on them after you sand off any rust and dirt would make them look great. As for the crome pitting, try steel wool. I have a 72 CT 70 basket case that I'm restoring and steel wool took 34 years of rust off the exhaust. Real bad pitting is going to not come off. Some times a new part is cheaper than re-croming. I looked into having my CB 750 stock pipes recromed and the guy who runs the shop said "no way". The carbon contaminates his acid tanks so he would not do any exhaust pipes. Good luck

Rick56

A lot of issues have been raised here, each with it's own set of processes.

• Wheel hubs are rough castings and should be glass-beaded, then resprayed the same color as the rims.

• Brake hubs are a can of worms. They must first be degreased and completely disassembled, then all remaining traces of clearcoat removed. Scratches & gouges can only be removed by leveling-out the surface. Anything less will generally yield less-than-good results. For the deep stuff, it may be necessary to use a make-up wheel & as coarse as 220 grit, followed by 320 & grinder's grease, then 600 wet sanding, then 3-stages of polishing: emery, Tripoli, rouge. The first stage removes the craters & trenches, each successive stage remove the scatches of the previous one until you get to rouge. By then the scratches are so minute that the eye no longer percieves them...a.k.a "mirror finish"

• Brake hardware (arms, cams, barrels, rear actuating rod) all must be stripped & replated if they're rusted. With plating, it's all about surface prep. The cleaner & smoother, the better it turns out. Zinc plating is reasonably priced if you do your own prep, which is possible.

• There's no inexpensive way to redo chrome plating and once rust is visible, it's basically shot. Rust pits are the visible end result of all three layers (chrome, nickel, copper) being penetrated and the base steel oxidizing to the point that the rust breaks through to the surface. If new chrome pieces are available, they'll almost always cost less than replating. Further discussion of the chrome plating process is long and involved.

Regarding the hubs..I took one on your advises and used a tripoli bar to polish the hubs..Turned out fantastic.
I am having my rims sandblasted as I write this and will finish them with a silver rim paint.
Thank for the advice!
I am trying to remove the front shocks for cleaning and boot replacement. I cannot figure out for the life of me how to remove them!?
alex

First, take off the front wheel and fender. Then, there are two bolts holding each fork on. At the very top, just to the outside of each handlebar, on the upper fork bridge (the v-shaped thing the handlebars are mounted to) are the top bolts. Then just above each boot on the back side of the fork assembly are two "pinch' bolts. These bolts pinch the lower fork bridge to hold the forks tight. Once both bolts are removed you may need to twist the fork back and forth a bit, but it should pull right out.

Will give it a shot..thanks!