Continuing CB350 Repairs

Strap Trick for Removing Rotor Bolt, Reverse Strap for Tightening

I had noticed before I left on my North Carolina trip that my clutch cable was worse for wear, with a wire strand broken at the lever. It was too late at the time for a replacement, but most of the strands still looked OK, so I grabbed a spare cable I had for my Savage, that looked identical at each end and about the same length as the one on the Honda, and put it away in the saddlebag "just in case." When I got home I ordered a replacement, in that original silver color that is so hard to find these days. I threaded it through the handlebars and frame, following the path of the old one as I pulled it through. Inspecting the old one, I found it to be in much worse shape than I had thought it had been, and I was lucky to not have had to jury rig a replacement on the side of a mountain road when up north.

Next, I made a run over to the local auto parts store and dumped the oil pan to make room for the used oil from the CB350. I could not warm up the motor this time before draining it because the fuel tank was already off, but it would have to do this time. The oil drained, I pulled the left side covers off and disconnected the wiring from the harness so I could lay aside the stator, still in its cover. Pulling the side covers was easier than it used to be, now that I have changed out those cursed phillips head screws for a set of allen head bolts I got from Z1 Enterprises.

I got the 14mm socket on the ratchet and a pipe "helper" in case I needed more leverage. I had been through this on my Savage and suspected I was going to have a battle on my hands. I tried to turn the rotor bolt off, but all I accomplished is scuffing the rear tire as it turned. I had my wife come out and help me by sitting on the far rear of the luggage rack to press the tire down against the floor, but now that the tire was down on the ground all I accomplished is moving the bike ahead precariously to the tipping point of folding the center stand.

Aha! I thought, I could move the bike with its front wheel in the corner and with no where to go the bolt would have to let go. Alas, with wife on back and the nose in the corner the bolt would still not budge, and all I did was add to the scuffing of the rear tire tread. Frustrated, I took a break and went inside.

Thank God for motorcycle forums. I consulted Google and found mention of "removing a rotor" on several forums and saw this little tip: Take a strap and pass it around the rotor several times, then tie it off to the foot peg. Sure enough, it worked like a charm. The rotor turned, but only a little before the strap snugged down. At that point it was easy going turning the bolt off.

The rotor bolt out now, I had to remove the rotor from the shaft. Honda made a "special tool" which I was sure was now unavailable, or if it was it would be unattainable with my small funds, so I looked elsewhere. Motion Pro had a tool listed for the SL350. It didn't list the CB350. I looked up the rotor part number and both the CB350 and SL350 (which are both covered in my service manual) had the same part number. It should work. I ordered "Flywheel Puller, M16X1.5 Rh, Part #: 08-0027." Using the same strapping rig to keep the rotor from turning, it worked like a charm. All the tool is, by the way, is a 16mm bolt that gets threaded into the center of the rotor. When it contacts the end of the crankshaft, it pushes the rotor off the tapered shaft.

I had long ago ordered a rebuild kit of all the parts needed for rebuilding the starter clutch. It was just three springs, thee caps for the springs, and three rollers. I took out the old and put in the new, with a smear of silicon grease on the rollers, as instructed by my Honda shop manual, and remounted the rotor. This time I reversed the strapping rig and retightened the rotor bolt to a torque I like to call "as tight as I can get it," because neither of my manuals listed a torque setting for this bolt. I knew from my work on the Savage, however, that these need to be tight. I added a bit of blue "medium" thread locker, too, to be on the safe side.

While at this I noticed how cracked and worn my throttle cable is, so while the tank is off I will try to find some NOS (new old stock) silver cable to install. I will have to wait a bit for that to arrive. Also, when on my way home from North Carolina, my cable connections became loose on the carbs, so in a McDonald's parking lot in north Florida, under the shade of a tree-like bush, I retightened them while trying to resynchcronize the carbs. I found that I could not tighten one of them. Apparently, the cable bracket had become stripped. Luckily, I knew I had a couple spare carbs back in the garage so now is the time to rob them of their brackets.

To be continued…

"Ride your Own Ride."

Road Dog