990 Refresh, Part 7

Yet another day of work on the bike. A pretty easy day overall, but lots accomplished. First, I went back and redid some of the work on my front brakes. I had left the caliper sliders undone, so I disassembled each side and cleaned and regreased the sliders. I went ahead and did a better cleaning job the calipers as well. I decided that I might as well get all the dirt I missed last time since the calipers were off the bike for this job. I'm glad I did. It gave me the opportunity to check the state of the slider boots and make sure there was no corrosion on the slider posts. That can happen if water and grit get into the boots.

First I disassembled the right side and cleaned everything...

Removing the caliper

Cleaning the mounting bracket

Added the proper threadlocking compound to the slider post.

Anti Seize on the pad post.

Right side done and ready to be remounted

Then I knocked out the left side caliper.

After the front brakes were finally done to my satisfaction, I started in on the front wheel. First up, I removed the old tire and tube. I used a dirt bike stand as a tire changing stand. The old tire came off easy enough. Afterwards I made sure the wheel was true and the spokes were tight before I gave it a good scrubbing. The bearings felt great, so I didn't bother to regrease them.

First, I removed the valve core and broke the bead.

That is an excellent rim and the front wheel is a Woody's Superlace. That's awesome

I use the rotor to hold my tire irons. I slowly get 3 irons in the tire bead.

2...

3...

Then I walk the irons around the tire until I get the first side off and I pull the tube out.

Then I flip the wheel and use the big irons to work the opposite bead off the rim.

Done!

There was plenty of corrosion on the base of the valve stem, as well as a big patch, so I won't reuse this tube.

It is nice to have a truing stand to use for truing wheels and balancing tires

Turns out the front wheel was nice and straight. I was looking forward to using my new spoke wrench on it...oh well, there's always the back wheel! Then I moved onto cleaning both the wheel and the axle.

That was enough work for one day. Tomorrow or the next day I will mount the tire and get the wheel fitted to the bike. I am looking forward to riding again.