reassembeled, front wheel dragging bad....81seca 650

had a hell of a time getting one of those fork caps off, and figure out a method, which ill delineate on another post.
But I just replaced the steering head bngs w/ a tapered set, & saw the fr wheel bngs were in rough shape: the bike sat for 15 yrs & moisture gotr to them.
Replaced w/ a set of seled German bngs, flushed & refilled fork tubes, put everything together by the book.
Referenced the Haynes during reassembly, got the seals, spacers, & speedo gear lined up (and remembered to replace the central tube between the bngs when I dove them home, freezing them & leaving the wheel in the sun a couple hrs to warm up & expand.
ANYHOW, after its all together & the front axle nut is torqued to spec, the fr wheel barely turns.
This simple job has turned into a major piece of work, and at the end of it: something major is wrong.

Im gonna pull the wheel out again, but if any of you got some insight, Id be grateful. PS: its the type of front end where the axle is directly under the sliders.... mutt

 

i just jacked the front of the machine off the ground, and eased off the axle pinch bolts, then loosened the axle nut from its Haynes recommended 70 ft lbs. (actually, that seemed insane & I tightened it up to 50)
now the wheel drags a lot less. But still drags.
Since the wheel bearing arrangement is impossible to check for side load until its completely assembeled, and you cant remove the bearings without rendering them useless: whot the friggin hell.
Obviously, since slacking off the axle nut allowed the bearing to turn freer,
i had crushed them into the sides of the races, the central distance piece not, not the correct OAL.
Im pretty surprised at what I see as "throw away" 50cc bike technology here.
Like I said, any insight deeply appreciated.....

 

Front Wheel Assembly

Notice anything missing, like part#3 in the diagram by any chance?

 

The yamaha xj650g manual wants the axel nut @ 77.4 ft-lb ( 10.7 m-kg ) and the axel pinch bolts @ 14.5 ft-lb ( 2.0 m-kg )
When I replaced the front bearings on my XJ750RJ I used Koyo 6302zzc3 bearings, and yes it was a royal pain trying to get the old ones out!
I can only suggest to double check that everything is seated and lined up correctly.

 

If I remember correctly part #3 (flange, spacer) presses over part #2 (spacer) to help center the spacer. It should not add anything to the overall "width" of the bearing-spacer assembly.

 

ONe of the most common reasons the front wheel will drag is tightening the axel "pinch" bolt first. When you tighten the axel nut it will bring the forks in toward each other and bind the axel. Loosen the pinch bolt and see if the wheel turns. Other than that make sure all pieces are installed correctly and that the speedo gear engages the gear dog.

 

I took it apart again & examined things.....now, according to my Haynes, there is one speedo cog, over that a tin retaining ring, then the grease seal, then the speedo drive. Now, the speedo drive itself had a seal, which wasnt illustrated in any of the book pics. It fit OK in good shape.......but I removed it, leaving the one seal as illustrated, put it together, and ....it works. Did & done, & Ive learned a few things, including how to remove one of those fork spring retainer caps thats been rusted in.
Two days of PB blaster refused to free it, and a bit of heat & slamming the top of the tube down on a hardwook block wouldnt free it. Hmm.
The method I came up with was to remove the lower leg by cutting a 5 in straight piece of 8mm allen wrench, then w/ a 8mm socket and a 3/8 to 1/2 adaptor, back it out with my ever useful $30 impact wrench. The damper tube thus revealed is hollow thru, a piece of 1/4 in round stock slipped thru it right up to the back of the offending cap, and a rap with a m
hammer freed the cap.
The 12 point broached opening at the other end of the damping rod- the end in the stanchion tube- is so close to 3/4 SAE that a couple of stacked 3/4 in nuts in a socket, so that the last nut protrudes a 1/4 in- made the tool that held the thing from rotating as I snugged up the allen retaining bolt w/ its dab of loctite & smear of threebond, to seal the washers.
I got a lot of handtools so making up the long extension to hold the socket was no problem. I wedged the nuts in the socket with bits of paper so they wouldnt fall out. mutt

 

Mutt, I just replaced my speedo gear and it did not have a seal and I don't think it is supposed to have one. But thats on a xj650j. That might have been the trouble.
Glad you got it figured out.