This article covers the procedure to dismantle a Commando.
One thing to consider prior to dismantling your bike is that a complete running bike is worth a lot
more money that a bunch of boxes of parts. If you think it is a low possibility that you will complete your
restoration project, I suggest you do not start.
Starting notes:
I suggest you take several pictures of each part of your bike prior to dismantling it.
Take detailed enough pictures so you can see how every spacer, bolt, etc. was in place originally. It may not be assembled
correctly from the start, but if you find unusual wear on a part, the picture may explain why.
Make sure you have a factory parts manual with exploded views and part numbers prior to dismantling your bike.
Have several sizes of Ziploc bags and a magic marker on hand. What I recommend you do is find the group in the parts manual that
shows the part of the bike you are dismantling. Remove a part and related fasteners, after taking pictures, clean the part,
label the Ziploc bag with the group number, plate number and part number.
This way you can find the part in your parts manual many months later and know where it goes on your bike.
You do not need to label each washer and nut, but the major component, like the bolt. I normally place the washers on its bolt and screw
the nut on to make things easier down the road. I place spacers and shims together in the order I removed them and wire or tape
them together so they are in the same alignment as removed. Make any notes you need to remind yourself later how things came apart and will
go back together and place them in the bag with the clean parts. Time spent documenting the parts will save you tenfold later
down the road.
Place the bagged parts in a box with other related parts and label the box (i.e., fork parts, swinging arm parts, gearbox parts, etc.).
This will keep the number of lost parts to a minimum. Parts in a restoration project are like socks in the dryer, some disappear and you have
no clue how.
Depending on the condition of the bike being restored, you can count on 10 to 20 hours to dismantle the bike and clean and label all the parts properly.
Procedure:
These are basically the steps that I go through dismantling a bike. I don't think the order is all that important,
but I seem to follow this order and it works for me. It is easier to loosen the rotor nut on the crank with the rear wheel in place so
you can put the bike in first gear and hold the rear wheel to loosen this nut.
- The first step in dismantling the bike is to place it on a stand so that you can start to remove parts from the bike.
We like stands that are at a good working height and keep both wheels off the ground as shown in the picture above.
See more about our stands in the "Assembling Frame on Building Stand" article.
- I like to take the seat, tank and side covers off next and place in a secure location where they will not get damaged.
- Loosen the exhaust nuts using the Exhaust Spanner (06-3968).
- Remove the exhaust system. Plug up the exhaust ports with a clean shop rag, if you are not going to rebuild the engine.
- Remove the outer primary cover.
- Loosen the rotor nut on the crank shaft by holding the rear wheel.
- Remove the clutch pressure plate and clutch plates using the Diaphragm Clutch Spring Compression Tool (
06-0999).
- Loosen the clutch basket fixing nut using the Clutch Lock Tool (06-1015).
- Pull the engine sprocket of its taper using the Engine Sprocket/Clutch Center Puller (06-4297).
- Loosen the clutch basket using the Engine Sprocket/Clutch Center Puller (06-4297).
- remove the engine sprocket, triplex chain and clutch basket.
- Remove the cables/lines to the rear wheel.
- Remove the chain.
- Remove the Rear wheel. Make sure that the bike is well supported since removing the rear wheel
will shift most of the weight to the front of the bike. As you can see in the last picture, I have place a tie down strap as a safety measure.
- Remove the cables/lines to the front wheel.
- Remove the front wheel.
- Remove the battery, air box/air filters.
- Remove the carburetors and control cables. Plug up the intake ports with a clean shop rag, if you are not going to rebuild the engine.
- Remove the handle bars.
- Remove the front head light.
- Remove the front fender.
- Remove the fork legs.
- Make sure the pinch bolts are tight.
- Unscrew the top nuts. If the damper rod, which it should be, is threaded into the top nut, loosen the jam nut and unscrew the top nut.
You may have to push up on the bottom of the fork leg to move the damper rod and top nut up so you can work on them.
- Remove the gauges along with their mounts.
- Screw the top nut back in to the fork legs.
- Loosen the pinch bolts.
- If the fork legs do not drop out, tap with a rubber hammer to loosen the fork leg from the top taper,
holding on to the leg so it does not bang into the top of the triple clamp.
- Unscrew the top nut and remove the fork legs.
- Remove the tail light assembly.
- Remove the rear fender.
- Remove the wiring harness.
- Remove the foot pegs and "Z" brackets.
- Remove the head steady.
- Remove the front engine mount.
- Remove the inner primary case.
- Remove the engine.
- Remove the gearbox.
- Remove the rear engine cradle and swinging arm.
- Remove the swinging arm spindle.
- You now have a pile of Commando parts, hopefully well labeled, ready for the next step, powder coating.
Most of the parts fit on the stand except for the large items like the tank, seat, fenders, etc.
The engine I placed in my engine stand to start the rebuild. You should have some place ready for the engine if you are going to
rebuild the engine.
