Snowbum's BMW Motorcycle Repair & Information Website

From Snowbum:
"I was in contact with this gentleman some months previous to this posting; he was complaining, a lot, about Hansen's BMW,  and we had several E-mails back and forth, and I also contacted Craig Hansen.  At that time I did not receive the slightest word from Mr. Nast that his wheel was a LESTER wheel.  I am sure that many of you know that Lester wheels have had problems.  Not getting into that here.   I do note that Mr. Nast was quite unhappy with Hansens BMW in Medford Oregon, as he felt (my words here) that they did not back up their warranty sufficiently ....wanting HIM to pay for re-riveting. He contacted me, and I never did receive the full information on what was going on with that wheel ...but, see the below E.  I did not know it was a Lester, he left that out in all but the last communications with me.  He did not, apparently, re-contact Hansens after the second riveting. The website you are reading this on, mine, contains an article describing how the splined cup can be replaced using bolts.  I did not develop that basic procedure (I have some added information, that's all). The procedure was developed by Oak Okleshen, a very prominent & noted Airhead Guru. I make no additional comments on the below verbatim E-mail from Mr. Nast to the LIST. I am sure you can see what happened, and why people who complain, often mightily, seem to leave out details, often not revealed without a number of questioning E-mails."

From Mr. Nast:
"One of my bikes is a 1978 R100/7 with Lester wheels.  Hansen's repaired the final drive splines at ~ 100K, and riveted a new coupler onto the rear Lester. About 20K later, I noticed a rivet had fallen out.  Hansen's stated that all rivets should be replaced, which they did, at my expense.  About 20K after that, I noticed spline grease on the outside of the wheel.  Pulling the wheel, I noticed that the coupler was loose.  It could be rotated a bit, and rocked a bit.  Could this be why there was a strange clicking from the back (noticeable when coasting with the engine off)?  The grease was escaping through the rivet holes.  So, the rivets had failed again.  Time for another plan.  After reading all I could find on the web, I was satisfied that bolts would work, but I was not confident about the details I read.   Here's what worked for me; it's holding up well.  There may be variations for stock wheels.  First, I removed the old rivets, using a mill.  The rivets were pretty worn where they passed though the coupler, btw.  Next, I milled a true flat spot for the bolt heads on the wheel.  On the Lester, there is a slight slope in the casting where the rivet or bolt head would be.  Probably OK for rivets, but not for bolts.  I also milled in a slight chamfer, because the bolts have a little extra material where the shaft meets the bottom of the head which require clearance. Next, I milled true flat spots for the nuts on the coupler.  Again, there is a slope (more than then wheel had).  The coupler steel is tough, you need an expensive end mill here.  In a couple of spots this removed a little metal from the outside of the splined area, which didn't bother me -- the coupler is still plenty strong, and now the fasteners will fit the way Orville Wright intended. For fasteners, I used MS21250-04008 bolts ($3.70 each) and MS21042-04 nuts (cheap).  The bolts have a half-inch "grip" (unthreaded shaft) and half-inch thread.  This is a different size than Snowbum specifies.  A good table of milspec bolt sizes can be found at http://www.gen-aircraft-hardware.com/images/pdf/ms21250.pdf.  No washers were used, or would fit.  The milspec fasteners were sourced from Spencer Aircraft in Puyallup 1.800.424.1160.  Note that you will want some 5/16" (or 8mm) 12-point sockets for assembly; these are surprisingly uncommon. Because I removed the least amount of material possible and there are casting irregularities, there was a variation in how far the bolts protruded through the coupler of about 1.75 threads.  The bolt shoulder must pass through the coupler, but not beyond.  The simple expedient was to cut any additional thread needed with a die (1/4-28).  About six of the ten bolts are custom fitted in this manner -- the rest fit without modification.  Sounds like a lot of trouble, but this part went quickly.   Assembled using blue Loctite, torqued to 120 inch pounds.  The excess thread above the nut was removed with a cutoff tool, and touched up with brushed-on gold brake caliper paint to fend off rust. So far (500 miles), the repair is holding up perfectly.  Hansen's respline is also holding up well, with no noticeable wear in ~45K.  The clicking I heard in the back is now gone - it was the coupler tapping the wheel.  The only downside to this procedure is the time involved -- if you're paying a machinist, a new wheel might be cheaper (though good luck finding a new Lester).  Those 12-point gold cadmium-plated heads really do sex up the wheel, even if my neighbors have not lined up to admire them."