Featured Resurrecting 1966 Tiger T100ss

I’ve spent several hours looking for a bit more information on exactly how to go about stripping out the bearings from the rear QD wheel hub. The information in the workshop manual is pretty scanty and advocates bending (actually damaging) one of the internal grease retainers sufficiently to allow a drift to pass through the centre of one of the bearings and punch out from behind the other bearing at the opposite end of the hub. In fact it looks almost impossible to get a drift anywhere through the myriad of bearings, distance pieces, grease retainers etc. U-tube, my usual go-to reference, is practically of no use either as almost all of the many vids only cover the standard rear wheel, but not the QD variety and there’s sufficient difference to a standard rear wheel to make the vids of little use.

The manual does however say that the bearing sleeve is a sliding fit and is pushed out to provide space for the drifts. What it doesn’t say is that, if you’re lucky, there’s enough muck and corrosion on the shaft and bearing for them to be stuck together and that you have to drift the sleeve out, and if your even luckier the bearing comes out with the shaft. I got lucky and the whole kit and kaboodle dropped out with only a couple of light taps through the spindle.

So, with everything out I’ve cleaned up all the parts and most seem to be in quite good order. The brake shoes are about half worn but the linings have got grease on them so they’ll get replaced. I’ve managed to re-plate most of the external fittings but most of the nuts are damaged so they’ll get renewed.

The paint on the hub itself is chipped and scraped, especially about the spoke holes, so I’ve used a rotary abrasive mop to get it back to bare metal and re sprayed it with four coats of black Hammerite which I cured on a radiator overnight. Hopefully that will resist further chipping a bit better.

The three roller bearings in the brake and wheel hubs initially seemed to clean up okay. On checking they all seemed free and smooth in operation and without any free play. I have though cleaned them out, blown out, dried out and lightly oiled several times, but each time they seem to start picking up and sticking after a few minutes use. I thought I was going to get away with not having to replace them, but there does seem to be something wrong with them, so I’ve now ordered up a new set.

 

Another butt-clenching moment when you suddenly suspect that you’ve got the wrong rear fork fitted to the frame. ….

I’ve assembled up the rear brake hub and offered it up to the rear fork. Then spent another half hour rummaging through the pile’s boxes to find the torque stay arm that goes between hub and fork. I’ve found something that looks like it but it has two holes at one end whereas it only needs one. Leading on from someone else’s blog I had thought that there should be a tapped hole in the left fork arm for a bolt holding that end of the stay. The parts list also appears to show it attached directly to the arm. Absolutely no sign of a tapped hole in my fork arm though, only a square plate (with a hole) welded further up the underside of the arm, but again, no sign of that plate on my parts list drawing. An hour or two of searching t’interweb couldn’t produce a pic of that area on a fork from 1966. (Strange it is that you can never find a photo of exactly what you want to see). Therefor, it must be the wrong arm for the bike. ‘Oh ****’.

A bit of reasoning tells me though that Triumph probably wouldn’t have drilled and tapped a sizeable 5/16 hole in a major stressed part in that way. Back to searching photos again and it looks like the lay of the stay would align with the plate and its hole. Sure enough it does fit to one of the two holes. A further look at the parts drawing seems to show that there isn’t a bolt hole there but the fittings for the 3TA and 5TA lower chainguard are overlaid on the drawing. Crisis over.

But what is the second hole in the stay for? I’m probably trying to fit a mudguard stay…

 

Thanks darkman. I’ve now got to finish assembling the QD hub with all its various washers and retainers in the right order and hopefully it’ll all come together. Fingers crossed.

 

While at the local Autojumble today I came across a pretty good looking refurb of a ‘66 T100ss which was for sale.
Unfortunately I still just can’t find the lurve for this particular colour scheme.

 

Unfortunately no. I’m afraid I missed an opportunity there.
The cycle parts were from around ‘66 but the engine was a much later one which had security etching around the engine No, poss ‘69 on. The brake-stay looked to be only with a single hole but it was a bit crowded at the time to scrabble around. I was also looking more at the colour which seemed off, a lot paler than it looks in these photos.

 

A few questions answered

Looking for information on rear wheel hubs through t’internet, I came across a photo of a ‘66 T100 (as you do), that had been up for sale in a 2016 auction at the National Motorcycle Museum. Sale details included the Frame and Engine numbers, which looked familiar and were coincidentally within 30 of my bikes numbers. Which means that it was probably manufactured on the same day as mine and given the numbers, was likely to the same specification.

From the photo I’ve been able to ascertain the answers to a few details on my bike that have remained unanswered since I started out on this rebuild, as the chances are that the two bikes were pretty much identical.

Headlight shell warning light lay out.
In ‘66 the T100 gained two w/lights on the headlight shell. Both lights are grouped together below the ammeter, not where they are usually seen on later years either side of it. There’s also no headlight switch, that remained on the left side panel.

Front mudguard stay.
The lower mudguard stay is of the wider prop stand variety. Not like the one I’ve got as a straight “U” bend.

Spark plug caps colour
These ones are red, not black. I’ve got a couple of broken bits of HT lead.

The Triumph logo on the back of the seat.
As near as I can ascertain the large Triumph logo was introduced in November ‘65 just a month or so after the build date of my bike. I’m quite happy that mine just missed out on it. I can’t really say I’ll miss it as it just wasn’t a thing then.

Stick on numbers for number plates
Most photos of the period show stick on letters/numbers on bikes I’m not sure that pressed ally plates had been invented for bikes at that time. Mine has one peeling off after 60 years.

Petrol tank colour and break lines.
This is a bit less positive that it’s original as it’s quite likely the tank has had a re spray at some time. The Sherbourne Green is a bit darker in this photo than it might be and it looks a bit darker than the usual. The lines under the tank are a bit more prominent than usually rendered on a re spray. It also doesn’t have knee pads which th original would certainly have.

Pity about the white handle grips though.