® The rubber washer


 

Take a look at this diagram of the rear suspension and brakes of a Honda CB500 four. Notice anything unusual about it? It's the placement of the rubber washer. It's outboard of the torque arm in this picture, not inboard as many folks like to put it. "What good would it be doing there?", you are probably asking. Well, that depends on what it's there for, doesn't it? The fact is, it's not a cushion for the torque arm. Putting it between the brake panel and the arm is not only incorrect, it actually makes the bike unsafe. Where Honda put it the part damps resonance that might add to brake squeal. Yup. It's a sound deadener, just like the rubber sleeve on the carburetor throttle return spring. So put it in the right place.


This is not how the washer goes. Compare this with the orientation above. This picture is from the sohc4.net forum. Interestingly, the East Indian and Chinese copies of popular Honda models make this same mistake from their factories.


Last updated October 2022
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