The Hodaka Club Forum

I’m about to undertake a rear wheel re-spoke project. I am doing a mud catcher alloy rear wheel. I’m going to remove all the spokes. Then I want to clean the tarnish and polish both the hub & the rim as it’s quite discolored/tarnished.

First question is, what is a good cleaning & polishing material for an alloy rim and hub? I believe it’s a Model 95 rear Takasago mud catcher, since it has a Takasago sticker still on the rim! Lots of white spotty tarnish on it. Would like to make it look decent, but more interested in function over beauty. Having both would be nice!

Does the hub get cleaned and painted, or is the hub alloy as well? I can take some photos of it tomorrow. It’s late and dark now.

At first, the sprocket holder wouldn’t go onto the rim correctly. Then I figured out the seller sent the wheel with the incorrect sprocket side spacer. Fortunately, I was able to remove it and had a correct spare with which to replace it.

I plan on following the re-spoking method in the Wombat 125 manual. Any specific tips I should be aware of or concerned about? Thanks in advance! Victor

well if this is your first time i recommend getting a good nights sleep . clear your schedule, read the procedure till you got a good handle on it . make sure all the threads are clean and good i put the nipples on all the spokes to make sure they thread on , get organized , lay out the spokes so you have them split up in there group, and take your time.....albert

This is the wheel I want to clean up. Going to re-spoke it after cleaning. I’m hoping to get at least some of these spokes off & clean them & maybe spray paint them with aluminum paint IF they are salvageable. But I have a brand new set of 18 inch spokes to put onto this wheel.

Any advice on cleaning it without ruining it? Is the hub a std Hodie hub or is it alloy as well? Paint it or just clean it. Pretty sure it’s an early Model 95 Mud Catcher. Bought it used from Ryan Florke in Idaho. I wish I had someone here who does bead blasting. Victor

Sandpaper.
Easily get a mirror like finish by starting with 800 then 1000 and finally 1200 grit (or higher). Keep it wet with penetrating oil or WD40.

Dale, I think I will do that with the rim. I’ve done it with the top tree on the 03 Wimbat and it turned out really nice!

So is the hub made of the same material or is it cast aluminum and gets painted? That’s the question for which I don’t seem to get an answer… Victor

Hubs are painted die cast aluminum.
Ed

Thank you Ed. That’s what I ended up doing.

Well all that’s left is the rim and spoking. Wire brushed about a quarter of the center of the rim. Cleaned the Takasago sticker and then covered it. Started getting hand cramps so I stopped for the day. More manana! But this section looks fine for me!

New rear brake shoes on the rear backing plate as well. Getting there. This wheel will go in my Wombat Combat which already has an alloy front rim. The steel wheel currently on the rear, will go on the Baby Blue Model 03 so that will have matching steel rims. Victor

Lookin' good Victor!

“Magic Paint” Maxie! Gotta love it! Victor

Thanks to Ed’s words that the hub is supposed to be painted an aluminum color, I just finished up my wheel! Had to pull the second 9 inner spokes and readjust position. But it’s all done now and it went rather quickly. I think from start to finish, I put less than an hour into spoking this wheel, including the time for pulling off and redoing THF 2nd inner 9 spokes.

Here’s the wheel! Ready to mount thf tire! The cleaning went well, but there was still a lot of pitting on the rim. Something only vapor blasting would have MAYBE taken care of, but not guaranteed. But my blaster told me he thought it would take him almost an hour and figured $60-75 to vapor blast it! That was just too much for one wheel, at least for me. This wasn’t a customer wheel I could bill for the blasting. Victor

I must say, “Albert, you scared the crap outta me! It wasn’t nearly as hard as your post lead me to believe!” Victor

well i think that its one of those projects that can go south easier than some and its better to be a little more prepared at the start . happy it went well for you ....albert