Want duel rotor front wheel, which will interchan?

loudhvx wrote:

Check the numbers on the disk brake rotors. I've been through this on a 550 and it was a headache.

In order to put a dual disk wheel on a U.S. model LTD 550, you would also need the forks from a dual disk model. In the early 1980's, this means you have to use Gpz 550 forks and wheel.

Other countries got some LTD's and Standards with dual disks, but in the U.S. it was only the GPZ (550D and 550H).

I can't say what differences the 750 line will have. If the dual 750 rotors are the same part number as your single 550 rotor, then I'd say it should work as long as the fork spacing is the same and axle parts are the same etc.

Crap!..... Not what i really wanted to hear! Guess i will have to see if the kz750 forks will fit my 550 LTD....

warchild69 wrote:

Pm Sent!

PM Returned.

I am not sure which front wheel will fit your KZ550 but I do know it has a small 15mm axle and the front end is of the axle forward design so there are no collars to clamp down on as with the KZ650/750/900/1000, which all are avaliable in a dual disk version.
I believe all those wheels will have an axle size greater than 17mm.
I also know that they sometimes used the same wheel castings for different models but fitted different wheel bearings making it difficult to just swap bearing sizes because of the machining sizes on the OD of the bearings.
I found this out recently on my 77 kz650 which came with 81 gpz550 wheels, front end, and brakes. I tried to look for a bearing to swap in the proper front end and axle only to find out that the proper wheel bearing to take that axle would not fit into the wheel casting due to a smaller OD of the hub.
The wheel casting looks the same as a 650 seven spoke wheel except the casting number is different and the hub ID is different.
The only way to get the proper front end fitted would be to make my own axle and axle collars.
Also the caliper mounts on the lower legs of the 650 front end are in a different spot to use the 550 brake rotors - they could work if I made some carrier brackets.
The 81 gpz550 forks are 36mm which is the same size as the 650/750/900/1000... I think in 82 they went to 35mm on the 550 but I am not 100% on that.

It all starts to become a bit of work.

Injected wrote:

The wheel casting looks the same as a 650 seven spoke wheel except the casting number is different and the hub ID is different..

and the early 650's used innertubes so the rim has no lip to it and has rim-lock devices, along with a different shape to the casting on the inside of the rim.

Here's a good explanation and photos:
kzrider.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&...d=5&id=208778#208779

Injected wrote:

The 81 gpz550 forks are 36mm which is the same size as the 650/750/900/1000... I think in 82 they went to 35mm on the 550 but I am not 100% on that.

Yes, 100% correct on that. The 82/83 gpz550 (kz550H1/H2) used 35mm forks with thicker walls.

I forgot, this thread:
kzrider.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&...d=5&id=291217#291645

has some info on 550 forks and disks.

There are 5 different size disks for the early 400/500/550 family. The earliest ones (79/80) had disks riveted to carriers and used older style calipers (looked similar to early 650 calipers). The later ones had disks bolted to the 7-spoke rim with 7 bolts.

In case that's not enough to make your head hurt, later, at least on the 550H gpz's, there were disks bolted to 5-spoke rims with 5 bolts.