Ahh, the joys of owning a 35 year old bike.
The throw out bearing decided it was time to retire on the way home from work last Friday. There weren't any real problems, just a bad rattle that went away when I pulled in the clutch. Turns out the TO bearing is a basic 6000 roller bearing. Buck and a half or less for a cheap one, under ten for a good one.
I ordered a Japanese Nachi brand from Amazon for $12 with shipping and found out that my company sells a Chinese Peer brand. My cost was $1.48. I bought both to compare the two. Radially, there was little difference between the two. Axially, the Nachi was heads above the Peer. So the Nachi went in.
I also had another CX owner over, David, who is having a TO rattle and wanted to see how it was done. Drain the oil, disconnect the clutch cable, remove the clutch cover, and there it is. Two small screwdrivers under the bearing, a quick push and it's out. Press the new bearing in with the heel of the hand, make a new gasket for the clutch cover, reinstall the cover, hook up clutch cable, fresh oil and filter, done. One hour. Done.
While we were at it, I wanted to check if the PO had lubed the final drive splines when the new tire was installed. David wanted to see the splines. So we pulled the rear wheel to have a looksee. It had been done and a high moly content lube was used. Good there. We relubed the splines again with some very high moly content lube. We also replaced the rear shoes while the wheel was off. The new shoes are grooved so that should take care of the rear brake squeal.
It was good to have some help for once.