| Author | Message | ||
     Ratbuell |
So, I tried a band-aid on the mainshaft issue (the outer bearing keeps walking out, pushing out the oil seal in the center of the belt pulley). I stacked 3 fender washers (the correct diameter, amazingly) on top of the oil seal, strung some solid core wire across them, and tightened the pulley nut locking plate on top of the wire to hold it in place. I also left the plastic cover off, so I could see what was going on. The washer stack was about half a washer recessed when I was done. Rode 70 miles today, and the washer stack had pushed out about 1.5 washers thick (like 3/32" or so - a whole washer was above the pulley center now, instead of being a half washer recessed). Meh, I can live with that. Pushed the bike into the garage and heard a "clack clack" as the bike rolled. Ugh. Put it on a rear pit bull stand and turned the rear wheel....yep, the noise is coming from the pulley. Dammit. Now I HAVE to take it apart. I had a mainshaft lock up on my S1W years ago (right after I bought it - it was 7 or 8 years old with 1100 miles on it and the bearing had been dry for too long), and it locked up the rear wheel on me at about 50 mph. Fortunately going straight. But still un-fun. The S2T has got 8400 original miles on it; I bought it from the original owner last year with 7100. It started pushing the seal out towards the end of last season; I figured I'd try this band-aid and see. Fail. Here's the "what would you do" part: Original, bone-stock, low-mile, numbers match engine is in the bike. This is the one having problems. I have, on the bench, the 45k(ish) mile engine out of the 95 S2 I totaled 5 years ago by hitting a deer. Runs fine, complete engine, I installed a thunderstorm top end with X1 cams and S1W race ignition and XB rockerboxes years ago and ran the snot out of it, and it loved it. Still a heavy flywheel motor, though... Part of me hates to disassemble for parts, a good running complete motor...but I could. Pull the mainshaft assembly, maybe stick a new bearing in it, and stick it in the S2T. Or option 2.... Put the entire thunderstormed engine in the bone-stock, 100% original, low-mile S2T. Thoughts? If it were an XB...it would be getting swapped. But since it has a cartridge transmission (XBs don't use the cartridge style), it's a little less of a pain in the ass...at least the cases don't have to be split. Neither job is exactly "easy"...but I can do either one. I guess option 3 is find and buy a new mainshaft ass'y...but at the moment I really shouldn't spend the $400 or $500 in parts. But I could dip into the rainy day fund I guess. Thoughts? | ||
| Upthemaiden |
Personally, I would absolutely stick the thunderstorm engine in the S2 and get it back on the road. I wouldn't be bothered by the engine number not matching the frame, but once you had the engine out of the bike you can take your good old time fixing the issue and rebuilding this engine however you like, and stick it back in the S2 someday anyway. I wasn't entirely sure about your comparison between the XB/tuber engines. I'm familiar with the transmission difference, but I thought the issue you were having was the oil seal on the crankshaft, so I wasn't sure what it was you were thinking about pulling from the transmission to fix the problem. | ||
| Ratbuell |
The oil seal is being pushed out by the bearing in the main shaft. Something is busted, or tapered (uneven wear), causing that needle bearing to walk out. I can tap it back in...but in 70 miles it walks out again. And the clicking noise has me the most nervous. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Well I got the transmission out today. Mainshaft looks good, no scoring or marks. Mainshaft output shaft rides over that, has 5th gear pressed onto it, presses into the case, and it has the needle bearings in it that the inner mainshaft rides in (that are walking on my bike). I had to make a "special tool" to press/pull the unit out of the case bearing (which is moving fine, HUGE balls in it, no notches or side play). The outside of it looks like it has some heat/scoring, but there's a different race/spacer (number 12 in the diagram below) that sits outside the bearing and I'm guessing it was scoring against that.... Looks like part number for the output shaft is 35034-94, which according to my parts lookup includes the (2) needle bearings and the gear. (see "transmission gears" here: https://serviceinfo.harley-davidson.com/sip/conten t/document/view?id=13925¶meters=highlight%3D&o ptions.inTitle=false&options.inDescription=false&t erms=&options.inContent=false) I can only guess that's what's damaged, wallowed out, tapered, whatever - and allowing that outer bearing to walk (#16 in the diagram). Nearly 30 years old and only 8k miles? Yea, those bearings were dry for a lot of time. And, until I got the bike, there's no telling if the belt was too tight (I keep it scary loose like you should). So, it looks like I'm on the hunt for 35034-94. Wish my local HD dealer hadn't closed....was nice to still get my employee discount! | ||
| Ratbuell |
Got the replacement output shaft assembly installed (comes with the gear and the needle bearings already installed). I also replaced the pulley spacer. Put em both in the freezer overnight and the press-installation was much easier! Put everything back together and adjusted the shifter pawl, and put about 100 miles on it to shake it down. Works perfectly, seal isn't walking at all (I left the pulley cover off for now so I can keep an eye on it). I'll probably leave the cover off for a tank or two of gas, just to make sure...but I think it's fixed. And the belt is scary loose like it should be. |
