| Author | Message | ||
     Whodom |
Did the second inspection of the oil pump drive gear on my 2000 S3 today; ~2800 miles after my first check (when the bike had 11,500 miles on it). It showed noticeable but not drastic wear at 11,500 miles. Today I could not detect any additional wear, so I'm gonna go at least to the next oil change. Eventually I plan to install one of the updated heavy duty gears the factory recently released, but I can wait a while longer. I do wonder if perhaps these things don't "wear in" on some bikes without going all the way to self-destruction. | ||
| Oldog |
Awful expensive OOPS | ||
| Jackbequick |
Whodom - It would be interesting if you could get a photo of that gear the next time you are in there. Maybe use a mirror, bounce a flashlight beam up in there for light, and shoot the image in the mirror? If you're seeing wear that is similar on all the teeth on both gears, then you may gotten lucky and wound up with a pair of well matched gears with good alignment/engagement. Its like monkeys hammering on typewriters, every once in a while they get something right. The wear marks on helical gears automotive rear ends are good when they show as a pretty well centered band between the top and bottom of the gear tooth. Generally seen as a bright or burnished appearing band that has indistinct edges. And the band will be smooth to a fingernail, maybe even smoother than unburnished area of the gear tooth. Jack | ||
| Tubehead |
Read about the oil pump gear being a weakness in the sportster motors.Thinking about replacing this with an upgraded item in my X1@ 18000ks but not sure if this is mechanical paranoia on my part or a smart move. Is this a common problem or very rare?Is there a bullet proof aftermarket gear available or is the HD upgrade good enough? | ||
| Whodom |
Jack- I posted photos from the first inspection in the KV, see here: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/3842/129393.html?1120117743 I took photos yesterday, but there's no discernable difference from the first ones I took. No discernable wear on the oil pump gear; only the oil pump drive gear on the crankshaft shows wear. The wear occurs on only the teeth on one side of the gear; the other side is fine. This is typical of all the gears I've read reports on. Here's a shot that shows the wear on one tooth. I'd estimate maybe 2 or 3 teeth have this amount of wear.  BTW, it's much easier (for me at least) to take several digital photos, come inside and download them, and take a few minutes to study them on the computer than it would be to actually get a good look at the gear. Tubehead, best thing to do is look at it during your next oil change. It's not too hard to do; it adds ~30 minutes to the job. Drain oil, drop shock reservoir, disconnect front oil line, cut one tie-wrap, disconnect electrical lead, remove two allen screws, drop oil pump, photograph or look at gear. The only parts you need are an oil pump gasket (~$1 IIRC) and a tie wrap. Excess wear of the gear seems to be a problem on some tubers (and Sportsters) but not others. The best theory I've heard is that it's a tolerance-stacking problem (some bikes wind up with all the parts machined at one extreme of the allowable tolerances and this prevents the gears from meshing properly). The only way to know is to inspect the gears. As far as I know, the recently released Buell factory part is the only available upgrade. There used to be an aftermarket gear available, but I believe it's out of production. Others have posted that there seems to be no pattern to which bikes have wear (cold climates/hot climates, conventional oil/synthetic oil, hard-ridden bikes/easy ridden bikes, etc.). I purchased my S3 with ~5,500 miles on it and first inspected the gear at 11,500 miles at which point I was pretty alarmed by the amount of wear. Now with ~14,300 miles on the clock, there doesn't seem to be any further wear. I'm still gonna keep my eye on it, but I'm pretty confident it's good for at least another 10,000 miles or so. I have no idea how my bike was previously treated; I do know it came from Toledo and I'm in SC. I'm also running synthetic, and I always let the bike warm up thoroughly before I ride hard. Maybe the cold Ohio weather, conventional oil and hard riding caused the initial wear. I guess I'll see. I'll keep you guys posted on what happens. | ||
| Jackbequick |
Hugh, thanks for the photos and link to the earlier stuff. Very interesting reading. I'm looking forward to inspecting my gear in the next month or two. Jack | ||
| Tubehead |
thanks also hugh, will check wear next oil change.Like many things it appears to be the luck of the draw,especially with buells.I know of a 99 thunderbolt with high mileage that has never been maintained to what I would call even a basic level and the owner has had no problems to date! |
