| Author | Message | ||
     Spatten1 |
I'm getting a little of my engine apart at a time and wanted to share a couple of pictures so everyone else would know what to keep an eye out for.  I've had many people tell me that the metal pieces on my primary plug could not have come from the chain, that they don't break. Now I beg to differ. Look at the center of the picture to the right of the piece of wire and you will see a missing piece of chain. It beat the crap out of my flywheel. I'm hoping the gears are not too banged up when I get them off. The chain is about $150.  This is the rusty drive gear bearing. I would recommend everyone check for play at the engine pulley when they do a tire change, just in case. I think this was caused by the crappy clutch cable design that lets water in the primary, or from the (non-adjustable) belt being too tight. I wish I knew, but I've done something about both. I am really frustrated right now. It occurred to me that the primary chain is an unnecessary part, could be direct gears like the other manufacturers. Also, the drive gear is an unneccessary part, the sprocket could be directly off the countershaft, like everybody else. I know this sounds negative, but I'm facing a lot of money and time on an 6,000 mile motorcycle and I'm just pissed off right now. A local badwebber came by this morning and made me feel a little better about riding the bike rather than selling it, as he said he doesn't think the local XB guys have had many problems to deal with. WHY ME!!!!!! | ||
| Khollister |
I know this doesn't help you feel better about this, but in all the years I've been around HD's, this is the first time I have actually heard about a broken primary chain - stretched, yes, but never broken. As far as the tranny gears, I would put another chain in and see how the tranny shifts & runs. When you say it beat up the flywheel, I assume you mean the rotor. The flywheel is on the crank in the engine case. I also assume what beat the rotor up was the chain loosing tension, not the piece of shrapnel? Again, I wouldn't rush to start replacing parts other than the chain and possible sprockets if they look worn or damaged. I'm personally skeptical about your theory of water intrusion. The clutch cable terminates in the sealed primary cavity (the one with oil in it). The final drive pulley is outside that cavity. I'm not following the theoretical water intrusion path. | ||
| Reepicheep |
On the tubers, that second picture could be the result of an over tightned belt. Were you the one with belt problems? Could a swingarm be misalinged, or something wrong with your idler pully? The water path definately exists. Thats why your primary fluid sometimes has a whitish or gooey tint. Did you drop your oil pump and check the drive gear yet? Might as well get all the bad news at once... You probably know this already, but you will have to split the cases to replace those rusted bearings. I would try cleaning it up and see how much damage is really there on the cages, maybe you are lucky and it is surface rust. (Message edited by reepicheep on November 05, 2006) | ||
| Spatten1 |
It was the shrapnel. The chain was not loose at all. I found it on my drain plug. | ||
| Spatten1 |
I am the one with the overtight belt problems, I asked for advice on adjustment about a year ago. Good memory I'm pulling off everything outside of the cases and paying someone to split them and change the bearings. I just don't have the time to pull the motor again if there is a leak after I put it back together. There are so many HD idiosyncracies that I do not know, I would rather pay three hours labor for someone to do the bearings and get everything sealed back up well. I have the top end off, trying to get the clutch off, and just pulled the cam cover. I will definitely check the oil pump drive like you said, should be easy while it is all off. | ||
| Reepicheep |
They have to press out that bearing assembly anyway, and once that is out, you have to press out those little needle bearings. It's possible to do on your own, but difficult... and relative to splitting the cases, that is the easy part. You are doing exactly what I would do, pull the engine and remove as many parts as I can easily get at, then truck it to the dealer and let them do the split. How did you address the tight belt problem? Was it a problematic tensioner? | ||
| Spatten1 |
I'm going chain gang. Saintly helped me out. I wouldn't know where to start with fixing my belt drive tightness, probably one of the aftermarket tensioners or just open up a hole in the idler bracket and slide it down a little. The tricky part is that it was tighter on the left side of the belt, and that is where it wears. It happened with two different idlers, the '03 and the '04 (same wheel, different bracket). I'll sight down the chain and measure axle to axle to ensure nothing is tweaked when it is all back together. | ||
| Raymondt |
It makes me wonder if I should buy the extended warentee or pray to the Buell gods that mine was not a Friday afternoon bike. No problems yet. Thanks for the heads up on what to check for and good luck, keep the faith. |
