| Author | Message | ||
     Rick_A |
Ride it everyday and your butt will get used to it. Ride bicycles everyday and your butt will love it.  | ||
| Redstripe |
Nevco1; Being the owner of a 2000 RRS ed., the only item that needed replacement was the pinion gear itself. -see pictures posted on this thread earlier- If You're in time, just replacing it should be sufficient. As far as I know, there's no different version of this item yet. Also, my mechanic says not all Buells feature this problem? I'd have it checked, still. Zippers used to make a silicon bronze one, as I understand from previous posts, but the part seems discontinued... Mine is now being replaced at 20.000 KMS, around 13.000 Mls. The part won't be too expensive -someone mentioned $ 15 -, yet will have to be installed by a mechanic which means some costs. Good luck, Jilles. | ||
| Nevco1 |
Redstripe...Thanks for the info. That is what I assumed, but did not want to take any chances. | ||
| Whitebuell |
I also have had my share of the oilpumpdrive gear trouble. I was 'lucky'to see it in time because of continuous problems with the cranckshaft and rods on my S1W. Every time i opend the engine for the cranck(aroud 6000 km's each time,third time now)the drive gear was worn way to bad in such short notice compared to some sporty's for example. So i looked the damn thing over and over and noticed this.... take a good look at the picture please In school they teached me that these gears schould run in line to perform perfect. In this case they definetly do not!! I milled the oilpump's surface of so that the gears should come in line. Here is a picture when i am doing this with an old pump to see how far i could go before the oilholes stared to go away and i had even more troubles. You can't cut the pump perfect the way i do it in the picture because the pump wheel is out of center with the pumpbody,so you have to make an off-centerpiece to put the pump in the lathe. it looks this way after the mods... I had last year about 6000 km's on the buell,opend it and yes the drive gear was worn something like 0.4mm into the teeth . This year i had also about 5000 km's on the buell,opend it for the damn cranckshaft probs and the drive gear had virtual no wear on the teeth!! So my modification seems to work perfect. Have to tell you also that i had my drive gear checked to see how hard it was,they told me that it was very soft compared to the oilpumpwheel. So i had it surface hardend also. My guess is that the oilpumpwheel is so hard out of centerline and the bevelled edges of the pumpwheel seem to carve into the softer drive gear because the drive gear is to low of center. For me the problem is solved and i hope you all can use what i tried out on the buell. I don't have pictures of the diffrent drive gears wear but i will post these as soon as possible. Now find a way to have a steady cranck and i can start drive the damn thing without worry's    | ||
| Buellistic |
Whitebuell: Have a 97S3T that "i" installed a BUELL -98(Sporster -91A) oil pump... Was told by a BUELL "MECHANIC" that "i" should check this!!! SO "i" did!!! Found the oil pump and pinion drive gear to look almost NEW... This was at 60K miles(about 96774km)... This has happend only once to one of our local BUELL riders... Looked at puting a screen where the oil is sucked out of the cam gear area, BUT desided to put a oil filter in the oil pump RETURN LINE to the OIL TANK... Did the exhaust header wrap on my header also... Will try to send you picture of return line oil filter... In BUELLing Lafayette | ||
| Reepicheep |
(John... AWSOME picture in your profile!) Fantastic info John... Can any Mech Engineer types elaborate on how important it is to have these things centered up? The one I pulled (that was badly worn) was definately "off center". | ||
| Buellistic |
Bill: Keeps things from brakeing, prematurely wearing out, it keeps you from posting broken parts, and asking "WTF" happened... By the way, have you been to Rabbit Hash lately??? In Buelling LaFayette | ||
| Whitebuell |
LaFayette,i think the filter in the returnline is never a bad idea but if the engine starts making chips inside. Then you have to cure the cause of the chips,that's how i think about it. Thanks for the great pictures,nice bike you have. Reepicheep,they are all off center and if you start turning high rpm's,the drive gear wear's out fast. I am doing lots of track driving with the bike and it wear's fast on mine...not anymore now so.... I did not have the change to undress an XB engine but would love to have a look at those drive gears. The story goes that these buell's don't have the problem. | ||
| 1320 |
Another problem that can cause ALL of these failures is the bearing race that is pressed on at the factory. Have been told that it rarely happens but I have seen it more than a couple of times and it can be a hard problem to decipher. This is the race that is directly on the crankshaft and goes through the case halves. I've seen it float sideways until it makes contact with the back of the oil pump drive gear, which in turn gets the drive gear and oil pump gear in a cross with each other and strips the gears off of both parts. Luckily for me my oil light came on and I shut it down immediately. Checked the return line and when no oil was there I pulled the cam chest to find loads of metal(gear teeth) in the system. The whole thing is that if this happens and the race floats BACK in on the crankshaft before inspection, you wouldn't even know that this is the problem. The fix I have used for the last couple of years is to pull everything out of the cam chest and put 2 small spot welds attaching the race to the crank in a more positive manner. I have had ZERO problems with the oil drive and oil pump gear wearing since I started doing this. In Spudmans pic above you can see where the race has its edge chipped off. This could be from the gear chunks making contact with it, but it could also be from the race floating out and making contact with the back of the gear to cause the problem. | ||
| Al_lighton |
I had a leaky base gasket on the rear cylinder of my S1W at 37K miles. This meant that I had to port the heads, replace the cylinders/pistons, install billet pushrod bases, replace the engine mount, put on a new milled cam cover, etc. Well, I could've just replaced the gasket, but nah, I couldn't. So I figured I'd go check that pinion gear while I was in there. This is the old one on the let, right next to the new one, on the right.   It looks great, doesn't it? Wrong-o. 180 degrees around the thing, this is what it looks like:   I bet it didn't have 2k miles in it until it fragged. So, if you yank your oil pump and take a look up in there, be sure to look at both sides of the gear. Al | ||
| Al_lighton |
BTW, the engine inside was otherwise spotless. At 37K, there were still light hone cross-hatching marks barely visible on the cylinder walls, and the cam lobes were spotless. The engine appears to be in fine shape, other than the knife edged pinion gear teeth. Al | ||
| Mikej |
This does not make me feel good. Damn pinion gears. Guess I'll have to go check the stupid things on mine. Damn, didn't want to do this right now, but with over 25k on each bike I'm probably overdue, damn. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Yikes Al... that was cutting things *seriously* close! Mine had a very similar pattern, just not gone as far. | ||
| Rick_a |
Al, that's exactly what mine looked like. It had about 19,000 miles on it. | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Mike, I'm thinking the same thing! Guess I should pick up a couple just in case. Jerry, My rear base gasket is leaking on my M2. I didn't realize I had to replace the cylinders, pistons, heads and cams to fix the bugger...  Maybe I better have a closer look at the service manual. Brrrring,,,, Brrrring,,, Hello Aaron, I need to talk to you about some parts.... Brad | ||
| Al_lighton |
Well, if you're going to check the oil pump drive gear, you only need to pull the oil pump and look up from the bottom (and rotate the engine so you can see the whole gear!!). But if you don't like what you see, it's a whole other ballgame. You'll need to pull the cam cover, which means that you'll need to do pull the rocker boxes. Once you get the cam cover off, you'll need to lock the pinion in order to properly remove or torque the nut. Don't screw around here, use a proper tool. I've just added that tool to the web site for those opening theirs up. I'll probably add the actual gear and all that next, but for now, see here  | ||
| Rock |
Hello Gentlemen; I have a question regarding this topic. This is a potential problem that (obviously) can have serious consequences for our machines. For those of you that have experience with these gears "goin' south", do you suggest inspection at regular intervals? Every 2,500, 5,000, or 10,000 miles? Any additional insight? Thanx in advance. | ||
| Sportyeric |
Al. It would also work to use the primary locking bar if the other side is open, yes? | ||
| Reepicheep |
Thats how I did it Sportyeric... Not saying that it's right, but it worked I would do it the first time during whatever oil change falls between 10,000 and 15,000 miles. You will at least see the wear if you have the problem. Not all do. Make sure you turn the engine over a few times and repeat the inspection, mine was like the one above, looked perfect on one side, looked bad on the other. I would be suprised to see one go before 15k miles. | ||
| Sportyeric |
Mine also looked like the one above. At 85K on the 92 Sporty so I can't complain. Lasted as long as the bottom end so it all gets done together. Gotta check the S2s next winter, I guess. Not to highjack the thread, or even want to revive the argument, but I think that car oil filters, with their higher by-pass pressures, may aggravate the wear. | ||
| Firemanjim |
All my bikes get that race held in by a couple of button head screws.Common fix I am told by the race guys.That was one of the things I found wrong when I pulled down the motor out of the S-2 I bought from E-Bear.That race was within kissing distance of the gear and 3 of 4 cam bushings were spun in the case.13,000 miles on the clock.I had pulled the cylinders to do a 1250 kit and was going to throw in some Red Shift cams.Rear cylinder was minus the top ring--not broken,never installed.Not from the factory as it had an S&S bottom end.Now it has needle roller bearings in place of cam bushings. | ||
| Buellistic |
Sportyeric: Have a 97S3T ... Pulled my cam cover at 60K to check oil pump drive gear and it looked like new ... As far as automotive oil filters, "i" have been running them from early on ... Even have a filter in my return line ... FOOD FOR "THOUGHT": What about runnig your PRIMARY CHAIN "TOO TIGHT" ??? In BUELLing LaFayette | ||
| Outrider |
Al...Will your oil pinion drive gear be made of stronger metal and subsequently last longer than the OEM part? | ||
| Whitebuell |
I finally had the time to open up my engine on the camside,want to put some redshifts in ... The bike has 12000 km's now with the modified gears and pump of my own design. As you can see in the picture,the gear on the left is my former gear with 6000km's,way to much worn out in such a short notice if you ask me Next to it is my modified gear with twice as much km's and still looking brandnew!! so the thing i tried(and explained above) works for the full 100% perfect  | ||
| Whitebuell |
still in the engine and looking good !  | ||
| Whitebuell |
Hi there, What details did you want?,i explained the whole set up with pictures a little higher up the same page. Regards John | ||
| Reepicheep |
Cool! Thanks for the update Whitebuell! | ||
| Reepicheep |
Here we go again!  I am at about 20k miles on the 9sx now, and it was time to change the oil, so I thought I would drop the exhaust (to re-paint it) and drop the oil pump (to inspect the pinion gear). It looks worse then I would prefer, but probably not bad enough that I will replace it yet. I will probably just plan on replacing it at 35k or 40k miles. I'm open to other opinions though... I will be leaving it apart until tomorrow afternoon.,.. if amyone with more experience then me has an opinion that I should replace it now, I am listening... These are all the worst spot on the gear. It's worn fairly evenly.    | ||
| Bigdog_tim |
Since you are asking for "opinions" - here is mine (and I have ZERO experience on this) - I would bolt it all back together and call it good. Am VERY interested in others weighing in. | ||
| Whitebuell |
I would replace it ,something that produces small chips inside an engine is never a good thing.The more the gear wears out,the higher the speed that it wears out because of the slack it creates due to the bigger opening between each teeth on the wheel . Oil pressure suffers also from that slack in the gear. |
