Walneck's Classic Cycle Trader - June 2008 - (Page 42) MONTHLY FEATURES TIP OF THE MONTH Fixing the Primary Blues By Mike Brown “You better adjust that primary chain, Bub, before it breaks and throws you into the weeds,” an old friend and mechanical mentor observed almost 20 years ago when I pulled into his shop seeking advice. I was particularly impressed that he made the astute diagnosis from 40 feet away and over the sounds of a radio and running air compressor. Still, John was spot on, and if you hear a tink-tinking coming from the primary side of your cycle engine, you better check it out. Adjusting the primary chain is simple on some bikes, impossible on a few, and more involved on strip others. Still the chore is necessary at intervals in y a screw will it far less likel anscrews makes use of the t-h the service life of any cycle using a primary drive Using allen lows for the e work and al tool make rvic this chain and can result in a complete rebuild of the out during se n screws and h shown. Alle easy. dle allen wrenc tion quick and primary drive, as it did in this instance. Many and installa cover removal bikes, and the Triumph shown here is one of them, feature an access hole for inspection and a means to take up primary chain slack via an adjustment screw. A new set of clutch plates and high performance springs were also on the agenda, but when we took the primary cover off we found that we had a bit more work than anticipated: removing the clutch cover and plates revealed the clutch basket had way too much free play and wobbled like a Bourbon Street drunk at midnight. Excessive play in the clutch assembly can be caused by a variety of problems. The clutch basket itself may be worn. The inner and outer hubs may also be worn or damaged. The Clutch cover screw is remov ed with a spec can be easily bearings themselves could be the culprits. The ial tool. One made by cutti ng a slot into driver. a large screw thrust washer might be shot. Often all these together cause the malady, and the cure for any or all of these issues requires a complete teardown, inspection, and rebuild. Itʼs a bunch easier to service the primary if the bike is elevated, so this is a good place to start. On old, crusty veterans, itʼs highly advisable as a next step to use an ice pick or similar instrument to clean the primary cover screws. This will almost always prevent damaging a screw so badly it wonʼt come out, turning a 15-minute job into an hours-long affair. If you do get into this fix, a commercial tool is available from Sears that attaches to a drill that will back out stripped screws in the majority of cases. You may also Hooked tool like this makes removing plates easy. Magnetic need to remove the exhaust pipe and foot peg to pickup tools work well too. remove the cover, as we did. 42 JUNE 2008 I WALNECK’S CLASSIC CYCLE TRADER® I WALNECKS.COM http://WALNECKS.COM
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