Crankshaft side play/shims etc

[BSA500]

Yep i do that in the vain hope of protecting them(and a little dab of grease).

[chaterlea25]

Hi,
At 32 thou I would machine up a solid shim
Where I worked we very often had jobs shimming electric motors to pumps some up to 300hp
Eperience taught me that a stack of shims would degrade and spread whereas a solid ship never gave trouple

HTH
John

[muskrat]

I agree with John. Did we discover why the end float grew? Wear on the thrust face of the bush or did it push in further?
Cheers

[RichardL]

Hi,
At 32 thou I would machine up a solid shim

Just does not seem a simple or affordable task for those of us without mills, lathes and surface grinders.

Richard L.

[chaterlea25]

Hi Richard,
I regard my machine tools as essential pieces of equipment,
I can repair fabricate or replicate a lot of items instead of searching on the internet/phoning around and waiting a week or more for the postie to arrive (with the wrong bit  )

Bike owners need to have access to people who are willing to repair or make one off items at a reasonable cost
Other than that I must be lucky that the guys into bikes around my location are exceptionally talented????
World class painters and welders / fabricators living close by.

Cheers
John

[RichardL]

Ah yes, but you have a much bigger collection of odd old bikes than those of us with just one or two As. (In my case, an A10 on the road and an A7 in the works.)

Richard L.

[BSA500]

I suspect the bearing drive side settled, If the bearings were a little less 'thick' that could give a little extra play as well ?

[chaterlea25]

Hi Richard,

Ah yes, but you have a much bigger collection of odd old bikes than those of us with just one or two

Yes true I suppose,
I have had bikes since I was about 12, all cast off by others back then, and started helping out at the little local garage that did car repairs,
I did a stint at technical college that really opened my eyes to all the possibilities that machine tools offered
I then got a very old lathe that was persuaded to make all sorts of bits and pieces
In 1985 I went to work in a power station gave me the opportunities to see and learn a lot
Around 1990 I bought a lathe for home use, it needed repairs but only cost £175 back then and I'm still using it.
When early retirement bekoned  6 years ago I went in search of some more machines in order to be self sufficient at home and to offer repairs/ rebuilds to others
Its not all bike stuff either, repairs to boat parts and even work on a local tower clock !!!

Cheers
John
(Sorry gone very OT here)

[BSA500]

Hi Richard,

Ah yes, but you have a much bigger collection of odd old bikes than those of us with just one or two

Yes true I suppose,
I have had bikes since I was about 12, all cast off by others back then, and started helping out at the little local garage that did car repairs,
I did a stint at technical college that really opened my eyes to all the possibilities that machine tools offered
I then got a very old lathe that was persuaded to make all sorts of bits and pieces
In 1985 I went to work in a power station gave me the opportunities to see and learn a lot
Around 1990 I bought a lathe for home use, it needed repairs but only cost £175 back then and I'm still using it.
When early retirement bekoned  6 years ago I went in search of some more machines in order to be self sufficient at home and to offer repairs/ rebuilds to others
Its not all bike stuff either, repairs to boat parts and even work on a local tower clock !!!

Cheers
John
(Sorry gone very OT here)

Why don't you live near me. Fancy moving to Kent its quite nice and I can give you plenty of pratice on your lathe 

[chaterlea25]

Hi

Why don't you live near me. Fancy moving to Kent its quite nice and I can give you plenty of pratice on your lathe 

LOL
You would have to rely on the postie to be the connecting link??
Serioulsly if you cannot find a local machinist I could make the shim for you
Check out "Mens Sheds" in you area, a good number of these have members who "can do things"
How far are you from Ramsgate? I know Peter Bayliss at Dave Fox Kawasaki ( I know Dave too) they have a good collection of vintage bikes and would surely know local machininsts

HTH
John

HTH
John

[Butch (cb)]

Somewhat on a different scale but that has reminded me now of an issue I had with a Bantam many years ago. I had running problems which I eventually determined must be the crankcase seals, so I pulled the motor down to swap them out. I replaced the main bearings at the same time. I think that the motor was down for maybe a few weeks when I came to button it back up. I could not get the cases to pull up without the crank going tight. Ultimately I somehow managed to determine how much the interference was and had a guy press up the crank some more to take up this plus the required clearance. Bike went back together OK and was from then on OK (though the original problem remained – so not the seals then).

The replacement bearings were definitely banged home OK, and I’ve scratched my head ever since wondering how the crank managed to stretch whilst the motor was down. Overly think main bearings … surely not?

[BSA500]

Measured the end play and got 29 thou and its getting chilly out there brrrrrr

[chaterlea25]

Hi
I bolt a steel plate to the DS case , bolts fit into the primary case screw threads
Magnetic  base for the dial gauge sits on the steel plate
The way you show in the photo can lead to errors
HTH
John

[BSA500]

That's just the rough and  ready measure the proper one is yet to be done 

[BSA500]

Clamped the bottom end in a vice and secured the dial gauge to the pillar drill table and still got the reading of 29 thou movement. I repeated the reading many times and always spot on for 29 thou. I feel my main issue is with the drive side bearing being an easy slip fit on the crank. Allowing the inner race to turn against the shims and wreck them. I shall use the loctite type stuff and see how we go