oil leak

[TRIPLET]

      i have an oil leak on my A10 RGS rep which i am certain is coming from the gearbox at the drive end.it leaks when the bike is on the side stand but not when on the centre stand,i have had a close look and it does not seem to be coming from the oil seal so am i correct in thinking it is coming from the sleeve gear bush and are these obtainable?

[groily]

Very hard to know where the oil really comes from as not a lot of space to see and a choice of orifices and sources. If the sleeve gear is worn, the chances are so is the mainshaft, which means that a new standard bush or pair of them rather - which is what I think is normally available (Draganfly?) - may not solve the problem on its own. Certainly when I had problems it was necessary to rectify the mainshaft and make a bush (I did mine in one bit) to fit. Re the leak, you could also check that the grub screw - small allen job - that holds I can't remember what (selector rod isn't it?) into the lh side of the casing is present and correct, as its absence would cause a leak. Frankly, if you have to pull the whole thing to bits to sort the sleeve gear (and quite a few bits, clutch etc, just to prove if it even is the culprit), you might as well get an oil seal, bearings and the rest of it, as it's a not-to-be-done-too-often kind of PITA job.
On the other hand, if it's only a little leak, and the thing doesn't self-drain in a big way on the road or on the centre stand . . . I'd probably put it in the non-urgent category and enjoy the decent weather!

[Brian]

Another possibility is its common for those seals to leak on the face of the seal rather than where it goes over the sprocket. Whenever I fit them I always put some sealer (I use Loctite) on the face of the seal. I think over time the circlip wears and also the groove it goes in and probably doesnt put the correct pressure on the face of the seal.

[TRIPLET]

     thanks for the help guys,as it is not a major leak i am going to leave it until the winter before i do it,i also have a new forward kickstart quadrant so as to bring the kickstart lever to around one o clock which is correct for the rearsets so might as well do everything in one "hit".

[groily]

that's what I'd do. If it works fine otherwise without any nasty noises (in neutral especially, if the sleeve is suspect), I bet it'll see the good weather out. Best just check the oil now and then. The box on one of my BSAs leaks a little on the right, from worn shaft bushes, but a little looks a lot on the floor, and I don't have to add much, or often. Job's 'on the list' but more interesting things keep intervening.
Now, if BSAs didn't use agricultural cotter-pin fixings where other people favoured splines, we wouldn't have to change the k'start guts just to have rear-sets .  .  The joy of it all. Though you could get/make a folding lever? I have one bike, not a BSA, with very rear-set pegs and a splined non-folder at one o'clock same as you're thinking of . . . it's OK, but can still touch the shin on the road. A folding lever would certainly be better. Again, I'll get round to it - in that case when I can afford to replace the splined shaft and a few other worn oily bits inside at the same time.

[chaterlea25]

Hi All,
Another source of gearbox seal leaks is if the sprocket nut is a tad loose????? its surprising how many are
the oil leaks between the bearing and sprocket then along the splines and out around the nut
It may be possible to poke at the sprocket nut with a screwdriver to see if its loose or see if there is any play when levering the sprocket with the chain off!!!
Just my ?0.02 worth
Regards
John O R

[MikeN]

Another source of gearbox seal leaks is if the sprocket nut is a tad loose????? its surprising how many are
the oil leaks between the bearing and sprocket then along the splines and out around the nut

Thats a good point.I do mine up with the gearbox out with a bit of old chain gripped in the vice round the sprocket. I use a socket spanner with a 2 foot lever and heave.Not looking forward to undoing it.
Mike

[TRIPLET]

    good point about the gearbox sprocket nut being loose,will check it out this afternoon as best as i can.i seem to remember that no one ever had a spanner/box key for these so they were mostly lumped up with a hammer and chisel/screwdriver(i have done this myself!) making it virtually impossible to get a correct feel of how tight it is.