What have you done with your bike/s today?

[Greybeard]

Since my last engine work I'd only done the DGR ride. Today I had the opportunity to take the bike for a longer ride to see if the excessive wear on one of the cam followers would be repeated. The day was sunny but cold so I donned my thermals, (Australians will have to Google that term), my jumper and full biking gear. I rode out to Stow-On-The-Wold. I went along the lovely Foss Way, a Roman road. The bike, as usual ran beautifully, the sun shone. In my mind, all was right with the world.....
I stopped for lunch. When I had taken my helmet off I restarted the engine...oh dear, a loud tappety racket! I therefore will be stripping the engine again to fully check all of the parts that SRM advised me to check when I spoke to them about their cam follower that went bad.

Another lovely ride home; this motorbike runs so sweetly!

PS. Sitting in a warm cafe while wearing thermal underwear is not a good idea.

[muskrat]

G'day GB.
I'm sending someone round to take all your tools. Buy a lotto ticket and with the winnings get SRM to build you a motor.
Talk about bad luck.
Cheers

[Greybeard]

I haven't needed a rubber for many years. After our third child was born I had the tubes sealed.

[muskrat]

Ha, still got none proven!
Cheers

[RDfella]

Greybeard - if I recall correctly you only changed the failed follower. Bad move. If one of a set is duff there's no way I'd chance the others. Should have replaced the whole set with the known good set you have. As I recall the duff followers were from SRM - if so I wouldn't take Muskrat's advice and get them to build you a whole motor!

[chaterlea25]

Hi GB and A'll,
The times I have seen follower / cam wear
Were all down to lack of oil feeding to the cam trough
(Not taking into account shit quality followers that I have yet to come across thankfully)
The usual reason for lack of oil to the trough is a worn main bush,
 BUT!
it could be a too high setting on the prv,
Leakage past the prv threads
Or leakage between the main bush and  crankccase
Or blocked oilway  somewhere??

I think I remember that your bike has a new ish oil pump??
So a shit / porus pump body is unlikely
(This was the cause of one blow up I know of)
John

[RichardL]

I haven't needed a rubber for many years. After our third child was born I had the tubes sealed.

Sealing the tubes not a problem. Sealing the wallet is now the issue.

Richard L.

[RichardL]

The usual reason for lack of oil to the trough is a worn main bush,
 BUT!
it could be a too high setting on the prv,
Leakage past the prv threads
Or leakage between the main bush and  crankccase
Or blocked oilway  somewhere??
John

John,

Wouldn't all these oil starvation possibilities show up first in a spun rod bearing? That's where I would think the most critical demand lies. Your correction, if I'm wrong, is quite welcome.

Richard L.

[berger]

well Richard mine ran on a bit of mist for many miles when pillock here put the pipes on the wrong way . it ruined the cam and followers but nowhere near like greybeards rogue follower, my self and an engineer measured the crank journals and decided on new shells ,its been fine ever since, the only reason it wasn't a disaster is because I had filled the tank above the return hole and it was grabbing some oil but not enough to feed the cam and rockers. I took the prv off  kicked it up and nearly cried when just spits of oil came out then realised what I had done all fixed and  empty pockets 

[Worty]

Jeez Berger, should have gone to the pub after putting the pipes on

[Greybeard]

When I get a minute I'll post SRM's reply after I contacted them about the worn follower. I will not post it in this thread though.

[chaterlea25]

Hi Richard and All,
That's a good question!
and my opinion on how the crank survives a little longer!
When the crank is spinning centrifugal  or centripital force sucks oil to the big ends as long as there's a supply to the bush even though a proportion of the feed is leaking away
I have experience from where I worked where 300hp motors/ pumps that had plain white metal bearings survived for years by being lubed  by oil being picked up by a loose metal ring sitting on the rotating shafts and the  bottom of the metal ring dipping into the oil reservoir
There was enough oil picked by the rotating ring to feed the bearing, no oil pressure being involved

John

[Greybeard]

Many early engines relied on oil mist for lubrication

[berger]

Many early engines relied on oil mist for lubrication
good point greybeard but not at 5000rpm like mine did until she said she was cooked- poor thing even got me back home at 30 to 40mph, mind you she once got me home with a snapped crank --good old BSA

[Greybeard]

Many early engines relied on oil mist for lubrication

I'm pretty sure that modern four-stroke mowers just have a finger on the Conrod that flicks oil around. Lawnmowerman?