nice ride,until..........

[Derby Rob]

well,
         it started off a nice sunny sunday morning ride,did about 50 miles and heading home and thinking to myself "done almost 800 trouble miles free since rebuild ,i must have done it right!) .Then bang,splutter bang dead!.hummm oh dear i thought,(well not quite what i thought).Luckily i was in a little village called Hulland Ward and managed to coast to the pub car park,opened the tool box,luckily had a fifty pence coin to do that......fuel ok ......air filter new......spark....no spark! ,checked the plugs,looked ok? so what could it be? took end off the mag and turned over the engine.The points were not moving!.
     This is a little bit more than a road side repair i thought.Thank god i took out break down cover.so rang the break down help line and within 45 minute a break down truck arrived ,i was expecting hours.
     The driver got out of the truck and asked if the plugs were ok etc,etc.After telling him i had checked all the normal things we strapped in to to his truck and he took me home to the *** taking teenage children and their friends!
     Any way straight to the shed, found the problem .........teeth missing from the auto advance/retard unit.new parts ordered and unit stripped waiting for parts, a job for next weekend!
    Time for a drink and think about the joys of vintage motorcycling!

cheers Rob
   

[Triton Thrasher]

Tufnol teeth are a weak point.

Keep strain off them when you tighten or loosen the nut.

[muskrat]

And the joys are. 1 you found the problem. 2 you can fix it yourself and won't need a 2nd mortgage on the house.
Imagine if it was a yzcbkzgs 1000 and your laptop and multimeter had flat batteries.
Cheers

[Topdad]

I'd say more likely age and oil,I was often told by my Uncle and Dad that when new tufnell was sold as stronger than or at least equifilent to the metal alternative , NCB used it on all there load bearing winch gear ,with the added benefit of no possible sparks , good to hear you got it sorted cheers BobH

[Greybeard]

NCB used it on all there load bearing winch gear ,with the added benefit of no possible sparks

I presume that's the UK National Coal Board

[Tomcat]

It would be a good idea to check for movement in the magneto bearings too. My understanding is that the gears wear quickly and break because of this. Also may just be worn out from 60 odd years of service! Cheers Tomcat

[Topdad]

Yeb ,thats right Graybeard. regards BobH

[Derby Rob]

hi,
    just an update ,the new fiber gear has arrived......................its in a wassell bag!!!!!!!

any thoughts or comments or has anyone fitted one of these items? after my wassell voltage regulator i am a bit nervous!
i dont want to do the job twice.

[bsa-bill]

sometimes it's a case of the devil you know or nothing 

[charles whitfield]

Been there also, I fitted a Duralumin replacement. I think it was an SRM or Draganfly unit
No probs since
Cheers
Charles

[Brian]

I also fitted a alloy one about 20,000 miles ago. Cant fault it but I'm not sure if they are still available, you could try SRM.

[bsa-bill]

I bought a solid Alloy one Brian to replace the A/R was a bit tight but works fine, now I didn't know you could get ally ones for the A/R unit or are they the same

[Brian]

The ones for the auto A/R are different to the manual A/R ones. I had a look on the net and the manual ones are available but I couldnt find any auto ones. Might be worth a call or e-mail to SRM to see if they are available.

It may be possible to machine a manual one to make it fit the auto unit.

[beezermacc]

Wassell ones are absolutely fine. I use them all the time. The only mod which needs doing is countersinking the holes to allow for the backs of the rivets on the ATD backing plate. By countersinking the large holes to about 13mm wide you also improve the alignment of the rivet holes. I do the mod before I send them out. I would also strongly advise finding out why the teeth have stripped off your old one. Fibre gears are used in gear trains as 'sacrificial components' to protect more expensive parts if something seizes. It is highly unlikely that anything is going to seize in the magneto but I have seen two instances of the through bolts, which pass through the armature, snapping. This caused the armature coil to move off centre and rub against the inside of the mag body. In both instances the bikes ran poorly so the mags were removed before they seized. However it is possible to imagine the mag seizing and the Tuffnol ATD gear stripping.

[Greybeard]

Wassell ones are absolutely fine. I use them all the time.

That line doesn't sound like a very good advert for Wassell!!