I will say this. Bob? You did modify your venting. Put it back to normal. Change the seal. OEM. New OEM spacer. If it still leaks do the crush washer thing. Good luck. I know you’ll get it. Packing it with RTV just don’t seem right. I don’t think it’s the shaft. And changing it out at this point is probably not a option. Don’t let it beat ya. And when you do beat it.... let us know. Cause a dollar to donuts I’m right there with you.
 
Don’t worry, I am Captain Methodical. One step at a time. :cool:

...actually, after your ‘72 restoration, you’ve been promoted to Lt. Col. Methodical....

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Hi Bob..this might be old news but I'm just starting to get into it..makes me realize how little i belong here amongst true mechanics and tinkerers...now back to page 2..Wow you found a gem. Typical Arizona state of preservation...Rubber and plastic wont last long left out in the AZ sunshine...
Got in the 1st 15 pages and this is truly an amazing build...you have to love this or else its a freaking nightmare ..I would not even try..how pathetic is that? Not everyone is a true gearhead...But you dont have to be to apprecaiate them ..it does bring a high level of satisfaction when you finish and see the results of all your hard work..a labor of love? No doubt in my mind this is so. :cool:
 
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Captains Log....why must everything be a test? Every job seems to be a battle of wills, who will win, who will retreat, who will throw in the towel and run home to mommy? Not me, not today buddy!

So, where was I? Oh yeah, my oil leak from hell. Not that it’s all that big , but dang is it persistent! My last entry I had found and ordered on eBay an OEM NOS spacer that I intended to install. I did my homework, I got the factory part number and made sure I ordered the right part, check , check, and double check!
Well it arrived and I was not impressed. First of all it was very rough looking, it hadn’t been stored well and had light surface rust that would have to be removed and polished, but then my eye picked up a discrepancy. It looked to be a tiny bit narrower than my original. So I measured it and it is.
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Now the seal catches this spacer right at the edge and I really didn’t have any spare width to give up. So I’m not going to use it. And by this point I’m starting to get tired of this particular problem , so I look around and thought , I’ve got everything I need to do the RTV repair, I’m going in!
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Here’s how I went about it. First I snuck in to my wife’s supply of Q-tips, shhhhh, and I spent a stupid amount of time cleaning oil and grease residue from the splined shaft and the bearing inner race, first with acetone then the final squeaky clean using electrical contact cleaner.
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I also gave my old spacer the same cleaning. Then I applied a thin bead of Permatex black RTV right at the juncture of the splines and the inner race, I also smeared RTV in the splines , using a wooden coffee stirring stick.
I didn’t take photos of this because I was trying to move fast. Next I slid the spacer in and pushed it tight up to the inner race and squirted a tiny bit more RTV into the splines to fill that void. Then slid the sprocket onto the splines
And a thin smear of RTV on the backside of a new lock washer and spun the nut on, just all hand tight for now and called it a day. I wanted to give the RTV some time to set up before really torquing it down.
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That was all yesterday. Today I went out and finished tightening everything up, reinstalled my chain, side cover back on, and Bobs your uncle!

I know that there were a lot of different opinions regarding how to go about this fix. After way too much dithering, this is what I did. For better or worse, my call, I’ll own it.

Kirk out!
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Give it tonight to cure. Go for a ride in the morning and report back. :rock:

Yeah, this goes to one of my concerns. After I was done for the day yesterday, I got to thinking about something. I started wandering about what is required for the RTV to set up. The way it is now that RTV was put into a rather closed in space, with really no exposure to the air. If it’s temperature, well I’ve got LOTS of heat out in my garage.
So I went on the Permatex website and looked it up. According to them, it is exposure to humidity in the air that causes it to set up. If I had this to do over, I think I would have done this in stages. Install the spacer, but leave the sprocket off for 24 hours so that the RTV could set. Then install the sprocket.
As it is now, I think I’m going to give it a few days. It’s too hot to ride anyways.

Boom!!!! Baby Boom!!! Congratulations Bob. I knew you would get it. I’ll probably be doing the same thing.

Thanks! You may not even have to do this. They are all different. :thumbsup:


One more little observation. I bought three of those sprocket nut lock washers, and I’m sure it’ll work but they are about half as thick as the old one I replaced. They bend over really easy. My old one , even as scarred up as it was, still feels way stronger.
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Can oil still get to the seal? I'm thinking that oil can still go through the bearing and lube the seal. Just wondering if the seal will still be lubed since it was assembled with no lube/grease.

Scott
 
Can oil still get to the seal? I'm thinking that oil can still go through the bearing and lube the seal. Just wondering if the seal will still be lubed since it was assembled with no lube/grease.

Scott

Yes there will still be oil to the seal, by design. I didn’t change any of that. I also didn’t mention it, but before I slid that spacer in, I was thinking of that seal and I wiped a little clean oil on the outside of the spacer for the seal to ride on.
 
Just a short update for those following along,

My attempted RTV fix failed. What I had feared would happen did in fact happen. I put that RTV in there and immediately assembled everything , what happened was the RTV formed a thin dried skin around the exposed exterior and effectively sealed up the interior and stopped the RTV from curing.
Yesterday I took my bike out for a run. When I got home I checked for leaks, yup, same leak, same place.
I pulled everything apart and there was liquid RTV still inside that spacer and all around the splines.
Everything has been cleaned up now. And just for good measure, I also changed the oil.
I’m back to square one. I have ordered a couple of factory seals, I’m going to replace the seal, and then? Not sure.

Bike sure ran great though! And on the way home my speedo suddenly stopped working, I thought “ Oh what fresh hell is this?” I don’t know, you think this had anything to do with it? :D It just unscrewed itself and fell off.

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What does anyone think of trying this product for sealing this leak?
https://www.henkel-adhesives.com/us/en/product/gasketing-sealants--flange-sealants/loctite_510.html

One advantage is it "cures when confined in the absence of air between close-fitting metal surfaces".

Or this one:
https://www.henkel-adhesives.com/us/en/product/flexible-sealants/loctite_518.html

You could also try contacting them directly for their opinion, I did that once about another application and was somewhat surprised that I got a fast answer!

Just went out to the garage and checked. The 510 is what I used on the case seams of three different motors, a Sportster, an XS650 and a Homelite chain saw.

One thing I like about the way it cures in the absence of air it that means it doesn't cure outside the joint and is easy to clean off any that squeezes out! Also any that squeezes out to a place you can't reach it does not harden and cause any problem.
 
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That might be just the ticket Ken....

"Adapts to flange surface irregularities and scratches up to 0.25 mm."


Spread that between the shaft and spacer..... and the inner race.... I bet it would do the trick.
 
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