Should I give up riding?? ,lol

[Hitndahedfred]

Made it in to work ok after I was able to get the tensioner locked in. But evidently it wasn't enough.
Doing 35 thru town and the chain jumped the rear sprocket,,jammed the rear wheel. And at the same time it jammed under the front sprocket while snapping the outer clutch pushrod.
Thank the Lord I was running in a straight line as I skidded to a stop in the shoulder.
Pics attached,,,
I need a drink,,

 

[apljr]

Damn dude! Glad you're alright! Today is just not your day evidently.

 

[Hitndahedfred]

Man tell me,,,im just glad I wasn't on the main road I was heading to. That woulda been very bad.
But hey,,im home with no injuries but my pride. My bike is home and apart in the garage. I'm having a popsicle chilling.

 

[gggGary]

FFFrrredddddd...
When you tighten your rear axle did you have to have the screwdriver in the hole on the axle cap? Did it seem like all the torque to keep the axle from turning was being held by that screwdriver even when the nut was getting tight?
You need to clean and look very carefully where I put the oval in your pic. check you shifter shaft also.
I should have a clutch push rod but you might be better off buying a one piece rod from MikesXS and a bushing also. That rod had to have tweeked the bushing pretty good. While you are at it degrease the worm gear and carefully check the nylon for cracks.
Glad the damages were mechanical and not personal. (pride excepted)

 

[Hitndahedfred]

I did use a screwdriver to help tighten the nut. As well I will inspect those areas for damage,,
Probably gonna need a bushing also. Actually I'm thinking the short shaft may have saved damage from happening. It failed but the 1pc may have transferred damage deeper into the engine. Just thinking.
Yea.,,, I had a stain (small) when I got home and changed. Lol
Pride definitely was smacked. Hard way to learn.

 

[MaxPete]

Fred: holy cow man!!!

Take a breath and plllleeeeaaase sort that bike out before riding it again. Motorcycling is dangerous enough due to the poor conduct of others, but let's not do things to ourselves.

 

[Hitndahedfred]

Fred: holy cow man!!!

Take a breath and plllleeeeaaase sort that bike out before riding it again. Motorcycling is dangerous enough due to the poor conduct of others, but let's not do things to ourselves.

===================================
GUARANTEED Max,,
I'm almost 60 now and I have a few things to do before the time comes.
Surely do not wanna rush anything along.
Besides,,, its too damn hot to ride lately, so I figger a week of hard looking and I can get it all sorted out.

 

[Hitndahedfred]

I'm figgering while its down I'm gonna swap out the factory rear sprocket with a 30 tooth.
To bring the rpms down at highway speeds.
Approximately how much will I gain? Not looking for speed,,, just to lower the rpms.

 

[gggGary]

Is your sprocket a 33? Generally guys go down no further than a 32, or first gear will be so high you will hate it in town. and it will be hard on the clutch. My question about the axle was concern that with thinner frame plates and ?? axle spacers, is that you were tightening the nut against the end of the axle threads but NOT tightening the axle to the frame. IE running out of thread.



This can happen when a chain skips I have 2 crankcases like this out in in the shed.

 

[Fleksta]

This is a definite kick in the rear for me to stop putting off replacing my worn out chain...glad you're ok!

 

[Hitndahedfred]

Is your sprocket a 33? Generally guys go down no further than a 32, or first gear will be so high you will hate it in town. and it will be hard on the clutch. My question about the axle was concern that with thinner frame plates and ?? axle spacers, is that you were tightening the nut against the end of the axle threads but NOT tightening the axle to the frame. IE running out of thread.

View attachment 103260

This can happen when a chain skips I have 2 crankcases like this out in in the shed.

========================================================
It is factory,,, not sure actually but I do know that I do not care for the rpms running at 60 - 65 mph.
I KNOW the engine can handle these speeds and rpm but I guess it is just me looking for my comfort zone.
I just now ordered a 530 x x31 tooth rear and a new 530 x 17 t front.
MAY have run out of thread,, I did notice yesterday the castle nut was no where close to the hole for the cotter pin to wire it from moving.
It was way inside,,,so I will refigure my spacers to accommodate that difference.
As far as riding in town,,, I do little of that,, mostly primary and secondary roads with some highway. Rarely take the bike to town for anything but fuel. As I live in the woods.

 

[Hitndahedfred]

This is a definite kick in the rear for me to stop putting off replacing my worn out chain...glad you're ok!

===================
Thanks ,,, Yep,,, this is my first bike in 30+ years and I have to relearn what I forgot from back in the day.
All I can say is TRIPLE CHECK your stuff,, be POSITIVE.
I got 2 second chances in one day,, some do not have that luxury.
After consideration of everything that went bad yesterday,, The conclusion was reached it was totally my error(s) that led to these events. With the primary error being the loose rear axle castle nut.
RCA done,,lol "operator error" (Root Cause Analysis)

 

[YamadudeXS650C]

Glad to see that you survived the incident with no major injuries, & still have a positive outlook on it all (that gets harder when we are in that 60 range - I'm 63).

Looking forward to hearing that its all back together and you are back in the saddle.

 

[Hitndahedfred]

Glad to see that you survived the incident with no major injuries, & still have a positive outlook on it all (that gets harder when we are in that 60 range - I'm 63).

Looking forward to hearing that its all back together and you are back in the saddle.

============
I thank you sir,,,And as I say to all my friends and acquaintances here,,if you are in south central Pa,,, drop by,,I have the time and the room.

 

[upthemaiden]

Oh my, the worst part of all those problems is when you stop trusting that your bike is going to function the way it should, and you stop enjoying it as much because all you're doing is expecting something to go wrong.

At minimum, get a nice thick washer for each side to take up some space, but ideally, I would buy some of those $10 spacers someone posted in your other thread and have them welded to your frame to thicken up the axle plates.

 

[Hitndahedfred]

Oh my, the worst part of all those problems is when you stop trusting that your bike is going to function the way it should, and you stop enjoying it as much because all you're doing is expecting something to go wrong.

At minimum, get a nice thick washer for each side to take up some space, but ideally, I would buy some of those $10 spacers someone posted in your other thread and have them welded to your frame to thicken up the axle plates.

=======================================================
Just saw you're from PGH,,,
My hometown,, born there. Still have some family there too.

 

[Mailman]

I had an uncle in the 60's that was a heliarc welder, he had a nice little side business welding up crankcases in BSA's and Triumphs
that broke or threw their chain and wadded them up against the crankcase. Like Gary said, clean everything up real good and take a careful look at your case. Good luck

 

[MaxPete]

Fred - I'll echo what others have said and especially applaud your frank, responsible and realistic assessment of what went wrong with your bike yesterday. Good for you!

FWIW, back about 1980, I was on a trip in Northern Ontario and was rumbling along a nice road on my 1975 XS650B when I heard a bang and the bike slowed down. I pulled off and the chain had broken and was spit out on the road behind the bike. It cracked the top surface of the LH side case - right above the countershaft sprocket. I was damned lucky that the chain hadn't wadded up and stopped the back wheel - as it has for many others.

Anyhow, I gathered up the broken parts, parked the bike in a friendly farmer's garage and called my Dad for a ride home. He came and got me and brought me back with replacements. It turned out that the spring clip had come off the master link, the link side plate came off and the link spread out, releasing the chain. When I got the bike back home, a buddy's Dad welded the broken piece of engine case back on and I was back in business. I never figured out how the master link clip came off - but I've really developed a phobia about that - and now check it habitually, 38 years later. I may even go to a continuous o-ring chain some day.

Happy riding!

Pete

 

[Paul Sutton]

Glad you are safely home. The following thread contains comments and photos by Peanut regarding the use of low temperature Aluminium brazing:

http://www.xs650.com/threads/troubl...s-stock-bs34-minikuni-carb.47205/#post-473353

Perhaps this may be applicable should you discover any cracks?? Entries 3, 6 and 8 shown the strength and versatility of this technique.

Thank you Peanut.

 

[fredintoon]

========================================================
It is factory,,, not sure actually but I do know that I do not care for the rpms running at 60 - 65 mph.
I KNOW the engine can handle these speeds and rpm but I guess it is just me looking for my comfort zone.
I just now ordered a 530 x x31 tooth rear and a new 530 x 17 t front.
MAY have run out of thread,, I did notice yesterday the castle nut was no where close to the hole for the cotter pin to wire it from moving.
It was way inside,,,so I will refigure my spacers to accommodate that difference.
As far as riding in town,,, I do little of that,, mostly primary and secondary roads with some highway. Rarely take the bike to town for anything but fuel. As I live in the woods.

Hi 'fred,
factory is 17/34 except that my '84 Heritage came with 17/36. I swapped the front to 18 then back to 17 after finding that the new Heavy-Duty O-ring chain wouldn't clear. Ended up running 17/33 solo then back to 17/(& carefully saved)36 with the sidecar.
With it's hardtail/girder-fork frame your bike presumably weighs less than stock so the proposed 17/31 sprockets may well be OK.
Buy a new good quality chain with those new sprockets or you'll be sorry you didn't. And a ScottOiler too.
And even living in the woods you still have to start every ride from a standstill, eh?
About your axle running out of thread, what I'd suggest you do is this:-
When you pull the back wheel to swap it's sprocket, thread the castle-nut onto the axle until it's notches are fully aligned with the cotter-pin holes.
Measure the distance between the inner face of the castle nut and the inner face of the axle's end flange (the round head with the hole through it)
That's your stack-up distance.
The distance all those axle plates and wheel spacers and chain-tensioners and whatever have to add up to so the axle can be fully tightened down like it should be.
Full width axle plates and correctly machined spacers is best. A big stack of 20mm plain washers will work too. So long as the stack-up distance is right.