These plates look marvelous, but I'm struggling to see how the snail cam adjusters work as fitted, as in the photo of the assembly taken from above they seem to have a hole drilled through the centre of the adjusters with the top mounting bolt going through them.

The snail cams actually serve as abutments to evenly secure the top tranny mount against the stresses imposed by the final drive.

Nevertheless, if there is a hole drilled through them then the distance between both holes will be fixed and they would be useless as adjusters and Jeandr's elegant machine work on these items will be wasted, you might as well use a flat bar with one hole to locate to the locating stud and one to accommodate the top gearbox mount. This is then a rigid mounting - in some ways preferable to the uni-directional design of the original, although this would preclude easy adjustment of the primary chain. I intend to fit a standard adjuster on the left and a type similar to the Commando on the right, with push and pull facility. This will hopefully negate the necessity to adjust the primary chain and final drive chain in unison.

I think dual push/pull woud be the ultimate setup.

Took the tank back to the painter and shot these pix of the battery box & sidecovers (note the metalwork, NO Bondo)-





Closeups of the repaired spot at the rear of the oil tank cover-





Will have pix of all bodywork base coat painted by Monday.

Painter was done priming the side panel parts-



He's been given the go-ahead to start shooting the base coats on these, as well as the tank.

Meanwhile, I got the tranny cover overhauled-



...and installed...

I love the snail cam, why hasn't anyone done that on a Commando before?

I don't know, there's got to be hundreds of cool innovations that just aren't widely implemented.

Must be them danged rivet-counters!

grandpaul wrote:I don't know, there's got to be hundreds of cool innovations that just aren't widely implemented.

Must be them danged rivet-counters!

You know it's not cool until Ludwig has it on his bike. Of course he just sticks a belt on and mounts the gearbox solid.

swooshdave wrote:I love the snail cam, why hasn't anyone done that on a Commando before?

I ( and I'm shure many others ) used snail cams decades ago , but I found they tend to move when tightening up the bolt .
Plus they will certainly move when the bolt isn't very , VERY tight .
With a little extra effort you can make them so much better :


This way the spindle or bolt is positively locked in both directions and doesn't have to rely on the clamping force of the bolt alone .

If you insist on snail cams they should at least look something like this :


What I definitely would NOT use is helical spring washers :



A look at Jeandr's picture of the original tensioner will give you an idea of the forces involved :



The engine plate is clearly bent .
The original setup wasn't perfect , but at least it prevented the box from moving backwards when ( not if ..) the bolt comes loose .
I don't know if GP fully apreciates the consequences of a free moving gearbox , but the combination of a smooth snail , soft aluminium and split lock washers is a shure recipe for disaster .
Please , don't let me stop you , but trust me on this : GP , or somebody else will be doing this all over soon enough .
Like a wise man said :
"There is never time to do it right , but there is allways time to do it again !"

I have already purposed to make some changes; sure enough, the primary cover cannot go on without lifting the engine clear of the footpeg, so several things will happen when I attack the issue.

The stator mounted to the primary cover is a poor design.

grandpaul wrote:..The stator mounted to the primary cover is a poor design.

Tell me about it ..!
When ( again , not if ..) those 3 measly cheeshead screws that hold the inner primary to the engine come loose , the stator will rest on the rotor , reducing output to just keep the engine running ( with points) and a barely visible taillight .
Because of that I once had to do about 200 km over foggy , pitchdark French roads , waiting for a passing car and then try to follow it as long as possible .
Then stop and wait for the next ..
Luckily my night vison was still exellent then .. Couldn't do it now !.

Is the bent plate due to someone actually using this bike offroad? I'm sure that won't happen as much in the future.

swooshdave wrote:Is the bent plate due to someone actually using this bike offroad? ..

That plate is bent because of a loose top bolt and rear chain pull .
If the box is allowed to move further back , the primary chain will tighten up and snap !
SD : I don't care so much for 'cool ' .
I am for solutions that are functional , practical and efficient .
Form follows function .
Cool is very low on my priority list .

ludwig wrote:If you insist on snail cams they should at least look something like this :

Like a wise man said :
"There is never time to do it right , but there is allways time to do it again !"

You are most likely right, I asked GP to send me the cams so I can put dimples in them.

Jean