Eliminating sidestand slop?

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speirmoor

speirmoor

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Is there a trick or a fix for this? My '75 always has a good wiggle to it and lately the nut wont stay tight on it. The bushing is new and theres very little play but after one or two uses its sloppy again. No combination or elimination of washers will correct it. The drawings show no washers at all (tried that too, no good)
I ordered a new bolt and 2 new nuts hoping that'll do it but while waiting to arrive I'm wondering what others have done
Eliminating sidestand slop?
 
The nut and bolt are supposed to clamp the bush rigidly in place. The side stand moves against the bush, which should stand slightly proud of the side stand boss so that the stand doesn't bind on the retaining washer or the underside of the mounting. In practice the hole in the stand tends to wear slightly oval over time, so it can seem as if a new bush is still tight until the weight of the bike is on the stand. I drilled the hole in the stand out a little more and used my friend's lathe to make a custom brass bush.
 
If you use the side stand to kick start your bike then the bush will wear out even quicker or something else will break, seen a bike fall over doing this, I have learned to kick my bike without using any stands, but then I been kicking mine for over 43 years now.
If the stand is only used to stand your bike then it shouldn't wear out at all.

Ashley
 
72-75
edit: 1. The side stand goes on bottom of the bracket.
2. The steel bush is (should be) tool steel hard. brass or mild steel is almost useless. I make them oversize when necessary with O1 then harden them...
3. a washer on bottom of the bush may help but only for a while.
4. There is something wrong if you can't tighten the nut/bolt and it does not stay tight.
5 The special grade 8 bolt head is slim to allow the spring to pass.
6. the killer is... the frame bracket will peen or beat back after use, especially if used to kickstart the bike. Repair by welding with hardface rod is eventually needed.
 
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I don't kickstart the bike on the side stand ever but its been like this since I've owned it. Maybe the PO used to and caused some damage. I need to reinspect. I suspect I need a bushing on the frame hole like someone mentioned earlier
 
When my bush wore out I hit it a couple of times on the ends with a big hammer. That reduced the ID, and expanded the OD enough to make it serviceable until I had a chance to replace it. I might have put a washer on the end to make up for the reduced height. The holes on the stand and frame were good so the replacement bushing worked fine.
Pete
 
I had this problem a while back. I believe there are two different bushes and two different sizes. For some reason the smaller one was in the frame bracket, replaced it with the bigger one and it functions as advertised. I don’t kick the bike over on it either. I try to kick start (usually) without any stand down, can look an idiot at times, but when I get it right it makes me smile.
 
I'm not sure why Norton used such a long sidestand, the excess leverage imparted by the overall length only contributes to shorter life. When I welded the latter style bracket to my 71 I made sure to angle it downwards by a few more degrees than indicated in the instructions. Not sure if this will help overall longevity, but my bike sure doesn't have the excess sidestand lean that's characteristic of many commandos.
 
I've got the long stand & original lug. The bike doesn't lean much at all so they must have gotten it right on mine. Old bolt was worn and broke causing a) bike to fall, b) gas/ethanol to drip over paint(lacquer), c) paint work, d) use of longer 7/16" #8 bolt w/ nylock nut to prevent loosening.
 
speirmoor said:
Is there a trick or a fix for this? My '75 always has a good wiggle to it and lately the nut wont stay tight on it. The bushing is new and theres very little play but after one or two uses its sloppy again. No combination or elimination of washers will correct it. The drawings show no washers at all (tried that too, no good)
I ordered a new bolt and 2 new nuts hoping that'll do it but while waiting to arrive I'm wondering what others have done
Eliminating sidestand slop?
Click to expand...
I spoke to Matt at CNW about this. He said that he has a "sugar cube" size piece of metal welded to the frame right behind the pivot point of the stand where the stand is still squair. This keeps the stand from sliding under the frame. I'm going to try this for myself.
Jim Comstock has a trick piece that he built for himself and so far isn't for sale that fits where the buffer is and clips into the frame to keep it from bouncing. Jim feels that the bouncing caused a lot of wear on the pivot.
Maybe Jim will give us his thoughts on this?
John in Texas
 
acadian said:
I'm not sure why Norton used such a long sidestand, the excess leverage imparted by the overall length only contributes to shorter life. When I welded the latter style bracket to my 71 I made sure to angle it downwards by a few more degrees than indicated in the instructions. Not sure if this will help overall longevity, but my bike sure doesn't have the excess sidestand lean that's characteristic of many commandos.
Click to expand...

I love the long side stand. You can put it down on most any surface and it will be ok. Short side stands tend to be insecure.
 
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