What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

I've had a pretty frustrating day on my rebuild.

I added an RGM 2mm steel clutch plate as the plates were sitting below the surface by 2mm, but now struggling to get the clutch spring retaining circlip in.

Decided to walk away before I lost it, and thought I would check over the new Andover outer primary I bought as my bike had been down the road on the original one. Besides having a noticably 'rocking' to it when sat on a sheet of glass, The gear change cross-shaft gear won't mesh with the gear pedal shaft. (Can't even get them in).Comparing the bush locations with the original primary, they are 65 thou closer together..
 
Bonzo said:
Not a particularly exciting post, but what I did to my Commando today was install a new battery..

What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

It's tad larger than the one I took out and as such fits better as there's less wiggle room.

We'll see how that reduced space hinders the fitting of the Alton kit when the time comes :rolleyes:
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So you are saying a good way to resist buying an Alton 'lectric leg is to fit a big battery?! Will keep that in mind.....
 
Tornado said:
So you are saying a good way to resist buying an Alton 'lectric leg is to fit a big battery?! Will keep that in mind.....
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Not at all.

I'm saying when the time comes for the Alton kit we'll see how that reduced space hinders fitting ;)
 
For the first time in seven months of ownership, changed engine oil and screw on filter. Also cleaned out mesh filter in tank drain. Was a little surprised that there wasn’t much oil coming out when crankcase drain was removed after tank level showed low on the dipstick like there was severe wet sumping.
Seems like the oil tank shape is deceiving when estimating how much has drained out or needs to be added.
Good news is there were no discernible metal particles to be seen. 😅
 
L.A.B. said:
It's possible that +2mm could be too much.
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That's what I'm wondering. First picture shows clutch without the extra plate, second pic with the plate.
 

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Bilko said:
That's what I'm wondering. First picture shows clutch without the extra plate, second pic with the plate.
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If the outer face of the diaphragm spring is higher than the inner edge of the circlip groove due to the extra 2mm of stack height then you will have difficulty refitting the circlip unless the spring compressor is tightened sufficiently to pull the spring through 'flat' so the spring becomes slightly inverted (convex) but don't go too far because the spring can snap over to the fully inverted position.
What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?


Also, increasing the stack height beyond a certain point can result in clutch slip because the flatter spring has less clamping force on the plates so there is a limit to how much the stack height can be increased. Some of our members have found that although +2mm gives a lighter clutch lever pull it resulted in slip under hard acceleration.

Replacing one plain plate with the RGM 3mm plate lightens the clutch action with less chance of clutch slip.
www.rgmnorton.co.uk

COMMANDO CLUTCH PRESSURE STEEL ADJUSTER PLATE 3MM

STEEL COMMANDO CLUTCH PLATE 3MM THICK, ALLOWS THE CLUTCH PLATE STACK HEIGHT TO BE INCREASED AND SO LIGHTENING THE LEVER ACTION. (THE THICKER THE PLATE STACK,
www.rgmnorton.co.uk
 
As usual, great information LAB, thanks.

I'll have another look but I think the stack is too high with the plates I've got. I'll order up the RGM 3 mm plate as that makes more sense. (I will then have only increased the thickness by 1mm).
 
I had to re sync the carbs and move the cable routing and decrease the free board in the lower cables , as they wanted to sometimes nearly come out and sit crook-ed, and I think that was my 1 ½ cylinder off idle issue , running good now . . Last weekend I had a crack at making my black helmet look a bit more classic , novice painter 🎨, needs a fingernail scrape around the rubber , don't be too harsh .
What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?
What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?
 
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Bilko - just added the 3mm after removing an original steel 2. It was still a bit of a pain.

If you look from the side you may see the spring is not pressed consistently 360dgr by the tools four legs, which is why the full round tube style is superior (IMO). You will want to turn the spring as you wind the clip in to take advantage of the hill and valley profile of the compressed spring. That's what worked for me plus a touch of WD-40. The clip channel was also spotless.
 
Drove her down to Harbourfront Toronto today with wife . Lots of people and a few Intnl . tourists . Norton ran great , but I'm now not happy on return home with shifting issues with first , neutral , second . So cracked a beer and pulled outer cover off before dark . I had shimmed up the layshaft/kicker shaft end play 3 wks. ago with 2 rear iso. shims , but I now believe the 2 that I installed are too tight . Yes it cleared up the popping out of first issue . So tomorrow I pull the inner cover and replace a thick kicker shaft Rear iso shim with one thinner .
BTW I remover the kicker . Forever .
 
Torontonian, did you go with an electric start? Is that what you mean with removing the kicker, Forever?

I went to a single Amal carb. Just ran it once and was impressed with how responsive and peppy it was. I was also pleased with how stable the idle was. Gotta get take it out again to get the idle set at a nice 1000 and not mess with the mixture since it was perfect before.

Some pics of the rig, and it installed. See how she runs for a little while. I'm an easy rider so I think I'll be happy with this stable and simple setup.
 

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Yes Rob , the kicker is now gone forever . Yes , it is a beautiful piece of art . But it weighs about 8 lbs . , that I can do without , after decisions about it on a big heavy MK 111 touring machine . I also removed the center stand as it weighs about 10 lbs . too . You don't need both of them when you think about it , to drag around with you . Both removed don't much alter the looks of the bike , O.K. maybe the nice kicker . It's an evolution for me , there will always be more changes to suit your riding lifestyle . She was a trailer Queen show winner 8 x when I bought her , but nowadays driving her is priority with camping gear and wife on back .
The best running / idling Norton I ever seen had a smaller carb on a small single manifold . No racing , but for road use go for it .
Enjoy .
 
Torontonian said:
Drove her down to Harbourfront Toronto today with wife . Lots of people and a few Intnl . tourists . Norton ran great , but I'm now not happy on return home with shifting issues with first , neutral , second . So cracked a beer and pulled outer cover off before dark . I had shimmed up the layshaft/kicker shaft end play 3 wks. ago with 2 rear iso. shims , but I now believe the 2 that I installed are too tight . Yes it cleared up the popping out of first issue . So tomorrow I pull the inner cover and replace a thick kicker shaft Rear iso shim with one thinner .
BTW I remover the kicker . Forever .
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Would I be right in assuming you have a 'superblend' layshaft bearing?
I had issues with shimming the kickstart shaft after rebuilding my first 850, and ended up ditching the superblend in favour of a Hemmings 6203TB bearing, which restored the positive layshaft location.
Shimming works to a point, but the assembly was never designed to manage thrust loads, which I guess is why mine got worse over time.
 
B+Bogus said:
Would I be right in assuming you have a 'superblend' layshaft bearing?
I had issues with shimming the kickstart shaft after rebuilding my first 850, and ended up ditching the superblend in favour of a Hemmings 6203TB bearing, which restored the positive layshaft location.
Shimming works to a point, but the assembly was never designed to manage thrust loads, which I guess is why mine got worse over time.
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I may wind up putting in the Hemmings bearing if I can't resolve the issue . But that would be a winter project for sure as summer just started .
Today both covers are off , I removed a thicker ( of 2 thick shims ) shim to substitute it with a thin one . I'll put it back together this evening , after a bicycle ride over to Service Canada to file my CPP . Looks like I'm officially older now . Yikes !
 
Took my first ride up north in Michigan. I grew up in north-west lower Michigan. I acquired the project 74 commando in 2018 where I live by Detroit. It was my first motorcyle at the age of 58. Always looked forward to the day I could ride it in my homeland area. Today was the day. I trailered it up to Traverse City Sunday on a planned week long stay with (non motorcycle) wife and friends. I snuck away this morning for a trip up the Old Mission Penninsula. Rolling hills wine country with beautiful views of big bodies of water. Very rewarding day.

What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?
 
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