Where's the slack?

I remember that when I was dissembling my 71 that that clutch sprocket had some up and down movement in it . Like when you're checking for worn balljoints on a car. push and pull the top and bottom at the same time. The movement was very slight but enough to tell there was some. After all was apart I got busy on the engine and forgot about this. I am wondering now what that might have been. I haven't opened up the gear box yet . Wanted to get the engine finished first before openning up the next can of worms. The clutch bearing feels very nice. I can't feel any slack in it. Any thoughts on what this might be? The movement was about .015" up and down.

If the clutch bearing isn't causing the problem, then the two other main possibilities would be a worn gearbox sleeve gear bearing [8], or worn sleeve gear bushes [17](x2) http://www.nortonmotors.de/ANIL/Norton% ... &Plate=005

Can you identfy if the slack is actually coming from the mainshaft, and not the clutch assembly?

I haven't tried since the clutch is removed and disassembled. I remember that the adjustment shaft with the nut on it was moving with everything else ie: clutchpack. Maybe I can tell when checking out the GB. I have to take it apart. About 3 table spoons of water drained out of it. It was turning and shifting before hand . It's condition is no doubt questionable regardless. No telling how many times it was kicked over by the previous owner. It was kept in an open ended shead. Maybe it was rain? Anybody's guess really. Wate r was in the forks too. I guess they are toast. Put the crank in the machine shop today. Want to get the engine back together before I start on the GB. Don't want too many parts laying around for the grandkid to shuffle.

Should there be any movement at all in the assembly? I have a rebuilt motor and just snugged up the clutch nut to 40 lbs and I have some movement. No diaphragm spring on yet and I didn't tighten that nut beyond 40 lbs.

There has to be some movement or the assembly would not turn, the large OD of the clutchwheel in relation to the bushes and the bearing magnify the std toleranced clearances to what could seem excessive movement, but only by feeling a known good assembly and comparing it to what you have can you be sure. I would take the clutchwheel back off and check the mainshaft movement realtive to the bushes in the gearbox sleeve gear and also try and see if the sleeve gear itself has excessive movement relative to the gearbox shell, lastly I would then spin the bearing inner in the clutchwheel and listen for roughness indicating a worn bearing track. If all check out I would put it back together and accept the resulting clutchwheel movement, did that on a recent B44 rebuild but have made a note to check the clutch again on the next oil change to see if it gets worse.