Danno said:Old age (wait, that's MY excuse) wear and tear and irregular oil changes. If you don't have an oil filter, fit one.
I have an oil filter, and I am guessing I change it more often than most.
They are both new AN parts purchased in 2014.
24 races later.....
Hi Steve A , I have noticed this on my race bike also, although only after using a one piece crank, it never did this with my standard Commando crank.
Maney cases.
The machined specs are identical though???
I am in the middle of a re assembly so will check on why, it seems to have loaded from timing side towards the drive side, going by the wear witness marks.
I may have to put a shim under the the worm nut to get it centred or maybe just remove the gasket from under the oil pump and use a bit of sealant.
Last night during dry fit up , initially I had 0.017" crank end float, shimmed the drive side bearing between the case and the bearing with a 0.010" shim , this was identical setup using the Commando crank.
Hope you find an answer to your problem and be keen to see which way yours has loaded.
Regards Mike
I am concerned the problem stems from insufficient oil in the timing cover rather than alignment. But on the other hand the timing chain tension is good with no obvious wear! Intermediate gears look fine too.
Before removing the pump I tried the backlash at the pump gear. Certainly not tight, several degrees of movement. Undid the two retaining nuts and the pump slid right off. There is wear showing on worm and pump gear, worse on the pump gear. Perhaps neither is catastrophic but I don't recall seeing wear after several seasons of racing in the past. < ... > At this point it is getting a new pump gear with the new pump, but not worm.
.......
My Maney cases have all the oil way holes plugged and a 1/4 " hole under the pump drilled all the way through and a JC reed Vv breather screwed into the bottom of the case.
It could be that my 10W50 Joe Gibbs oil is just to heavy at the 50 end of the range and making the pump stay loaded all the time?
Regards Mike
Lube to the head is drained either down the pushrod channels or down the drain bore at the rear of the barrels, ending at the c/case top flange and further channelled to the timing case. Please make sure the drain bore is open (verify by using compressed air). The drained oil + the amount leaking out of the oil pump shaft is sufficient lubrication of the timing gears and the worm drive.
-Knut
Was the oil pump new when you put it in? Wear on pump gear is a well-known observation, most likely due to metallic debris in the oil.
Does your oil circuit include a filter and magnets to catch steel shavings? With these in place, please note this observation:
https://www.nortonownersclub.org
-Knut
It could be that my 10W50 Joe Gibbs oil is just to heavy at the 50 end of the range and making the pump stay loaded all the time?
I use 10W60 oil and when fully warmed up the oil is thinner than when cold, still thicker than a 50 would be but as the oil warms up it thins out but not just as fast.
Insufficient oil maybe, or mis-alignment maybe. What about surface hardness of the gears themselves? I thought we were headed for a component problem...