pinion gear question : V-Twin Forum: Harley Davidson Forums

ride4daze · 12-19-2007, 07:41 PM

Changing cams and doing a mild build on a '06 RK. Anyway when I removed the stock cam chains the pinion gear seemed a little loose. There was some movement that could possibly affect timing, and gear came off easily after bolt was removed. This is my first build so thought I would ask if this is normal or should I get a new pinion gear? Bike was running great before I started this project, and my budget is tight. Looking for opinions.
Thanks

HDMD88 · 12-19-2007, 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ride4daze

Changing cams and doing a mild build on a '06 RK. Anyway when I removed the stock cam chains the pinion gear seemed a little loose. There was some movement that could possibly affect timing, and gear came off easily after bolt was removed. This is my first build so thought I would ask if this is normal or should I get a new pinion gear? Bike was running great before I started this project, and my budget is tight. Looking for opinions.
Thanks

How loose is loose is the question.....! The pinion sprocket isn't a press fit, it will slide on and off with minimal effort, however it shouldn't have any back lash to speak of and if it does I'd say it's time for a new sprocket or gear drive unit.

ride4daze · 12-20-2007, 05:00 AM

There is some backlash, not much but it seems loose to me. Nothing looks worn, and bike was running good and only has 20K miles. I have too much runout for gear drive so have to go back with chains. Just wondering if a new gear will tighten things up or if this is normal. Don't get on the computer much, so I'm slow to reply back, but thanks for the advice.

LoosRP · 12-20-2007, 06:36 AM

Mine was the same way and my bike had around 3500 miles on it, nothing appeared to be worn, just cheap moco junk. I figure the slop would either advance or retard the cam a few degrees.

ride4daze · 12-21-2007, 05:34 PM

LoosRP, did you reuse your gear or replace? I thought about getting a Andrews gear, but that would probably mean 2 gears and a new chain, which might not help. I'll probably just reuse the stock one.

LoosRP · 12-22-2007, 08:39 AM

I re-used the gear, didn't appear to be worn and the bike runs great. Just to bring up a point, I have built several h/p motors in my lifetime and have always degree'd the cams. I have been reading this forum for around a year now and have yet to here anyone refer to this proceedure on harley's..

LoosRP · 12-22-2007, 08:43 AM

Oh... I would imagine the andrews gears would be of better quality. I used the 37 grind with stock springs and shaved the heads. If I ever go big and change springs I would just go gear drive anyway...

gr8whyt · 12-22-2007, 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LoosRP

I re-used the gear, didn't appear to be worn and the bike runs great. Just to bring up a point, I have built several h/p motors in my lifetime and have always degree'd the cams. I have been reading this forum for around a year now and have yet to here anyone refer to this proceedure on harley's..

Good luck even buying a degree wheel for a twin-cam motor. Ya gotta line up the timing marks, and allow the cams to work as designed. Even one tooth off, and she's gonna run like crap. You can get gears with 2 or 4 degrees advance, or offset keys to do the same thing, but these are fixed numbers.

-- gr8whyt

route66paul · 12-22-2007, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gr8whyt

Good luck even buying a degree wheel for a twin-cam motor. Ya gotta line up the timing marks, and allow the cams to work as designed. Even one tooth off, and she's gonna run like crap. You can get gears with 2 or 4 degrees advance, or offset keys to do the same thing, but these are fixed numbers.

-- gr8whyt

The problem is the QC with the cams. On other engines, you can find as much as 5 degrees off from how the cam should be. I think that he wants to check what they actually are.

gr8whyt · 12-22-2007, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by route66paul

The problem is the QC with the cams. On other engines, you can find as much as 5 degrees off from how the cam should be. I think that he wants to check what they actually are.

True. I guess I always assume they are right on the money. Foolish of me. And more often than should happen, they aren't right. One of the members posted here a while back that one of the cam lobes was ground sloping in toward the center of the motor. Caused the bearing retainer plate to crater.

-- gr8whyt