Quote:
Originally Posted by Ginganinja
I thought about JB welding the piece back on the case, but the reason i didn't is that if it ends up vibrating lose or breaking off again, it's going to cause alot more damage being in there and floating around then if it's broken off and wasn't there at all. I didn't realize the cases were that cheap. If I ever have to strip it back down again, i'll splurge and replace it then.
ohhh yeah if the gears are meshed together for the harmonic balancer and the crank, i really don't think i lifted it far enough up to unmesh them. I just wasn't sure what you meant when you said misalign them. it was literally a couple of milimeters that i lifted the crank, just the thickness of the chain, in order to slide the old one out and the new one in. i didn't know about that ahead of time but i just figured it would be better not to disturb the crankshaft too much anyways. it seems like my intuition paid off.....hopefully. But since I haven't put the fairings back on yet, it wouldn't be too hard to take the case cover and the flywheel off to double check, it would certainly be a simple task just for the peace of mind it would bring. Have you ever seen pictures or heard of that happening before from anyone on the forum? I'm curious as to how many miles of running with the crank and the harmonic balancer misaligned would the crank actually snap? a few rotations of the crank? couple miles? 50 miles? Just curious.....
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I know what its like to be stuck in a car. About a week ago I go out to take the bike out and noticed that my rear tire was down to the threads. I refused to ride it like that and had to go back to the car. Unfortunately, the car had a dead battery and 4 flats from sitting so long. Fortunately, all it needed was a charge and air. I have my new tire now, but haven't had a chance to put it on,so I'm still stuck in the car.
I know for a fact that without the harmonic balancer in place, the crank will eventually snap in two. But a minor misalignment is going to take a lot longer to cause damage and at a much higher RPM. My guess is that if it was misaligned, that you would feel it at higher RPMs.
I don't think its worth the trouble to check in your case because it doesn't sound like you had it apart enough to unmesh the gear. Lifting the clutch side even an inch would not be enough to disengage the balancer gear. Just remember that if you ever have to take it apart again that you need to make sure those marks are lined up, but I don't think you need to do anything at this point.
As far as the broken chain guard, don't use JB-Weld - for all the reasons you mentioned, plus the fact that its flexible and wouldn't do the job. Welding might work, but you need a pro to do it and you still run the risk of warping the case. The cost of a new case is only $30 on ebay so paying a welder is cost prohibitive.
Making a bolt on bracket might be an option, but I know for a fact that a lot of guys just ride without worrying about it. I have even heard of some guys actually dremmeling that tab off so they don't have to split the case and do it right when they change the chain. I don't know what the long term results of that were.
But at the very least, you need to be extra diligent in making sure that the tensioner is doing its job so the chain doesn't get loose enough to hop a tooth. So every time you adjust your valves or have the valve cover off for another reason, you need to take a critical look at it.