MKIII Kickstart shaft still leaking

I had a local brit shop do the rebuild on my 1975 Commando. I have been gradually redoing quite a bit of what I had paid them to do. I had a grinding noise in my gearbox, opened it up and replaced a copper bushing that was being eaten away. I have put it a back together with the help from this forum. I then had a leak from the kickstart shaft. I was being so careful with the outer gasket that I thought I had gouged the seal around the shaft. I have replaced the seal and the leak persists. I now realize I was missing the kickstart outer bushing all along. The shop managed to get the cover to seal with no leaks. I have ordered the bushing. Could this be part of the problem ? The learning curve is steep for a non mechanic.

Last year some time someone posted" their is a big difference between buying the bike, and owning it."
I now have a better idea what they were talking about. Any help at all is appreciated.

Might be The factory supplied 0-ring groove was cut a dash too deep for the factory supplied 0-ring size to grip well on the shaft. If that's what drooling the hi end path is send off or machine for a proper Asian Honda seal or equivalent to shade tree level, backing up bottom of groove with cig. pack foil layer or equivalent, light grease the parts, slather some of your favorite color and smell RTV or equivalent like Hylomor, [my seal everything + carb screw retainer] assemble, wipe off excess and leave alone over night. I had the hi end done to my Ms Peel by Old Brits and I did my factory Trixie down and dirty way to find both seal equivalently, ie: about nothing if behaving like your mother the Policewoman would have you and some mild misting dust can stick to a finger width around shaft > if playing for couple hours with elite sport bikes, ie: holding WOT constantly to red line-ish through all gears up to a dozen mph+ over the ton in the opens and then prolly because I didn't bother to provide extra heat venting to the AMC shell. On the other hand you should soon get a part number for a dash bigger oil ring that works as well or better, I found out hear, ugh. Still not a bad idea to do the greaser RTV back up sealing on all these methods, especially if you run ATF in order not to chew up the sleeve bushes so much while running easy or straining hard in lower gears heating. I must get into Trixie's guts d/t KS suddenly after fixing a unrelated leak makes a grinding noise of too much slippage w/o turning engine yet not like the past ratchet cog failures that make a distinct clicking sound, so guess which KS seal method I'll try next.

I bought a seal from Brit Cycle that needed no machine work just installed with a thin coat of gasket seal on out facing edge...no leaks since, three years and on.Someone here will post up part # I bet.
Craig

SKF 3715 seal, available at NAPA, will solve this problem. Heat the cover, tap on workbench to remove inner retainer. Install seal, metal ring on the outside, curve of lip pointing inward, tap retainer back in. Refit cover, enjoy.

hobot said:

Might be The factory supplied 0-ring groove was cut a dash too deep for the factory supplied 0-ring size to grip well on the shaft. If that's what drooling the hi end path is send off or machine for a proper Asian Honda seal or equivalent to shade tree level,

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The 850 Mk.III kickstart shaft already has a "proper" oil seal.

My advice may not work on the Mark III, got to admit I'm not that familiar with it. However, the SKF 3715 seal does work well on the earlier bikes.

Yes, I would think that omitting the outer kickstart bushing would be a major contributor to the oil leakage past the kickstart seal. I don't think it would do the layshaft bushing any good either because the kickstart shaft would not be well supported. You may have also loosened the inner kickstart bushing within the inner gearbox cover due to rocking action while using the kickstart. It may be worth checking those components before reassembling.

hankmarx said:

Could this be part of the problem ? The learning curve is steep for a non mechanic.

Last year some time someone posted" their is a big difference between buying the bike, and owning it."
I now have a better idea what they were talking about.

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Yes, a wise quote.

Although I always find it risky commenting on a MKIII, here it goes.
The bushing rests/presses against a machined shoulder. The space created by this bush against the shoulder and the cover holds and supports the seal, or oring on older bikes, in place. I might think that without this support the seal will wander and not seal.

pete.v said:

Although I always find it risky commenting on a MKIII, here it goes.
The bushing rests/presses against a machined shoulder.

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It does.

pete.v said:

The space created by this bush against the shoulder and the cover holds and supports the seal, or oring on older bikes, in place. I might think that without this support the seal will wander and not seal.

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I'm not sure I understand that bit? On the Mk.III, the oil seal presses into a recess machined into the outside of the cover, so rests up against the opposite face of the shoulder that the bush rests against (note that the assembly, as drawn in the Mk.III parts diagram shows the oil seal, item 4, inside the cover, and thus adjacent to the bush which is incorrect, the seal goes on the outside :roll: .

http://www.nortonmotors.de/ANIL/Norton% ... 008&Part=4

Darn MKIII's. :? You should put them over there with the 961"s, they just don't belong. :x They're too different. I guess I'm a MKIII bigot. :wink:

pete.v said:

Darn MKIII's. :? You should put them over there with the 961"s, they just don't belong. :x They're too different. I guess I'm a MKIII bigot. :wink:

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:lol: :wink: :mrgreen:

pete.v said:

Darn MKIII's. :? You should put them over there with the 961"s, they just don't belong. :x They're too different. I guess I'm a MKIII bigot. :wink:

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Damit man, now I'm just pissed off again with that gall darn fool remark. Why don't you just go adjust your primary drive chain or something! :wink:

Yep poor ole Norton went skrewy as its products decayed after their build up to the Cream of the Commando Crop...

Biscuit said:

pete.v said:

Darn MKIII's. :? You should put them over there with the 961"s, they just don't belong. :x They're too different. I guess I'm a MKIII bigot. :wink:

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Damit man, now I'm just pissed off again with that gall darn fool remark. Why don't you just go adjust your primary drive chain or something! :wink:

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Oh yeah? Well........why don't you just go polish yer spragg.

I did not fully seat the lipped seal. The outer bushing was there and I did not realize it for what it was. It seems about half my problems are self inflicted. Still learning. I appreciate the patience of the board.