Problem with rear hub cover

It's all chewed up at the speedo. I need more investigating and have the wheel and hub removed now but has anyone seen this? I think maybe some absent washer or something? Im looking at the old britts microfiche thing and I don't see missing parts. I am not at home now but if anyone has info or seen this issue I would appreciate some details on your experience. I cant tell if a previous owner installed a washer or something against the hub cover or something at one time. I don't know, sometimes when I look closely I see too much.

Thanks,

Ben

Mine was chewed up a bit when I first bought Crazy used but could not figure out why as the speedo drive tabs were correctly in the retaining slots. Bought a new plate from Walridge ,not expensive but was not in catalogue. Better closer fit now ,those plates scratch up easily.

You might want to check item 34 here http://www.oldbritts.com/1971_g16.html that tophat washer gets crushed after a while and can lead to your condition. Other thing is the speedo gearbox itself. They are soft pot metal and can get pushed in towards the cover. You can bend them back out. The gearbox should not contact the cover.

Dave
69S

Hey IceT, great name.
I recently renewed my speedo drive, and the after market one was a little narrower and
a little smaller in diameter,than the original, which showed that at some stage the cover plate had been damaged.
Yours may be the same. But most likely was pushed onto the plate which marked it.
Before.


After. You can just see a screwdriver or some sort of lever has marked the plate which was not notticable before.



AC.

Umm, mine doesn't have a washer.
AC.

The tophat washer is not real obvious, but if you look inside the gearbox, you should see something like this



Here I have punched it out a bit



Dave
69S

I have a larger inner washer that the large felt ring sits against on the inner part, also I over greased mine and it took a few days riding to stop spitting out the grease on the alloy hub cover plate.
Lack of grease usually makes them bind up and spin with the wheel eventually.
Iff you dont have the top hat it will be too loose on the axle anyway .
Regards mike

Yes, of course. Sorry.
The Oldbrits pic shows it as a seperate washer. 71 only ?
Just had my axel out. It's there as part of the assembly.
AC.

I think that is why mine is chucking the grease out that backing washer should be "pressed " in as a neat fit retaining the felt , and the grease.
Will fix now while waiting for bike to cool down o check tappets!!!
Regards mike

plus I need to install my new cush drive rubbers anyway!!!

Yes, don't over grease them they're easy enough to lube, every 5000 miles or every season or when you have the rear wheel off. I use RIG, it seems to stay in there, the other thing that would work is distributor cam lube, it's even thicker. Don't know if you can find that any more.

Dave
69S

I do not even futz with those covers anymore. Do they serve a purpose? I am getting used to the look of the rear hub cleaned up and painted. The sight of scratched aluminum drives me crazy!

One of my first Nortons, a Dommie 500 in a wideline f'bed frame, (would love to have it now)I removed the alloy cover as well, looked trick, mates with Commandos thought I was crazy, but noticed a couple of them tried it as well. Trend setter!!!
Notice that some cover plates are riveted on , mine on this 850 Roadster are screwed on, small Phillips head screws, so may remove it at a later date for the exposed hub look.
Regards Mike

Bad wheel bearings can lead to that too.

Awesome bit of replies. I posted and didn't get a chance to get back to the thread till now. Only have time at work haha.

I am really glad the group is so engaging about these questions, the site has a core group of participants that not only have a bunch of mature experience, but are willing to share it. Thanks for the replies.

I will look for that tophat washer, I don't know what to look for sometimes and so when I see wear that looks like that on the cover, I tend to suspect something has been put back together wrong and is either backwards or somethings missing. Especially with a part like a wheel which has routine maintenance schedules..

The wheel bearings seem ok (but I'm having CNW replace them anyway)

I of course checked the old britts site for the parts breakdown, I see myself constantly referencing that site for how these things go together. Their site is a great tool for me, I return the favor by buying as much as I can from them.

Thanks again for the replies, all great points of interest that will help me from letting my bike bungle up the new cover I am buying!

DogT said:

Yes, don't over grease them they're easy enough to lube, every 5000 miles or every season or when you have the rear wheel off. I use RIG, it seems to stay in there, the other thing that would work is distributor cam lube, it's even thicker. Don't know if you can find that any more.

Dave
69S

Click to expand...

You can still get it here.

http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp ... 00-002-005

Best thing I did was ^&%&* the cover off. The rear looks great and the castings in the hub look cool ~ ( No such problems btw) ~

That does look pretty slick. I may just do that!