Still sorting it out

I took Ed (wife's name for the bike) out for a good, long group ride on Sunday, about 180 miles overall. The bike did not let me down, but four issues popped up:

1) back in town, after 60 miles of 4500 - 5000 RPM on the interstate, the clutch started acting up - not wanting to fully release (dragging) and slipping a little bit on acceleration.
Main seal was loose, allowing almost a pint of 50W to drain from the engine into the primary drive case.

2) The shocks are shot. A previous owner had gotten a replacement pair, but I guess 20+ years of laying around didn't do them any good. When I got to our destination, the Aprilia rider behind me said "You need shocks!"

3) swingarm bushes are shot. The guy I bought the bike from had gotten a 'new' cradle and swingarm, so I installed them without taking the swingarm off and checking things out. Seemed OK when I assembled the bike, but now I can visibly move the swingarm side-to-side about 1/4" at the axle. It was fine on acceleration up to 90+, but squirrelly on trailing throttle anything over 75

4) Cracked another exhaust pipe. Again, the bike came with 850 pipes in good shape, so I installed them against the advice of my local Norton guy. He said there is a good chance the 850 flange nuts will strip out of the head (as these had done previously), and the 'Y' of each pipe has a tendency to crack, especially with the quality of some of the aftermarket pipes. Left one cracked at about 500 miles - so I put on a used one ($40). Guy said, "You'll be back for the 750 setup"

Bottom line:

New oil seal 'permatexed' in (much tighter fit, too). Clutch washed clean of oil and re-assembled. ATF back in the case.

New 750-style pipes, exhaust crush gaskets and flange nuts

New bushes, o-rings and spindle

New Emgo shocks

$460

Hopefully, this will cure the issues.

Ride. Wrench. Repeat.

I should have it ready for another ride Thursday night (big bike night down south of Miami, about 110 miles round trip).

newbie finds oil in points cover

while tracing my wire hareness and getting familar with it i popped points cover to find a blend of water and oil inside not alot about tablespoon worth .so here i am on the horn again some thing i should get eduacated on before i install new ing.

BillT wrote;

3) swingarm bushes are shot. The guy I bought the bike from had gotten a 'new' cradle and swingarm, so I installed them without taking the swingarm off and checking things out. Seemed OK when I assembled the bike, but now I can visibly move the swingarm side-to-side about 1/4" at the axle. It was fine on acceleration up to 90+, but squirrelly on trailing throttle anything over 75

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On a Commando, you will always get some movement at the back wheel due to the clearance required at the two isolastic tubes. I don't think that this (1/4") sounds particularly abnormal, as mine will do this and the cradle, bushes and pin were all re-newed 2 years ago. My previous Norton also would all have movement at the back wheel. Check the clearance of your isolastics as well, as this may help to reduce the amount of movement at the back wheel if they have too much clearance....ideally about 5 thou in my opinion.

In the UK, there is an annual vehicle inspection for machines over three years old, and although I have never personally had any problems, there have been people who have had their Commandos fail the inspection due to the testers "ignorance" about how the engine gearbox and swinging arm is mounted on a Commando, and the tester has assumed that the swinging arm bushes were worn due to the side to side movement at the back wheel. If as you say it felt OK prior to fitting, it may be that it is OK.

When I removed the swingarm, I was able to slide the shaft out easily by hand, screwing a 1/2" bolt in the end. Bushings were tight in the arm, but the pinion slid through the bushes quite easily. I would guess clearance between the bushings and the shaft to be 3-4 thousandths. Since I had it apart and had the new pieces, I went ahead and changed them.

Turns out the swing arm is a Mk III - I had to run back to the shop to exchange the o-rings for the disk seals. Re-assembly was much tighter - pinion was a tap-in affair with a small rubber mallet. Arm moves easily, but is tight enough that it will just about stay in place


Rear of the bike is much more solid now - traveled 110 miles last night on it.


....Then it died 3 miles from home. First a low RPM misfire, as if there was a fueling problem transitioning from the idle circuit, then it just died. Had my son come out to get me with a couple of tools. No spark from either plug. Since there are two coils, I would think it means both are good, as I don't think they would both fail at the same time. I would assume this means one of the Boyer components has gone bad.

Need to check the wiring, check the pickup, see if I can swap out the black box.

As the original Boyer I put in had a bad box, my trust level isn't that high.
Since it had never run with the original box, I'm not sure what a failing Boyer would act like.

common problem with boyers which happens on commandos more than any bike is the wires at the back of the stator plate in the points chamber breakdown/break which stops the signal to the black box to fire. It can be fixed and a repair kit is available from a board poster.

Fixed!

Seems one of the connectors at the stator had been crimped a little too hard - fatigue apparently caused the crimped section of the bullet terminal to break in half, separating the connection.

Re-did the bullets and soldered them. No issues during six hours of riding around on Saturday.

Stick a piece of foam under the points cover which will press on the stator. This will reduce the effect of the engine vibration on the wiring joints.