1980 kawaski Z1R output shaft?

so i have built a new swingarm for a 17" wheel.while i was down there measureing the offset for my sprocket,i was kinda thinking(spaced out)and rolled my countershaft through as it was in neutral it rolled freely.i heard a tink tink tink sound.i thought what the hell,and did it again.i can control the timing of the noise,by how hard i spin it, and it sounds to me like the race has come apart(maybe)and i can hear the balls bouncing off each other.so i got on bike bandit
www.bikebandit.com/houseofmotorcycles/ka...00a4-us-1980/o/m3934
and looked at the picture and saw some little balls in the output shaft(it looks like)could these be what i am hearing?

I would assume that the "little balls in the output shaft" that you describe are the lockout for the automatic neutrak finder. These only move slightly and are generally coated with oil. I would seriously doubt that they would make a noise.
Harry

could be just the tink of forks, or gears, or any of the little metal pieces in your tranny. i'd only be concerned if it made noise while running.

no dice on the shift fork or other little noises.there is a bearing right behind the cover,on the output shaft.this seems to be where the sound is coming from,right behind the cover,when you turn the shaft you can here the balls click together like the deal that keeps the balls spaced apart is partialy gone.i will pull the cover behind the countersprocket and inspect it further.i can make the sound happen by turning it with my hand,and i can control the speed with wich they click together by turning the shaft back and forth.i was checking the offset for the countersprocket on my buddies bike,he has an 80 model engine also and his made no sound.i will find the culprit and repair it so i don't blow the bearing apart at high rpm/speed,and wound my cases(or worse).i have rebuilt enough transmissions to know what they sound like,and this is not normal.

okay after shakin out the swinger i rolled the motor out and guess what i found.you guessed it mayhem,and a near miss:silly: .output shaft ball bearing broke through the retaining groove and let the cage come off the bearing on both sides,all the balls were still intact but one half(on the inside) of the cage got chewed up and the outside was pretty much intact just one munch mark.the biggest part of the race edge that broke off was intact but some of it go turned into smaller chunks,fortunately it does not look like to the detriment of any of my tranny gears or other bearings .here is the evidence.



magnetic drainplug on the "needed parts" list.

You sure had that one figured correct. I highly doubted a bearing there would ever go bad. Good job.

thanks ron,i've had this bike around 10yrs.and every now and then it would jump in and out of 2nd. gear which made me start thinkin that something was amiss,but it didn't happen all the time only occasionaly.so when i was workin on my offset sprocket and turned the shaft and heard the clickity click noise the light came on.my stomach churned thinkin that i had had this motor out last summer,and was fixing to have to pull it again.oh well it's done now,i have it apart the parts to fix it are on the way.the whole deal looks like it will cost less than a hundred bucks to fix for seals,filter,double row bearing(from ape),already had the gaskets and sealer.just some labor and a little cash,i got really lucky here(wipes sweat from brow).the bike only has 26000 miles on it and everything else in there looked good.hopefully i will have it back together and running directly.

Shit!

That could be mayhem, as you say!

Luckily you were aware of it before it was to late. :ohmy:

Chalk that up to 'mechanical intuition'...good save man!
-KR