TOPIC:

Hello all! My first post as as new member was a brief intro to my bike, but then I dove right into my main concern. It was moved into the New member introductions, which is where I should have started to begin with. Here's a link to that so you can see the quick rundown on my EFI conversion. (Feel free to ask any questions) 
Sams poorly planned Introductory post

But in the interest of exposure, I am going to repost my concerrns from that post here in the Engine forum so I can hopefully get more feedback.  Thanks!

I took lots of time and energy converting this  bike to EFI, only to realize the thrust bearing/washers (not sure exactly how its setup on these) are SHOT. I have a HUGE amount of crankwalk happening on this thing. Best I can measure, its approximately .080-.090 thousands of movement. I'm including a link to a video on my google drive account. about halfway through the clip you can see it start moving around. this is on the sidestand, which one forum post i read leads me to believe can cause wear of this sort. I'm assuming this bike did a lot of idling on its sidestand during police duty.

I know that this cant be easily fixed. Crank needs to be split etc etc. Cases are likely also worn badly and would need replacement as well.  I may have a line on a replacement motor. But really my main questions is this.
Have you seen this issue this bad and is it going to kill me if i keep riding it in the meantime? I know that's a loaded question and its dumb to not just park it. But the engine is essentially toast in my book, and I will be swapping it when I can. But in the
meantime, it runs GREAT and this issue was unknown until i saw it happening while playing with my ignition trigger setup after the bike was already running and mostly tuned. I hate to not be able to enjoy it some as the weather will be warming up soon here in sunny South Carolina.
Thanks and have a blessed day!

Heres a link to a Google hosted video clip showing the bike idling with a dial indicator on the end of the crank. the fun part you wanna see begins about halfway through the clip.
Please ignore the wobblyness of the bolt. that's just the bolt i used being a little funky and its not hurting anything.

Bad crankwalk video

PS I have an oilpan gasket on the way so I can inspect how bad it really looks inside.

Measurement between 3K mile crank and case at numerous locations ~ .090"

 

So are you implying that this is a common issue and these things get ridden like this many thousands and thousands of miles without issue?

Mine had a major walk due to a hit on the right side from a wreck. #2 pin was still there but the case was cracked around it. I tried JB Weld but it didn't work. Rode the bike for 1000's of miles like that until I installed a KZ 900 crank and  tranny, had Jeff weld the journal and ground it down to fit. I used a bearing race to fine fit it, put it together and rode the piss out it it. The welding warped the case slightly so the large O ring leaked a little. The next time I installed a KZ 1000 tranny I used thicker O ring material and cut my own. I also used a solid shift fork rail now the tranny is solid. The hollow rail led to it slipping out of 2nd gear and it got worse over time. 
I believe the thrust bearing is inside the crank at #2 bearing. With that pin loose the crank walked like crazy. It still moves slightly but not even close to what it was.   

RGBGuy wrote:

So are you implying that this is a common issue and these things get ridden like this many thousands and thousands of miles without issue?
 


 

The pictured crank installation has .090"+/- gap at every similar location measured across it's width, and it has no side to side movement that I could detect.





 

My cases had wear marks where the crank was hitting them. 

The pictured crank installation has .090"+/- gap at every similar location measured across it's width, and it has no side to side movement that I could detect.

It all looks quite new and and im assuming your retaining pins and thrust hardware are all nice and intact. So this outcome is.... expected? or are those .090 gaps not supposed to be there? I dont mean come off rude, I'm new to these engines and have lots to learn. 

My cases had wear marks where the crank was hitting them. 

I'm sure mine will have wear marks and some when i finally get it opened up.

Maybe not. There is a small amount of float even after it's fixed. Also there's a rubber spacer behind the starter gear on the crank. It comes in 3 different sizes that could have an effect. 
Steve

RGBGuy

Following up, and wonder what you found in there...

I am able to get a .127 mm (.005") blade in the #5 thrust bearing gap, but the fit is tight.