I have a 93 GS500e and my front sprocket splines are worn
My question is has anyone ever put a new sprocket on and just tack welded it in place so that the welds can be remover easily to replace the whole shaft when i save enough money to do the job
Possibly 4 welds opposing each other to help keep the shaft balance
The other question on this same subject is,
If this is done will the tack welds cause and excessive vibration to the engine and be unsafe
Has anyone else had this problem and solved it this way
Thanks,
Steve Lampke
Yea that clip goove and splines are a awful design. Every other bike in the world has a nut on the sprocket. Anyway you cant tack weld it, it will likely come loose, you can however drill and tap that shaft and put a big washer and a bolt and a spacer etc to retain it on the shaft.
Cool.
Buddha.
Welded on sprockets???.......Its the first thing to check if you are in the market for an early GS5!! Lost count of the number of sellers who had forgotten they had one then suddenly remembered about it when I started to take the cover off for a quick look :D :D :D
.....allmost as many as those who forget they have a faulty charging sytem until they see me pull the multimeter out :D
Quote from: The Buddha on May 11, 2011, 06:20:21 AM
Yea that clip goove and splines are a awful design. Every other bike in the world has a nut on the sprocket. Anyway you cant tack weld it, it will likely come loose, you can however drill and tap that shaft and put a big washer and a bolt and a spacer etc to retain it on the shaft.
Cool.
Buddha.
The suzuki dealer wants $950 to replace the shaft. I love the bike and it is in showroom condition.
If tacking the shaft won't work what about completely welding it on now, and saveing the money to replace the shaft the proper way later
Thanks for your reply to this problem,
Steve
Quote from: CRL Cactus on May 12, 2011, 04:49:15 AM
Quote from: The Buddha on May 11, 2011, 06:20:21 AM
Yea that clip goove and splines are a awful design. Every other bike in the world has a nut on the sprocket. Anyway you cant tack weld it, it will likely come loose, you can however drill and tap that shaft and put a big washer and a bolt and a spacer etc to retain it on the shaft.
Cool.
Buddha.
The suzuki dealer wants $950 to replace the shaft. I love the bike and it is in showroom condition.
If tacking the shaft won't work what about completely welding it on now, and saveing the money to replace the shaft the proper way later
Thanks for your reply to this problem,
Steve
The sprockets on a GS need to be changed,sometimes frequently with age,so welding isn't a good idea.As much as it pains me to say,buddha has the best solution.I am sure he will explain how to do it in great detail and what tools you need.Shouldn't cost you more than $20 if you can borrow a drill,if you don't have one.
I would be very interested to know too :thumb:
I can see how the method would stop it wandering off the shaft but fail to see how it would "Lock" it to the shaft in the way the now worn splines do, it would be relying just on friction, start loading it up and it wouldnt be long before it slips.
Quote from: sledge on May 12, 2011, 07:05:10 AM
I would be very interested to know too :thumb:
I can see how the method would stop it wandering off the shaft but fail to see how it would "Lock" it to the shaft in the way the now worn splines do, it would be relying just on friction, start loading it up and it wouldnt be long before it slips.
It wouldn't lock it in,but if the output shaft is that bad then there is probably more going on inside the case.
Quote from: ben2go on May 12, 2011, 07:09:44 AM
It wouldn't lock it
Whereas welding would......so how can fitting a retaining bolt and washer be the best option??
Ok its a bodge but it will keep you going until you can repair it properly.
IF the drive shaft splines are worn down, the retainer bolt by itself are not gonna be of much help. With great patience, equally great hand skill with a mill file, you may be able to modify the shaft on the bike to accept a square key or two. You would have to mate that to a similar mod on a new cog. It would take hours and hours and hours and probably just as easy to crack'er open and replace the shaft, but with the amount of wear you have, it may not be cost effective. If the cog and shaft are of about the same hardness, you may be able to drill and tap three smaller bolt holes (maybe 5 or 6mm diameter) into the mating seam and then install bolts with locktite to act as new splines. Like welding, that is sort of cobbler way of "fixing" it.
prs
Yea if the spline is worn, welding is the only option. Now what you can do is take the teeth off the sproket, then drill holes in it.
Then buy a pulley for a belt drive, they have offsets, then bolt it on the sprocket then fit the rear pulley etc etc ... once you have that all lined up, and you dont even need it lined up cos you can space it to suit with washers, weld the toothless sproket onto the shaft. Then you bolt the pulley on and convert to belt drive.
I dunno, there may be a way to bolt a sproket onto the sproket etc etc, but seriously that would mean machining the sprocket every time, needless to say a solid welded sproket will wear faster cos it is too rigid ... the sproket can rosk a wee bit, that would probably save it from a little extra wear.
I'd say go to belt drive, and your problem is different than mine was, the clip groove was bad in mine. Still not bad enough to not keep the sproket on though.
Cool.
Buddha.
i don't see an easy way around this. get the money together and pay for the work or diy. if you have the tools already then it'll be alot cheaper to diy.
Same thing has happened to my bike . The motor is out now ready to be pulled down and replaced . In the process of getting a second hand shaft.