Lucky Phil

I agree, look at the breather hose first, that oily mess on top of the gearbox is a bit of a giveaway. If its leaking then fix that and then cleanup the rest and re-appraise. A little bit of oil leaking from the engine commonly creates a somewhat dirty mess further aft. My recent r/h rocker cover leak was leaving oil on my boot and r/h footpeg and the side of the porkchop plate. I was distracted by the fact that the rear gearbox seal was also leaking and put it down to that and didnt clock the rocker cover leak until the test ride..doh. A few small drops of oil turned into mist from from airflow from the engine leak can create an oily film on things further back that traps dirt and makes you think that component is leaking. Just a thought if you cant definitly confirm the rear bevel is leaking. Ciao

I made one of those fork cap tools Chuck. Machined out of ally drilled the tool hole and filed it square for a 1/2" drive and used 4 roll pins for the pins. Looks really quite nice and thats with me doing it. You should be able to make something REALLY nice. Ohlins fork seals from a while back were't great and used to leak a lot, more with bikes that sat around. On my old Ducati SP2 Ohlins forks Honda Goldwing seals were the replacement of choice. No issues with them leaking. Ciao

Thats cool, whenever you get a chance. Ciao

Hey scud any photos of the new seals yet? Ciao

Yes +1 on Dan, he's the man for Ohlins:) Ciao

I was going to mention but questioned my own vision... Lucky Phils photo of the seal with "faint lines" looked to me as going in both directions, IE - wave. Yes footgoose I think you are correct. Ciao

AhHa....excellent work scud......This is another variation. Although the plain faced seals are supposed to be bi directional I have also seen drawings and tech info on ribbed face seals that allow for rotation in either direction with the pattern in a W layout accross the face but this wave style is new to me. So we have seals with straight angled ribs on them orientated in directions to suit either CW or CCW rotation, seal faces without ribs for either CW or CCW rotation and the wave rib ( as pictured) for CW or CCW rotation and the W type ribs for CW or CCW. I still think that the directional RIBBED style seals be they CW,CCW or BI directional must be for extra insurance agains leakage and/or for locations that would require significant disassembly to replace, hence the use on crankshaft and gearbox seals. Will be really interested to see what the OEM replacements look like if you can share a photo scud. The seal I replaced on my bike 4000klms ago certainly didnt have any ribs or wave pattern so looks like it had been replaced already and I assumed it was just a plain std seal. I was talking the Brad Black ( Brad the bike boy, well known very good Italian bike mechanic here in Melbourne ) at the track the other day and he said he always just uses the OEM seals for replacement as the cost is low and there are no hassles. Looks like good advice. Ciao

Very good, I'll be interested to see what the OEM seal looks like. Yes the Redline sludge photo surprised me although I dont know the storage details but strange none the less. Ciao

Yes good points, I did check the venting and it was fine, the level was to the middle of the sight glass which really should be fine but I have dropped it to the bottom to cover the level issue off. I've been using the Redline heavy oil just recently just for comparison purposes ( shifts about the same as any other oil for mine) and it does have the advantage of color which is really useful when it comes to sourcing the leak. After the test ride post seal change the gearbox area looked fine but I noticed oil on the pork chop plate the brake lever and my right boot, odd I thought esp since it was a golden color. Then I noticed the rather significant r/h rocker cover gasket leak.....doh. Talk about target fixation on the gearbox leak, I just have to re learn things as I get older it seems. It appears these directional seals tend to be mainly used in areas that are difficult/expensive to replace for some added insurance over leaking. Most automotive front and rear crankshaft seals and gearbox input shaft etc. The Big Block guzzies also on the back of the crank. Ciao

Here is the HMB Guzzi seal from Hannsons link which they state they only stock the as an OEM part due to quality reasons which is interesting. Is it just me or do i detect faint lines in the sealing face of this seal. Some of these directional seals arnt listed by the OEM as a standard part you can buy but only come as a Ford or GM part etc. Ciao

This is a front transmission seal, note the directional arrow and the ribs on the seal face orientation for a clockwise (r/h twist) shaft rotation when looking front to rear. This is an anticlockwise (l/h twist seal) note the different orientation of the face ribs. The confusing part in this case is MG cycle are listing this as a V11 rear drive pinion seal which when looking front to rear should be a clockwise directional seal same as the gearbox input seal.Hmmm...... I thought I had sourced a 42x56x7 l/h twist seal for the gearbox output shaft but was mistaken. If anyone knows of one let me know. Ciao

Just wondering how many miles people generally get out of this seal. I've just changed another one after only around 4000klms and I suspect its had replacments fitted by previous owners. There is no visible issues with the housing, bearing or shaft finish. I also noticed during my research that the final drive pinion seal and the gearbox input shaft seals are both directional types and oddly the output shaft seal isn't. I have fitted a new non directional type and will see how it goes. Ciao

Well its about the engineering really, 65LBS extra weight plus the shock loading going through each knee 6 or 7000 times per day doesnt require an MD to work out. Nor does diminishing flexability and core strength required to support your skeletal frame and keep you doing the stuff you want to do. My Gym is about 45% plus 65 year olds these days and good on them. I'm betting every one of them wishes they had started gym years earlier than they did, but great to see anyway. The sore butt is easily solved without making your bike look like some daggy old rat bike(aka the lambs wool cover). Go and buy youself a pair of cycling nicks with the padded chamos gusset and wear them under you riding pants. Theres a reason cyclists,myself included can do a hundred KLM ride on something with a seat like a modern pushbike has and still walk at the end of the day....its called riding nicks. Your a cripple without them after a long pushbike ride and ready to do it all again the next morning when you use them. Needless to say they work a treat on motorcycles as well. Ciao

Of course the other solution is to spend some time at the gym and general exercise including some Yoga and Pilates to specifically maintain your flexability, suppleness and maintain core strenght as you age. Works well for me. I sat at a table at a gathering once and listened to 2 people go on for 30 min about how bad their knees were and how replacements were on the cards. I also clocked the fact that both were at least 30kg ( 65lbs) overweight and had been for years. Go and pick up 30kg sometime and imagine that weigh going through each knee plus the shock loading for the 5 or 6000 steps you take each day. I said nothing of course because they wouldnt have gotten the point anyway. Ciao

Carefully loosen off the starter while its idiling keeping some rearward force on it and see if it stops. May be the starter solinoid not pulling the gear back all the way. Ciao

No "give" is needed. I've used one of these for years without issues. Stock arm is a mass production compromise. Ciao

After 11 years this ones gone to a good home. And awaiting delivery on this.

This is true but only because a drum brake system has lost motion due to the shoe clearance to the drum and some mechanical play that needs to be addressed before the fiction surface actually applies force to the drum. The shift mechanism doesn't really have this issue to any extent.90 deg is ideal for the shifter input arm but it's not critical within reasonable limits. Ciao

This is true but only because a drum brake system has lost motion due to the shoe clearance to the drum and some mechanical play they needs to be addressed before the fiction surface actually applies force to the drum. The shift mechanism doesn't really have this issue to any extent. 90 deg is ideal for the shifter input arm but it's not critical within reasonable limits. Ciao

I suspect you'd be dissapointed docc. Ciao

Not only ugly but almost totally unrideable. Ciao

I prefer the Cobra clips. Very nice and reuseable. They sell a "special" tool for them but its not necessary. Ciao

For those interested a video. Its all quite interesting but take a look at the comparison that starts at 5min 30 second into the vid. I know its extreme temp wise and most of us would change our oil at a lot shorter intervals than the average car person but its a nice demonstration of one of the advantages of a full synth oil. Ciao

Yes docc I thought the Penrite info was interesting and backed up my research from a few years ago now that around 1000ppm of ZDDP was adequate for a flat tappet engine. There are always folk that look suspiciously at new technology and search for reasons to stick with what they know to save them from reading, research and analysis and to stay in their comfort zone. Sometimes you need to tweek the machinery to take advantage of the major benifits of the improved technology. Measuring CHT insn't hard just a thermocouple under the spark plug and a CHT gauge. Chuck will know all about them from the bug smasher world:) Ciao

Why? They are *much* better when hot. No contest. Ok not counting Air Craft lol.But for an Air Cooled Engine on the ground I would avoid full synthetics. Everybody is intitled to be completely wrong I guess, and I respect your right to be so. Ciao http://www.geneberg.com/cat.php?cPath=26_575 This is the common issue with taking one small piece of scetchy info totally devoid of detail and making a blanket statement covering all groups ( IE "air cooled engines") I think everybody with any real knowlege of full synthetic oils these days would agree that they are far superior in every aspect of performance, hot or cold. So here we have some observations with no detail on how the testing was conducted and what types and weighs of oils were compaired and under what conditions. But lets assume that the only thing of real concern in this particular application was the cylinder head temps were higher. How much higher? enough to be an issue? And if indeed you did need them to be lower then the probably cause in this particular case would be that the superior flow rate of the full synthetic meant it stayed less time in the head to pick up the heat. Assuming all this info is correct FOR THIS PARTICULAR APPLICATION and bearing in mind that full synthetics are far superior to mineral oils at dealing with heat what would I do? I would run drain restrictors in the heads to allow more dwell time for the synthetic oil to absorb the heat and make use of its superior ability to tollerate high oil temps. What I wouldnt do is make a blanket assumption that flys in the face of all available evidence and ignor superior modern technology. Ciao