Ok so I have been working on my 1977 ironhead for a few weeks now and here is what i'm up against. She still smokes more than I can handle after dealing with the valves, checking oil pressure and oil return to the sack, and discovering the foo foo valve had been plugged. All those checked out and compression is good. So i decided to pull the front jug off and take a look at rings etc. To my supprise the crank cas was filled up with oil and covered 7/8 of the fly wheel, so much oil it would almost touch the bottom of the jug when installed.

The bike sat for many years before i got it and when i did the oil bag was empty, so the oil had to have gone somewhere. I assumed it was just empty at first and put 2.5 quarts in. Here go wher I am now.

As far as I know the only thing I can think would be the problem is the ball check valve in the oil pump. IDK if that's going to solve it or if all i need to do is drain the crank case, fill the oil bag and then hit the highway.


any words of wisdom would be greatly appriciated!

 

I would drain the crankcase, check/fill the oil tank and the primary. and run with it.

There are three passages for oil to get into the incorrect place ...
oil pump check ball
oil transfer valve [in the primary]
sprocket shaft oil seal [in the primary]

I would check these after draining and gong for a few test rides.

I would not remove any drain plugs to drain the crank. These are reputed to be easily stripped; if stripped the only way to repair is to completely dismantle the engine, split the cases, etc. This is to be avoided at all costs until it is determined to be necessary for some other teason.

I would use a drill pump ...



Attach a couple of hoses, attach to a hand drill, go. About $20 Princess Auto, Harbor Freight, etc.

 

I drained the crank, got about 2quarts give or take some. Then I figured I would change all the oil lines so I got started on that, and while I was there I took the oil pump off to check it and I found the pins that drive the gears in the pump sheared off. Any idea how this happened? But it does explain why the crank was full of oil, it's because the pump wasn't pumpig oil back to the bag like it is suppose to. /:

I purchased a used pump and a rebuild kit and I hope to have that installed some time next week. Any tricks to getting the pump functioning properly after installing it? Priming it etc...

 

I do not have much experience with the oil pumps so someone else will have to chime in. But it seems to me that if the pins sheered off then something, perhaps metal, got in there and jammed it. If this is the case then you need to figure out where this metal came from, and where it is now.

This may require a complete tear-down of the engine including splitting the cases, a big job. So best to get more advice from someone who knows more than i.

To prime the oil pump after it is installed remove the oil pressure switch and either let it sit for a few hours until oil drips out or crank the engine [no spark plugs in, if electronic ignition then grounded plugs in the wires] until oil plops out.

 

Ok here is what I found floating around in there (2 were in the oil pump) they are small needle bearings ...... I have no idea where they came from. Any suggestions? Attached is the image.


I'll have the image soon. Sorry having trouble.

 

My best quess is that those needles are from lifter/s. So to avoid more damage to engine it would be good idea to open gearcase and check lifters. They can be removed also by removing lifter blogs but you need special tool for that.

 

I don't think you need the special tool for 1977 - the lifter blocks should pop out fairly easily. The tool is for earlier years. I did not need it for my 1980; a buddy needed it for his 1974 but we managed without the tool by working carefully.

However, removing the gearcase cover will be necessary in this case anyway to check for more debris.

 

Yeah I didn't have a problem. I have the lifters out and the needle bearings came from the bearing on the intake cam for the front cylinder. No special tools required. I was also able to persuade the bearing out of the crank. The bearing looked to be in really good shape b4 I started yanking it out, it was missing 5 needles. I found 4 of them without having to crack the crank case or pull the engine. I think I’m going to go fishing with a magnet and see if I can recover the last one without doing major surgery on this thing.

I’m having a problem understanding how these bearings escaped, the bearing race looked to be in really good shape other than a really slight bulge in the race. It’s really got me baffled as to how those things got out of there. . . makes no since to me at all. Attached is the pic of it with no bearing in it and also the pic of the bearings I found in the oil pump.

The ding I am talking about in the pic is in pic 0432 and in the 1oclock position. If you look close you can tell it is protruding out a little. I don't know if this would cause bearings to come out or not but it's the only thing I can think of. Any other ideas?

thanks

 

I hope someone else chimes in as i have no experience with this.

 

That's kind of funny, because I have a cam that has marks that could have been because someone at some time tried to kick it over with out the cover on and the cam fell out and jammed in the bearing...this type of incident could easily cause the bearing to be damaged in this way.

here is a pic of the cam; note the marks:



For sure that is enough to release the needles; especially if you don't use shims (and most don't) and have loose cams.