Ron, I think looseness played a role in this failure. The two trans sprocket lock screws were pretty loose when I pulled the stripped sprocket, as was the sprocket nut itself. I wasn't sure if this was a cause of the failure, or a result of it. Sounds like it may have been a casue. I'm starting to regret haing not purchased that cool JIMS sprocket nut. Sixty bucks though... pretty steep for a nut.

 

I'd say over time, even with a locked nut in extreme conditions what play there is in the splines movement and eventual stripping will occur. This repetitive motion over time will reduce clamping pressure on the nut. No amount of nut pressure can completely stop the rotational forces acting on the splines. I guess what I'm trying to say is that even with a locked nut the sprocket may get loose from the pressure points getting rubbed off. Same kind of crap happens with compensating sprockets where the rotor is forced against that small section spacer. The nut or bolt can still be where it was originally tightend but clamping pressure is lost and the rotor starts banging back and forth in the splines until it is so loose you start hearing that rod knock sound . Driving habits have a large bearing on wheter either of these conditions occur in a year or 20 years down the road.
Ron

 

for future reference, if your inner bearing race sleeve is too close to the nose of the main drive gear to get the puller on, pop the right side cover off the transmission and loosen the nut on the other end of the mainshaft and tap it gently to nudge it to the left a little bit, then you can get the puller on it.

Question, why are you installing the inner primary mainshaft seal backwards? might explain why it keeps popping out.

and no, the main drive gear does not use any seal between it and the bearing inner race.
The quad seal fits between the sprocket spacer and the inner race.

Hogdoctor

 

HogDoc,

Great tip re the inner race.

Installing the inner primary mainshaft seal backward? ugghh.. I installed it in the manner shown because I thought the words "This side toward oil" were supposed to point into the inner primary. Is that not correct? I even took the inner primary to my local dealership and had a service tech look at the seal because I was concerned about it protruding 0.04" from the rear of the case. He said the protrusion was fine and didn't say anything about the seal being in backward.

It sounds like you're saying this seal's job is to seal the transmission, not the primary?

 

Your seal is correctly installed to keep oil in the primary.
Ron

 

Thanks Ron... I assume the purpose of that seal to keep oil in the primary?

 

My apologies, I took a close look at that seal and it looks as if they've completely redesigned it at some point, the shell of the seal looks backwards, but the lip still faces
the oil in the primary. I've fought leaks at that seal area many times... I hope the new seal works better than the old one.

Enjoy the ride!

Hogdoctor

 

No sweat Hogdoctor... I'm damned glad you were mistaken! lol.. I wasn' relishing the idea of yanking the inner primary again.