Stimpy and I have discovered what may be a previous owner clutch re-assembly related symptom that can be fairly easily checked out when doing a Verslagen cam chain tensioner protrusion check.  

If you are able to move your oil pump gear "forwards" on the shaft until the gearing disengages then you need to stop and fix the issue before proceeding.

You may find as I did that a previous clutch repair job resulted in the flanged gear on the back of the clutch basket being put in incorrectly (backwards & possibly missing the pin too).   Strange, but it happens as the pin is completely invisible behind the clutch basket and it falls out and rolls into the rabbit holes that go to the center of the cases ....

==========================

Let's start with what started the chain of failure -- the oil pump/clutch basket engagement assembly.  The main symptom of this error is a moveable engagement at the oil pump gear, it can move forward on the shaft, disengage from the mating clutch basket gear and free wheel (not catch any drive force from the motor movement).  



This means no oil moves even though the engine is spinning at highway speed.   Instant death -- this would be sudden and quick the very first time the oil pump disengaged at highway speed.

=================

The results of the oil pump disengaging would very very quickly look like this:







Also, the cylinder bore is scored and the cam lobes are shot.   Serenity made a good call to go buy him an engine off a wrecked bike as the parts alone to fix this baby would be more than the wrecked bike engine.

I am going to go into it deep enough to understand what failed to allow the oil pump to disengage like this.

(Ha, this will teach me to think or talk before disassembling and actually looking -- I thought the issue was totally in the wear level of the oil pump when it also had some elements of incorrect assembly to it that won't show up for another post or two)


=======


Stimpy, what was mis-assembled on your oil pump?


We got people pulling their side covers to check their cam chain tensioner every 10,000 miles or so -- I think they should stick out their finger and hook it underneath the oil pump gear and see if they can finagle it to move forward and try to disengage the driving gears.


This check should be added to the Verslagen tensioner check drill -- I'll get up with him to see if he can add it.

So a solution would be to put a spring behind it ? spring in front of it ?
I dont remember what that part looked like on mine. But its a worthwhile check.
Cool.
Srinath.

  If you don't have back pressure on a engine you will have problems like that.

Oldfeller--FSO wrote on 06/30/09 at 14:18:44:


Maybe another possible cause for this is retaining nut on clutch basket backing out letting clutch basket move just enough to let pump gear back out? Just spitballing here, have no clue if that could even happen.

Oldfeller--FSO wrote on 06/30/09 at 14:18:44:


If the oil pump gear is moving ON the shaft that goes back to the pump, and the shaft itself is not moving, then it looks like it could be missing the circlip that holds the gear in place on the shaft.
(Pull up your favorite Micro-fiche site, Item#5 on the Oil Pump Diagram).
Without the circlip, maybe the gear can slide far enough out along the shaft to disengage from the drive gear, (or from the pin on the shaft (Item# 3)) but can't slide far enough out to fall off the shaft because the gear bumps the clutch basket.

IF the shaft is moving as well as the gear, then you are.. in big doo doo.   It would mean the pump is very very loose to the case, or busted.

On a GS500 the oil pump drive gear is on a shaft with a nice pin across it, and there is no more shaft, it ends in the gear - almost. Maybe  1/4 to 1/8th inch. If you lose that pin and its a nice fat one that holds the gear center to the shaft, the gear will move a 1/4 or less and drop off into the bottom of the clucth cover, catch a million things on the way and make a racket, or get propelled out of that cluch case. That is a cheap and easy part to change, if it get powered to the inside that = busted inside cases - dead motor - maybe not, but really really bad.
Cool.
Srinath.

So you are saying that the hidden gear was installed backwards and because of that the retainer pin wasn't or couldn't be installed. This caused the gear to drift out on the shaft and disengage the oil pump drive gear and snap crackle pop, no oil pressure and a lunched motor. There's a moral to this, if you have a part left over you had better figure out where it came from when working on a engine.