Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Marbles in Transmission!

Or so it seems!?!?!? I was riding home from work last evening only to have a very loud metallic noise eminating from my transmission. Anyone experience something like that? It up and down shift just fine but growls pretty darn good from 30 - 0 mph.

Trumpy

New one for me. Look for the simple things first. Check everything that is external - your output sprocket for tightness, your chain to see if it is rubbing on something.

If nothing noted, take a close look at your oil through the sight glass for any contaminants. Another check to see if anthing is broken in the transmission is to pull the filter and open it up and look at the paper element closely for any chunks. Chunks = bearings/gears/BAD.

One other thought is to verify that your cam chain tensioner spring hasn't failed and your chain is flopping around.

Keep us posted.

sounds to me like the chain is slacking on decel at lower speeds. Check it close, if you are running just fine above 30 and shifting with no probs, I cant see it being the tranny. +1 on checking the filter though for foreign debris. Good luck!
Jeff

Gents,
Futher information! I intentionally left out the fact I am running a belt drive, but some of you guys here already know that. I am now fighting with the dealer for warranty work on what may be a possible tranny problem. According to the dealer they will not warranty my tranny since I ran a belt drive. Dealer says "Triumph" has put out a "Service Bulletin" on this configuration (belt drive) stating too much pressure on said output shaft and bearing causes the bearing to go bad.

Spoke with Triumph of North America service rep, Shell in Newnan and he said that is pure fiction. He has NEVER heard of ANY Speedies or Americas having ANY tranny troubles! He also stated that the output shaft and bearing in the tranny is the strongest they can possibly make!

He went on to say that Triumph is also researching a belt drive for said machines to be installed on new bikes in the future!
Anyway, wish me luck and I will be in touch with that gentleman for a few weeks it appears. Oh and thanks for the inputs.

R,

Sounds like your dealer is giving you a line of BS.

My buddy was gonna belt drive convert but decided against it when we were shown in writing that any modification's (not bolt on accessories) would void his warranty. I saw it with my own 2 eyes, I hate to say! Anyway, he decided he would wait til the warranty was expired JUST IN CASE he nneded to use it. Hopefully you have some luck...

Good Luck with the dealership battle. Keep us posted on what the problem is.

If the output shaft bearing actually failed, that would be the first i've ever heard about since I've been on these forums. Hope it isn't true since I'm considering a belt drive in the future if the supposed new parallel twin doesn't debut soon.

Hey Trumpy,

Assuming the transmission has failed, could you tell us what oil you were running?

Also, have you noticed any oil leaking out the output shaft seals? Usually a good indicator of failed bearings.