Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech CUSH DRIVE

Too cushy. Rubbers are still in good shape, but I hate that mushy feeling it has. Anybody found anything to firm that puppy up? Like polyurethane they make car bushings out of?

thunderbird sport rubber will tighten it up

Like from a Thunderbird? Like I'd have to get them from a AHEM, dealership? Ugh. Interwebs here I come..

You can add strips of leather to tighten up the one you have.

I tried strips of innertube. Didn't work so well or for long. Got a Thunderbird Sport (900) cush from Bikebandit.com. Tightened it right up.

I agree , the best thing to do is buy a new one to tighten it up and the TBS is a better fit than the stock drive. If you want to go cheap I have heard the leather strips work very well and last a long time.

EDIT: as an after thought I don't know if the leather was used on the side under load while accelerating or decelerating or both.

Do they even have a 1600cc Thunderbird Sport yet? I'm sure it's coming.

I saw some spy photos.

I used some strips of 3mm thick rubber cut from a sheet I have in my workshop.

That was 12000 Klms. ago, still nice and tight.

I would be willing to bet that if you are basically shimming a worn cush, that the harder the rubber s Durometer (less compression) the better. Rubber sheet, the kind used for Vulcanizing worn industrial conveyor belting would be as good as you could find. If you can find a company that does this repair service, I would think, they would fix you up for free or at least dirt cheap, as there is a lot of shorts and scraps of various thickness sheets after every repair. I got a load of rubber from a outfit in Tacoma just for the asking, as it was going to recycle anyway.

I cut some "shims" from the sidewall of an old tire i had laying around. Worked great for a looong time.

Mine had more slack than I liked from the start. Shimmed mine up with strips from a conveyor belt. About 6 years ago. Still hanging in there well.

My original was replaced when the bike was less than 2 years old. The "Thunderbird" replacement has done fine the last 3.5 years.

I used some vinyl baseboard molding about 20,000 miles ago. Still tight.

Thanks guys, some cool ideas. Is the Thunderbird stuff firmer than the stock rubber or does it just take up the slop better? Mine seems to have both issues, too much slop and pillowy softness. I rode a buddys Dyna out in Frisco a couple months back and other than having a belt, it's very direct to the trans and I really liked the way it felt. (Hoo boy that puppy had some fun torque too).

It's at least a little bigger. Might be stiffer. The inside of my hub had to be spotless. Any dirt at all and it would not go back together. Its a tight fit.

I changed mine with the older tbs type at the same time as my sprockets and chain, and yep only a rubber mallet could get it in.