Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Cush drive tolerances

I finally got around to taking my wheels off tonight so that I can get my new whitewalls mounted. I have 17,000 miles on my bike so once I had the rear wheel off I checked my sprocket and cush drive. The sprocket was better than I thought it would be, but I don't know what the acceptable slop for the cush drive should be. I have roughly 1/4 inch of play. I looked in the tech vault and got a couple of opinions. One being that any play is unacceptable, another that the blocks are slightly undersized so there is slight play. Given that I am due to replace the chain and sprockets this winter, I will probably let it slide till then, but I wanted to check in and see if anyone has a definitive answer.

a few yrs back i installed the old style T-Bird cush in mine because that seemed to be the way to go at that time. well it had to be smacked a couple time with a rubber mallet to get it in there and that tells me no slop is what is required. i noticed the difference right away and so did Mrs Newt. when you shift is when you notice it, there is no more of that jerk you get when it is sloppy. some guys have wrapped theirs with innertube pieces that have taken up the slop and been very happy. so to answer the question, i think there should be no slop in the cush dr.

The cush drive is just to make it....well, cushy

For spirited riding less slop is more. My (old style) T-Bird cush drive took a couple smacks with a mallet too. The difference is noticeable