Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Screwed by Dealer? No Camshaft Backlash Gear!!!

So when I bought my bike from D&D Cycles in Pensacola, FL, the bike already had CRS Carbs, re-ground OEM cams, and pipes installed. Fast-forward 22000 odd thousand miles to yesterday when I tore the ride down to adjust the valve lash as part of the 24000 mile service. After figuring out that 4 valves are as dead-on as my 2 decimal place accurate feeler gauges can indicate, with the remaining 4 requiring adjustment, I start re-reading the part of the service manual about camshaft removal. Mind you, I went through the minor expense ($45) of getting the Triumph service tool for the camshaft back-lash retention, only to realize that the camshafts did not have the backlash gear installed. There was no backlash spring or second gear face, there was only the gear that was integral to the camshafts themselves. I can only assume that the dealership just decided to omit reinstalling them when they got the camshafts back from their cam grinder. So anyways, the bike's made it to 24200 miles without the backlash gear, and hasn't blown up yet, are there any possible negative side-effects that may happen if that mechanism isn't re-installed? Can anyone think of a possible beneficial reason as to why the dealership would not re-install the things? Just from a cursory thought-process, I can only think that maybe the springs would sap a fraction of a horsepower from the valvetrain, with the benefit of making the engine run a little quieter. anybody?

Here is a short take by Chy.

And what is up with Triumph prices? I paid close to 90 bucks for my service manual. And 85 buckaroos for the cam tools. Sheez, I get it all the time for being amoung the first to buy their overpriced sheet.

Granted in the long run, $45 for the tool is not a big deal, but I kinda feel sheepish for being overly cautious and buying the thing only to realize that it's basically useless to me. Better safe than sorry, I guess, but that $45 coulda gone towards the clutch tool! Thanks for the link BTW.

To the COLLECTIVE: Please consider my factory triumph camshaft backlash retaining toolset available for sale or borrowed usage!

Interesting. I was wondering why the backlash gear was even needed, guess it's not. I suspect whoever ground the cams, had to remove the backlash gear and didn't have the tension tool to reinstall. I sort of used two punch pins in a vice to rotate the backlash gear to the correct spot when my home-made cam tool didn't work too well. I've since figured out that two punch-pins of the correct size also work great (5/32", punch pin size wise)

I tend to agree with Chy about the rationale of the presence of a mechanism justifying it's existence; since the dealership is back in business for the week, I plan on calling them to ask their rationale about why they decided (rather arbitrarily) that my ride didn't need the things.

Just got off the phone with the dealer, FWIW, his claim (the owner's) was that they always removed the backlash mechanism on their performance grinds, said that the mechanisms ate up about 2HP, and served no other function than to quiet to straight-cut cam gears. When I asked him about any long-term cam chain wear, he replied to the negative, and repeated his claim that noise reduction was the only benefit of the mechanisms. FWIW.

One thing about dealers (most dealers anyway). They will tell you the sky is pink if that is what it takes to get you out of their face. Ever watch that sitcom, "Are you being served" Well they tell their customers that the 'short' long sleeves will ride down with wear. Me? I am unanimous in this opinion about dealers.

Actually I did think the thing was kinda noisy, even for it being air-cooled. I have no problems with straight-cut gears, most efficient method of power transfer, and eliminates the need for a thrust bearing, which I guess was Triumph's goal. Then again, they could have used a double-helix set-up, but I guess that's neither here nor there. We shall see.