Trouble mating the 860 crankcase halves
Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2019 4:17 pm
Hi all - I am hoping to build up the engine for my '78 Darmah this winter which was disassembled to replace the crankshaft and kick start shaft, and renew the pistons and cylinders.
I am at square one with checking for crankshaft endplay.
The problem is that the crankcase halves will not mate up/close all the way. These are the original crankcases and were separated a few years ago and stored carefully. For the life of me I cannot get them to mate all the way together. I tried some judicious use of a rubber mallet and even some pretty hard blows with no luck. The 3 locating dowel pins are in their proper holes and these are original to the crankcase. The thing that is throwing me off is that I have another set of crankcases that go together without much wrestling so I am not sure what is causing this. I was first trying it with the crankshaft in place with no luck and then removed it to see if that was blocking them from going together but still no luck. I am only able to remove one of the locating dowel pins to try see if they are the culprits - the others are not budging so I left them alone - so i am not sure if the halves are getting "cocked" by them. Therer are no other obstructions in either case half.
Questions:
1) What is the correct method to draw the halves together - should I install all of the bolts (large and small) and draw them together by tightening? I did not try this as I am not sure if it might cause some damage.
2) In order to check the crankshaft endplay I know that the gasket must be in place along with the crankshaft and I will get the 1st swipe at endplay with the shim I plan to use hoping to get lucky or make adjustment - but should the other shafts (trans, shift drum, kick start shaft) also be in place? One thing when doing this is that's very easy to destroy the gasket - and it is not cheap.
Thank you in advance.
I am at square one with checking for crankshaft endplay.
The problem is that the crankcase halves will not mate up/close all the way. These are the original crankcases and were separated a few years ago and stored carefully. For the life of me I cannot get them to mate all the way together. I tried some judicious use of a rubber mallet and even some pretty hard blows with no luck. The 3 locating dowel pins are in their proper holes and these are original to the crankcase. The thing that is throwing me off is that I have another set of crankcases that go together without much wrestling so I am not sure what is causing this. I was first trying it with the crankshaft in place with no luck and then removed it to see if that was blocking them from going together but still no luck. I am only able to remove one of the locating dowel pins to try see if they are the culprits - the others are not budging so I left them alone - so i am not sure if the halves are getting "cocked" by them. Therer are no other obstructions in either case half.
Questions:
1) What is the correct method to draw the halves together - should I install all of the bolts (large and small) and draw them together by tightening? I did not try this as I am not sure if it might cause some damage.
2) In order to check the crankshaft endplay I know that the gasket must be in place along with the crankshaft and I will get the 1st swipe at endplay with the shim I plan to use hoping to get lucky or make adjustment - but should the other shafts (trans, shift drum, kick start shaft) also be in place? One thing when doing this is that's very easy to destroy the gasket - and it is not cheap.
Thank you in advance.