Triumphrat

Berniebikes · 03-15-2010, 11:41 AM

I’m not terribly mechanically inclined but occasionally will attempt some of my own wrenching. I can read instructions well enough, and usually can figure things out if given enough time. This weekend I set about to replace the sprockets and chain on my 97 Trident. I already ordered a chain/sprocket set from my local dealer (DID o ring chain, steel sprockets), and had the shifter shaft oil seal and a spare sprocket cover gasket on hand. After reading the Hayes manual and searching across the forum I figured I had a good understanding of what needed to be done and how to go about it. However, like anything mechanical, a few things popped up.

First,you do not need to fully drain the oil from you machine unless you want to. You will lose about a quart and a half out the side if you don’t, but the machine holds 4. It would be entirely possible to stuff a rag into the sump space to keep grime out, do your work, and then add back the lost oil at the end rather than waste the entire amount. In my case I needed/wanted an oil change anyway so I just drained everything.

As for sequence, I think you should probably just remove the rear wheel and chain cover/hugger to start out with (assuming you are doing a full chain sprocket replacement). I’d never removed the wheel so I had no idea the axle had a nut on either side. Makes no difference which side you remove to push out the axle, as it goes either way. The nuts on my axle were way too tight as I had to use a 3’ cheater bar to break them loose. Axle nuts are 19mm.
To get the sprocket cover off you need to take off the side stand bracket. The lower bolt of the side stand has a nut on the inside that is blocked substantially by the fork linkage, the wheel and the hugger, so much so that getting a wrench on it is tough (btw, the nut is 19mm and the bolt is a torx head). Once this lower bolt is out the upper bolt is easy and the stand comes out of the way.

Before you start stripping off the shift linkage as described in the Hayes manual do yourself a favor and shift into first gear. You will need the resistance when you go to remove the sprocket nut. Once you have the linkage off, it is a pain to put it back on to shift the gears. You can go ahead and then remove the shift linkage and the sidestand as described.

With the side stand off and the clutch slave out of the way the cover is straight forward. Don’t be surprised when the cover comes off any you have several inches of grime, grease and goop totally packing the area inside. Stuff a rag into the hole in the sump and clean away all the junk. This is a totally nasty job but a necessary part.

With everything clean you can get an idea if any of the other seals behind the cover are leaking. In my case none were so I left everything alone. Getting the drive sprocket nut off scared me, but I was prepared. I borrowed a huge (like double ‘u’ handles on either side 40 pounds of steel) 1” drive electrical impact wrench for the job. Needless to say I was way over tooled on that task. The nut spun off like nothing. I would however strongly advise not trying it without an impact wrench of some sort. Inside, if you see some wear on your clutch rod when you pull it out, reverse it. I had some wear where it abutted the seal so I just turned it around and shoved it back in. With the nut off and everything cleaned up it all went back together very easy.

I had a bit of a tough time getting the shifter shaft seal out of the sprocket cover. No way you can just pry it out of the cover from the front without totally buggering up the paint on your cover. I resorted to tapping it out from the inside using a screwdriver and small mallet. After a little work it popped out, and putting the new seal back in took a little tapping too. I made sure to grease up the splines well on the shifter shaft so as not to damage the seal when putting the cover back on.

Guess that is all I can add. Total job next time will take maybe 3-4 beers, just shy of a six pack!

phil the greek · 03-15-2010, 07:16 PM

Thanks for that Bernie - good post - I've just cut'n'pasted that into one of my "how-to" documents, 'cos I'm going to be doing the same thing to my '97 Sprint Sport in the next few months.

Like you, I've got the Haynes manual, but it's always good to have a bit of an inside track - like the one about putting the bike in gear before removing the gearbox sprocket.

cheers - phil

p.s. did your back wheel spindle come out OK or did you have to hit it with something?

Berniebikes · 03-16-2010, 09:08 AM

My rear axle spindle came right out. There was a slight bit of rust and discoloration on it but I cleaned it up with a little wet/dry sand paper. The problem was getting the nuts loose as whoever had the wheel off last must have used an impact to put them back on. It took a 12" socket with a 3' long cheater bar to break the nuts loose. Once the nuts were loose the spindle just slid right out. I greased it up well with some lithium grease when I put it back, so it should come out easy next time.