QuestionA few days ago the nut holding my front sprocket to the output shaft fell off. I got the bike towed home. No obvious damage was done, used red threadlocker and correct torque specs. about 90 miles later the nut came loose and brought the sprocket with it. My buell has a stopper that prevented the sprocket from coming off fully. It did however round off the threads that the nut uses to keep everything tight. The inner 4-5 threads are still good. Thread size is 1.5 inch x 24 TPI, in a left-hand thread.
My question is.. Am I screwed? Is there a way to attach this back to my bike and not live in fear that i'm gonna one day lose the sprocket while i'm doing 80 down the freeway? A shop near me suggested getting a new chain, new sprockets and forcing the new nut onto the shaft and weld it for good measure. That makes me uneasy, But i'm not a bike expert. Your advice is greatly appreciated.
-Erik
AnswerErik, I know nothing about these bikes, other than they have Harley Motors in them, so I would take the bike to a H-D repair shop and see what they say. Probably you will need to pull the output shaft and replace it with a new one.
IF you can force another nut onto the shaft (Find a SAE thread file to clean up the threads, if you can't find the appropriate die in that size) and then have a competent welder weld it place. That will work until you wear out the sprocket, then you will have to grind that off and replace the transmission shaft the right way.
There is some possibility that the heat of welding could affect the hardness of the shaft end and it could fail because of metal fatigue and heat stress.
When in doubt, do it right.... Replace the shaft, nut and sprocket.
Bill Silver
