Christmas gift. Not!

I've never seen that with an OE shaft and the distortion to the splines is suspicious too. The only common fault I think is a crack from the stress raiser on the internal quadrant to the drilling for the pawl pivot pin but I've never known it to be fatal.

Do you know who the supplier was ?

Looks like its been made from steel coloured cheese.

Buying bikes as non runners is fraught with problems like this. It really is the luck of the draw. Unknown service history... For peace of mind, I would be tempted to do a full engine and gearbox strip to check that there isn't anything else waiting to let go. You really don't want a seizure, gearbox lockup etc when travelling at speed.  

Not the first I have seen them fail like this. Another batch of these was seen earlier this year, it seems they run in a 3 year cycle, I get the odd one sent to me. Not sure where they are coming from, but have many deficiencies which easily gives them away. Just from looking at the photo I can see it is fake, not even a good copy. Most crack in the pawl area. 

there is a lot of history about sub-standard parts on here and accessnorton. Usually, it comes down to buying from very few reputable sources, and even then , there are personal preferences over particular items.

   In general, it seems there are more badly made/specced items around on  other websites, which are cheaper to buy initially.......

Despite knowing the faults, we no longer highlight them as this effectively gives away how to make them. Not one company in the world lets their competitors know how to make items correctly, not even if they are deadly, as one NOC owner found out a couple of years ago.

I even watched the trail of them being made after our stock was slated for not being correct. It was not even a challenging item to manufacture, had they also tested a part from any of the leading global suppliers of these parts that are used on other motorcycles they would have spotted the error they could have avoided. 

Ashley:

So, rather that letting the Norton parts buying public know that the various suppliers are putting forward some sub-standard parts, you would rather let the public suffer the consequences?

Or, if you put forward a notification about a sub-standard part being marketed, are you afraid of being sued?  The truth of your statements will always be a justification, right?

Mike 

The public knows that sub-standard parts are being supplied and they continue to buy them.  Forty years ago, we had no choice. NVT had let us down. Wassell and Harris were supplying goods that I wouldn't have used had there been any choice and a dealer in the midlands was punting out reject bin scrap. Plus ça change...

Even in the pre-internet closed market 1970s, at a time when local authority Trading standards still existed in more than name only, it proved impossible to protect idiots against themselves.

The buyer has to do his own research, and I know who I trust.