Intermediate timing gear

The 500 and 600 motors share many common parts , the only significant differences being parts to increase capacity ,pistons,cylinders and crank, even the rods are identical. The same timing gear was also common to 650 and Atlas,and I think early Commando at least (never had a commando!). The gear is not an item that normally wears much and should be cheap and easy to find.Not worth taking a chance on, don't missplace the shim washer behind the gear. 2 or 3 on E-Bay plus club will have them,check crankshaft gear and pump worm for damage too.

My intermediate gear shaft is a smooth and snug fit in the case but pulls out just as easily as the gears. So that washer behind it has fallen free several times when I have taken off the timing cover. And it's a horrible job fishing and fiddling for it with bits of bent wire. Is this common? And can anything be safely done? I'd worry about Loctite in case it can never get extracted again. Maybe there are bikes out there without it?

Previously David Cooper wrote:

My intermediate gear shaft is a smooth and snug fit in the case but pulls out just as easily as the gears. So that washer behind it has fallen free several times when I have taken off the timing cover. And it's a horrible job fishing and fiddling for it with bits of bent wire. Is this common? And can anything be safely done? I'd worry about Loctite in case it can never get extracted again. Maybe there are bikes out there without it?

That shaft is a shrink fit in every motor I have worked on. There should never be a reason to remove it. I would loctite it right before putting the cover on so it ends up in the right position.

Thanks Jonathan... I only mentioned it in case the shim might have been dropped but that sounds unlikely in most cases

Those intermediate sprockets normally do not wear and as they are normally covered in oil in the timing cover they do not wear that much. I have allot of new ex factory ones if you require a new one or a very good used one.

I think that you can send me a personal email and then I can arrange to send you an intermediate gear, either a new or used one.

The intermediate gear spindle on my Atlas/N15 was badly worn, the bush in the gear was worse. So I replaced both spindle & bush. Spindle was not quite a tight enough fit in the crankcase for my liking, so I loctited it in when the case was hot. It fell out anyway when the case got hot for main bearing replacement.