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Washer on big-end nuts?

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Hi there. Still gathering bits for my ES400 as and when funds permit, so the new b/e shells, nuts & bolts arrived today. Looking again at the lightweight engine exploded diagram in the manual, I saw it shows washers under the b/e nuts. So I looked at the Andover Norton images for the Commando- no washers. Looked on Fair Spares, they show washers for L/W and early dommies, no washers for late dommies/ commandos ie 1 1/2" crank yes, 1 3/4" crank no.

I'm sure in my days past of various dommie engine rebuilds I only ever used the self-locking nuts.

I'd like to know your opinions and experiences- should I get the washers or not? Is it because the smaller rods have ally caps, but are steel on the larger crank?

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Hi Michael,

The proper washer in the parts list. I have fitted T2152 and have no problems.

I can see that this washer is designed to fit the small space and be thin enough to allow the thread locking nut to always engage the threads fully and let around 1 full thread to project through the locking nut.

I'm sure there will be others who declare they fitted a random washer, or no washer, and the bike is running OK. Your choice.

Please be sure to check under the head of the big end bolts. Very common for the sharp edge of the eccentric head to have taken a shaving down while tightening. This shaving stops the head seating and will lead to the tension coming off the bolt in use. The shaving gets compressed in action.

Peter

 

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Thanks Peter, I'll get some on my next order. Its not like I'm in any rush, and they are not expensive, so I'll follow the factory's lead.

I still have one very bent 88 rod hanging from the rafters in the garage from way back. Cant say for sure, but with a little more age and hopefully wisdom think I may not have torqued the nuts.Thankfully not much colateral damage, i got my brother to collect the bike and me from the M1 Service station, but it kind of messed up my TT trip. At least it was at the beginning of my journey, and not 200m further on....

 

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Please use washers on the big ends. Without washers, the nuts will scratch the bigend material, and force it a little into the threads, making subsequent disassembly more difficult.

 


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