The Hodaka Club Forum

Hello All, my kiddos and I are still plugging away on their '68 Ace 100 and we started looking at the sprocket alignment. The Ace has the stock rear and the overlay sprockets on it and it came to us with the dished style countershaft sprocket. I took advantage of the Hodaka-Parts.com $5 sprocket deal a month or so back and got a non-dish type. So, the kids and I got to looking at sprocket alignment last night. With the old dished type sprocket everything lined up fine. However, with the non-dished type it was just a bit to far inboard, about 1/16" or so.

My question is, has anyone encountered this before and is it something to worry about?

I did try putting an extra sprocket locking washer, the same as used on the sprocket's nut, as a spacer and that lines it all up. I'm wondering if doing that it will cause it to leak, I'm assuming the inner teeth of the sprocket help to seal off the gearbox) or affect anything else. The shift cover didn't seem to mind the extra spacer.
Thanks in advance.

Bev

While I haven't done what you propose, I'm thinking that it should not cause oil leaking AS LONG AS the sprocket nut is tight. The countershaft seal "seals" on the OD of the sprocket collar . . . and the inner end of the sprocket collar gets pressed tight against the ball bearing inner race. If the sprocket nut isn't tight, then there will be no sealing between the end of the collar and the inner bearing race. That metal-to-metal contact circle is what keeps the oil from seeping to the inside of the sprocket collar. The sprocket splines won't stop the oil once it gets between the counter shaft and the sprocket collar - and the oil only gets there if the sprocket nut is loose. My 2 cents.
Ed

Sage advice, as always, Ed. I forgot the sprocket collar was what the seal's inner lip seals on. That's what I get for post/asking while at work. I'm surprised no one else has chimed in on this topic, I surely can't be the only one that come across this. The kids and I still have got quite a bit to do before we get oil in the case. Once the time comes I'll report back.

Thanks again.
Bev

Ahhhh, the dreaded sprocket collar and seal!

I experienced what happens when you rebuild a bottom end, put in new seals & didn’t know there was a sprocket collar because the tranny didn’t have one mounted behind the counter shaft sprocket. 4 hours of engine break in riding time messed up that brand new seal & the oil would just come pouring out when on the kick stand! You could sit and watch it run out even after inserting a found sprocket collar!

Replaced them both with new, filled it with oil & no more leak around the counter shaft! Victor