My 1962 XLCH had developed a knock in the bottom end, so I stopped riding it a while ago. We'll, I pulled the front jug today. It was not pretty. Here's a short video of what I found.

Looks like I'm going to need a crank pin and bearings at the very least.

This engine came from a donor bike a few years ago. Previous owner stated that he had done the top end, but I had no other information on it. He never finished the bike he was building. That's how I got it.

Here's a couple of photos. Looks like someone has been deep into this motor before. Of course, I knew that since it has an electric start right case, and a Kick only left case with a 62XLCHxxxx engine number. Wish I still had the original cases, but I sold them with the donor bike when I was done with it. They were both correct for a '62.

Heads and valves looked fine. Top of the piston has a small spot on it that looks like it lightly touched the sparkplug, just enough to leave a mark.






S&S Rods and 0.050 over pistons are a dead giveaway it's been torn down before. Looks like some of the built up carbon near the exhaust port came loose, but no real damage. The big chunk of carbon in the second chamber picture flaked off fairly easily when I pushed on it with my finger. There's a lot of oil in the exhaust port.

Looks like it can still be rebuilt though.

Not sure when I'll get to tear this one the rest of the way down and fix it. Wife's car has to take priority.

 

Yeh, I'll bet that had a knock!!!

 

I just want to know where those roller bearings went.

I can't finish the tear down yet, I don't want the engine scattered all over while I get the money together to fix it, but that will be an interesting investigation.

I'll try to remember to take photo breaks during tear down when I do it. Should be interesting to document and share.

 

WOW!

 

deleted??

You must have looked back after the video had time to load. There's plenty of slop in the connecting rod/crankpin interface. :-)

 

Male rod, yep.
Typical of most cranks when in need.
Rebuild as needed with a new rod set and crank pin.
Good as new.
Usually there are noises waaaaaaaaaaay prior to the advent of the the rollers, or pin to become in that state.
Oil bag and lines need to be cleaned prior to reassembly.
Scott

 

Yeah,

I'm going to pull the whole thing apart and do a full rebuild on it. Top to bottom flush of the entire oil system, including the tranny, oil bag, and lines. I don't want a couple pieces of left over trash killing the engine right after I put it back together.

This was a donor motor I got and was only able to put about 300 miles on before it went south on me. Top end looks good, but I won't trust anything in there at this point.

 

Of course.
Complete top/bottom re-build/repair.
Scott

 

KNOCK, KNOCK ? Who's there ? Woody !