He can change the ring gear witout replacing the clutch basket but finding a used clutch basket on Ebay may be cheaper and will be less labor intense. If he replaces he should gring the heads off the rivets from the ring gear side; eliminates any chance of a drill bit walking,or being off center if he tried to drill them out. Some new ring gear come with threaded fasteners and the holes are threaded; he may have to enlarge the holes in the basket just a touich after removal for the new fasteners to fit. Install with the bevel away from the starter pinion.

I would focus on the battery first and make sure there is enough juice to turn the engine over and fire. Don't know what CRs he has but changing them might be necessary as well.

I set of travel limited lifters will also help.

 

Still working the bugs out... Just got this back yesterday from the wrench..

Replaced starter and ring gear.. Ring gear was missing SIX teeth!

Took out the Andrews 67's and installed S&S 585 easy starts. Cranks and starts easily now. There appears to be no need to use the manual decompression anymore.

If there is any power difference from the Andrews to the S&S, I sure can't feel it.

Now I just have to wash it and find time to ride it.

 

... what a long, strange trip it's been ...

 

And the long strange trip is over, With only 6 or 7000 miles on this engine, the compensator is loose, the magnet thingy is almost stripped, and the crank splines are wasted. I think I am gonna mothball this thing for now. Sick of screwing around with it, not enough time to ride these days anyway. Maybe a nice crate motor next year.

 

Wow!
I just breezed thru some of the tail end of this epic thread, and what a nightmare-ish chain of events.
Let us know if we can help...............
Scott

 

I don't know what to do about it at this point. It had a 2002 crank in it, and the timken conversion. As far as I know the top end is good. I don't think I even want that bottom end anymore. Which makes the top useless too, because I am not going to have another one machined for Axtell cylinders. Something is not right- it should not have eaten 2 cranks.

 

I suppose I should update this. We ended up working some magic to get this thing back together. Installed a heavy duty rotor that is much thicker then the stock piece, so it spans the most damaged part of the splines. There is no wobble or play at all at the crank end. We did another stock compensator and new primary chain and whatever else is in there. We discovered the clutch basket bearing was bad, and there was a lot of wobble on that. Wrench shimmed stuff to line up everything perfectly after replacing the bearing and the race that likes to walk towards the trans with the lipped kind that can't. This thing has not run this smooth in a long time, I wonder how long that bearing was bad. Got it back in early july and have put close to 2000 miles on it, everything seems good so far. I suppose the best thing to do for now is pull the primary cover and inspect everything at every oil change.

On another note, I tried some 100 octane in it the other day... It really likes that! Not gonna happen very often at $6.99 a gal though.

 

Bored today and just sniffing around some of the forums I used to frequent. If anyone remembers this Axtell 107 build, and runs across this, I thought they might like to know this thing is still alive. Motor build in this thread was done at around 49000 miles, and due to all the twists and turns in life, it only has around 63000 on it now, but it is still alive, and the compensator is still tight as can be. Only rode it one weekend last year, so at this rate it is likely to survive forever I guess. I haven't ridden much in several years since losing some of my biker friends, one to a distracted driver hitting him on his bike, and then this past fall I became the sole parent to my boys when their mother dropped from a heart attack, so it is anyone's guess when the next ride will be. Bummer that I just put new tires on both my bikes and was trying to enjoy it again. Anyway, stay safe my friends, take care of yourselves, and plan for the "what ifs", because anything can happen. Get you hearts checked- on your ride and on yourself.