sprocket washer cracks

[Guest]

Just rebuilt the front end on my 80 1100E and did the oil change plus some other maintanence. Moving my attention to cleaning the chain and I noticed two of my sprocket washers are cracked thus allowing four of the six bolts to be loose. Yikes!

Before I run down and spend a few bucks on some new washers is there any problems I should look for that may cause this to happen again?

Also, I seem to have some sort of plastic after market 42T sprocket on the wheel and I'm not sure what this would do to my torque specs.

[Homie]

I noticed two of my sprocket washers are cracked.

I assume you are talking about the "dog-bone" shaped "washer" with two bolt holes in it and locking tabs??

I had the same problem.

I assume they crack from the torsional friction when torquing the nuts. You will definitely need some news ones. To relieve the friction on the "dog-bones" you could spray a little lube (WD-40 etc) on the nut contact face before you install and torque the nuts. Or you could install some very thin washers between the "dog-bones" and the nuts.

Me? I removed mine and replaced them with lock washers and Loc-Tite. My wheel has been widened so I have non-standard bolts that are longer than stock and give me just enough clearance to get the lock washers on. So far so good. I decided that if I detect any loss of torque on the nuts, I'm going to have the nuts drilled for safety wire and safety wire the nuts in pairs.

[bwringer]

Those washers are supposed to be replaced every time they're used, but absolutely no one ever does this.

You can get away with it once or twice, but after a few cycles it's not surprising they are deteriorating.



Plastic sprocket? Sure it's just not powdercoated aluminum or steel? I do remember seeing plastic sprockets on the market for a very short time long ago, but they (obviously) didn't last.

[cdnoel]

Thanks.

Yep, I'm talking about the dog bone washers with the locking tabs. Probably installed atleast twice in the last 32 years so I'm hopeful that this is why they cracked.

Any one know where this rear sprocket of mine could have come from? I noticed during my last tire change that the thing is very light weight.