Tach gear question

[ghack]

Had a bad valve cover oil leak on my '82 GS650G, so I made a gasket out of permatex. After assembly, I realized i didn't check to see the tach gear aligned with the cam gear. I should have tested, but I pulled the tach gear out, now I can't get it back in. Of course I broke the screw ear off in the process. Is there a special way to get that gear to go back in?

[tom203]

When I put cam cover back on, I first disconnect tach cable at cover end- this lets tach gear drive mate nicely with cam gear as it drops on. In your case, it sounds like gears did not mesh and if/when you tightenned the cover down, the two gears are likely jammed. Best to remove cover and try again.
Permatex??? You can get genuine suzuki gasket for $20 or aftermarket for maybe $15. If any semi-dried bits of permatex fall off inside cover (very likely) they have good potential for clogging oil feed holes. Bad news as these motors like oil flowing.

Have you found this guy's info?

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff

[BassCliff]

Hi Mr. ghack,

That gear should just wiggle back in. Have a look here: Replace Tach Cable Seals

Below is your "mega-welcome" and should also prove helpful in your maintenance endeavors.

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More links to helpful threads in the forum:
Help! Your Bike Won't Start
DON'T DO THESE THINGS
Help! Your Bike Won't Run Well
Oh God! Pods!


Thanks for joining us. Keep us informed.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[bwringer]

On this model and all models with the tach gear in the valve cover, you must have a valve cover gasket in there to create the proper spacing.

If you're just using sealer, then the gear will be way too close to the camshaft and you won't be able to re-insert it. If you installed the valve cover with the tach gear in place, it would make some very unpleasant and expensive noises the first time you tried to start the bike.

The solution, of course, is to order up an OEM gasket. Beware -- there are some aftermarket gaskets out there that are far too thin.

The good news is that you get to remove all that nasty Permatex...

Install the new gasket with a light coating of grease (never use sealer on GS gaskets) and you'll be able to re-use it through several valve checks.

[ghack]

Thanks for the tips/info

This is great. Thanks for the info guys. I never imagined a site exclusively for GS. Now i'm learning all the things I probably should have done a long time ago. I got mine new in '84, and it still runs great, which is surprising as I haven't always treated it the best. My tach still works, but the gear still won't go in all the way. Probably as bwringer mentioned the clearance is too close. I'll probably get the proper gasket and have a do-over. I'll check my valve clearances this time.