I just picked up an 87 lt500r knowing it was a project bike and needed work...... however this I don't know what to do about. Had coolant in the transmission so I pulled the water pump cover to discover a broken impeller and shaft, that was fine easy fix for me. I continued to pull the side cover off to get the water pump assembly off and when I pulled it I see a nut on the crankshaft that has been welded to the shaft itself...! I don't know what to do with it. Do i salvage what I can and trash the bottom end and look for a new one or is there an expert somewhere that can save this? I was going to split the cases and check all the internals but I can't do that since I can't pull this nut or gear off. Please help!!!! I don't have a ton of money I can invest in this I'm stumped. I'll try to attatch a picture as soon as I can shrink it enough for it to show up here
if you want to post a pic, use a hosting site like imgur or photobucket and copy/paste the [IMG] code.
are your crank bearings shot? rod bearings?
Why the hell did they weld? Wonder if they would start it backwards; That would make that nut back off.
I have no clue why they would have done it or who did it for that matter unfortunately, there's no play in it but I wanted to pull it apart to inspect everything since there was so much coolant in the transmission when I pulled the drain plug and i have no idea how long it was in there. I wanted fresh gaskets all the way around as well.
They probably had a problem with that bolt coming loose. I was told that people do the same thing with the woodruff keys.
You could probably take the clutch assemble off, then use a grinder and cut it off. This way you would have to replace the crank. but the rest of the bottom end will still be usable.
However, if there is no reason to split the cases you could just run it as is until there is a problem needing the cases to be split then worry about it then.
At least it's a nice weld job. Wonder if that messes with the balance.
*i tweaked the code for it show the image in lieu of the link.
If it was my motor, i would get out my dremel with a fine tip cutting bit and cut away the weld. Starting in the center of the bead (weld face) cut a channel almost to end of bead. Then do other side channel, don't cut all the way down to the root just yet. Slowly cut away the bead on the shaft. Cut it like your removing bad threads and keeping a cylinder profile. Now slowly cut away bead on nut. Now all that is left is the root. Cut away the root to the shaft. Repeat on other bead the spin off nut...have machine shop check Balance...if its good, buy a new nut
As long as it's working run it. It's like that for a reason.
Unless you plan on dropping some cash into it or do you wanna ride it.
Hope you r cranks seals don't ever go out
Fix your current problem and when it needs it, grind off the welds and the nut leaving the welds on the shaft as much as possible and saving the threads.
When it's all off then I'd clean up the crank snout have it balanced and put a new nut on it with red lock tite.