Britbike forum Forums British Motorcycle specific Brands Triumph bulletin board 1982 T140LE TMA Royal Repair & Recommission

Hi Steve, Off subject. If you get a chance could you pot or email me detailed photo of both sides of your old timing side main bearing. Thanks.
Don

Hi Don -

Here you go:

AFTERTHOUGHT: Just realized you asked for both sides. I'll post the other side of the pieces tomorrow.

Three piece bearing

Hi Steve, Ok, Thanks!. That is indeed CN bearing. Is that RHP? Looks like it.

What bearing did you replace it with?

Did you check end play of crank with new bearing & pinion nut tight?
Don

I purchased bike from original owner. Yes, CN condition. Bearings were original to the bike so I would expect so.

I replaced it with the Romanian bearing sold by CBS (bronze cage).

I did not measure end play when I tightened the crank/pinion nut, but it felt like somewhere between .003" - .005". Once primary was fully assembled, it was non-existent.

Steve

Don -

Other side of CN TS bearing. No markings.

Steve

Hi; if those bearings are originals; the DS is a RHP C2 roller?

Hi Steve, Odd it doesn't say maker on other side. The construction of steel cage looks like RHP, Made in England is a clue also.

Original parts are really important to document. There is so much controversy about original fitments. So indeed the later motor needs CN timing side roller, while the earlier with C3 ball will need C3 roller in most cases.

So what bearing clearance you need will depend upon the year motor & crank. As well as any individual tolerance of the motor at hand.

Suppose you put CN ball in place of C3 ball when motor wants C3? What would it feel like? Could you feel it too tight? The roller is obvious when too tight. It doesn't want to go together easily or crank pull out freely. I think about this stuff....
Don

Jubeeprince- I just watched a video on youtube of the Triumph factory in 1982. It was pretty rough but I could see the black cylinder heads stacked up at one point. I expect you have seen it anyway.

dave

Hi Fernando - roller, yes, but C2 condition.

Don - that stuff keeps me up at night too, but only when it affects MY bike(s)! 😆

Dave - post or DM me the link to the video, I’d love to see it. AIUI, they used the painted heads/cases on the Tiger Trails and TSS’s too.

Steve

Not sure of how to do links but if you open youtube and type in "Triumph Meriden Factory Circa 1982" you will see it.

Dave

Hi Steve; point is that the famous factory bulletin from the engineer in chief (Mr Jones) mentioning that ALL the later models have the C2 roller in DS; then some than I saw or open had the CN and you had a C3!!!

Hi Reverb, My '73 had CM drive side from factory.... What year did "all later models" start?
Don

According to the information on this website HERE the Drive Side Roller bearing clearance was reduced to a C2 condition from 1976 onwards.
I've copied a part of the relevant page below as it also give the internal bearing clearance values between the different clearance grades.

Sorry Fernando, typo on my part. DS *is* C2. I also reference this much earlier in this thread.

I’ve corrected the typo.

Steve

Greetings from “The Land of Pleasant Living” (Maryland for those of you wondering).

It’s been a long win-tah, but I’m just about ready to start her up for the first time. Waiting on a new tacho cable and air filter covers, then the fun can commence! (i. e. Tightening loose Fasteners, chasing down oil leaks, etc…)

Thanks again to all of you for your time and patience with all my questions, concerns and fretting….

Hope to have a start up report in another week or two -

Cheers,

Steve

Last TMA Royal off the line at Meriden.

Bugger it all.

Was hoping to fire this beast up for the first time.

Couple of small oil leaks (teaspoon/tablespoon) from the cases underneath the engine and the Boyer won't spark. 12.7VDC at the battery, 12.1VDC at the (+) coil spade on coil #1 from ignition switch (negative ground). Probably bad contact in the kill switch or something in the headlight bucket causing resistance. Time to chase some wiring and try to locate the voltage drop.

Really hope in don't need to take the engine down to get rid of the oil leaks...

If at first you don't succeed, you're about average!

Steve

Look for the resistance in the plug inside the headlamp bucket. The wire that feeds the kill switch gets mucked up all the time.

Hello; by the way; did you weighted the connecting rods?

Thanks

Hi Steve, on paper & real life is too different things. For whatever reason it seem the volt drop for Lucas ignition switch is often about .5v. The kill switch.1-.2b pretty common.

I’ve never worked on Rita/Triumuph EI. Trispark, Boyer, Pazon have tolerated this drop & started & ran perfectly in real life. I would have never given it a thought. Was testing for other reasons. Yes, my bike has same drop. Just today it covered 170 mile ride. Didn’t miss a beat.

Of course if battery is low, like 11v then ignition is only actually getting 10.4v. Points not a problem. EI is on cusp of problems at least.

The plastic connector with flat pins is a problem waiting to happen. Best is cut them out & use different spades or bullet connectors. At least cut out the important wires like white & white/yellow.

Yes, do a point to point volt drop so you know exactly where the loss(es) are. Fuse is a common source of loss also.

I use dielectric grease on every single connector. Has served me well. Especially in moist/humid environments.
Don

Turns out the kill switch wasn’t even connected to the coil. The PO had the w/y wire attached to the flasher unit. So I can kill the turn signals with the kill switch

The white wire that is suppose to feed that switch was connected to the coil, so reversed them, re-soldered the w/y lead at the kill switch b/c there was some resistance there.

In for a penny in for a pound. The oil leak from the underside of the cases is too severe to leave alone, so I’m going to take the lump back down and re-seal. I initially used some Loctite 218 recommended by Don, but clearly I used too little in that area. Going to run a thicker bead of it this time.

If at first you don’t succeed, you’re about average!

Cheers,

Steve