Britta's new final drive is here!

[SCJJR65]

Well, it finally arrived this afternoon from LA, in a large and somewhat heavy box.  The new final drive for Britta is in the house!    Yay!!  It's from a 1982 LS with less than 30k on the clock (considerably less than Britt's approx. 150,000 miles).  Thanks (1,000X) to NC Steve for making this all possible!   [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

Now to get in touch with my mechanic and see shen he might be able to make the switcheroo so I won't be paranoid of riding Britta anywhere!

[Bob_Roller]

Great to hear you got a low mileage final drive.

One thing you may want to check out, if the final drive is from an LS, the brake shoes may not work on a standard R65 .

Sue may be able to help out here, as she got standard brake shoes for her LS, and the friction linings would barely contact the drum surface.

[nhmaf]

Yes, the brake shoe sizes are slightly different so if they are LS shoes on that drive unit and you put this on a standard snowflake R65 wheel
it is likely that the shoe radius and width won't fit so well.  The LS specific parts are a few mm different.  If you have "regular" R65 brake shoes from your existing unit to swap over, you should be A-OK !

[SCJJR65]

Well, I'm happy to report that the new final drive was installed today, and all is well once again with Britta! Woo-Hoo!!  Now I can ride again without the paranoia of her drive dying on me while we're on the road!

And, even better news.... The brake shoes that came with the drive that came from an R65LS are working just fine, too!  My mechanic told me he had done this procedure several times before and never had any problems with LS brake shoes in a regular R65 wheel, and she is braking better than ever!  A bonus!!  I'm a happy camper again!! [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

[not-so-fast-ed]

Looking good, John.
Congratulations on the new (safer) drive.  Was the old one making noises, or just "didn't feel right"?
Ed  

[SCJJR65]

I guess you could say it "didn't feel right."  It was confirmed by my mechanic when he pulled the rear wheel to put on the Avons I bought from him, and I saw the wear on the drive from nearly 150,000 miles on the bike.  I can't say I didn't get my money's worth out of the drive, though!  

[suecanada]

I am soooo pleased for you John!! Those rear splines do look wonderful....don't they?!! Now you can plan to attend the Gathering of the Clans in Ferguson, NC if you want to go!

[SCJJR65]

Yeah, if I don't have to work that weekend, I think I'll try to attend.  The last time I was up there was in 1997 on my first 1981 R65, "Bruno".  Even though I went by myself, I had a blast!