Sherco X-ride project

[Weasel]

Few years ago bought a Sherco Xride dirt bike. It's more or less a trials bike stuffed into frame with a seat.

So recently riding it developed a very loud grinding noise in the drivetrain suddenly. Loud whirring noise, very odd and really loud. Got noiser if the clutch was in and less so when it was out. Anyways that lead to to a tear down and snowballed a bit.

Popped the head off as the first suggestion most had was it a was lower bearing. However with the Jug off there was no extra play anywhere, there was a hard catch at TDC though. You could spin the cylinder through but not by pushing on the rod. So after trying to figure out if I should pay the local shop to split he case my Dad offered to help we tear it apart. He had worked in a Honda repair shop for some years.

So on opening up the clutch side nothing seemed off with the clutch plates and oddly with the basket removed the catch in the engine side was gone. Then noticed this:

And found the rest of it in various places:

 

[Weasel]

One of the pieces had ended between the engine drive gear and the clutch basket gear. Needless to say it chewed up a couple teeth and that was the sticking as the piston cycled.

So that was the cause of the engine sticking at TDC but still didn't seem to show what was making the noise.

 

[Weasel]

Well until we pulled apart the kick starter

The teeth on both ratchets were absolutely hammered

And looking at the case we figured out why. There is a cast in step in the case that is supposed to be the stop for the kick starter gear. When you kick the lever it should hit this stop and that is the end of the throw. Well that step has been chewed up and a large portion of it is missing.

So it would appear that it worn down far enough that the gear was able to slide past the stop and wedge itself into the case and the noise I was hearing was the teeth slipping by each other at whatever this thing idles at.

Checked with a few places and no one seems to have any idea how this would have happened, the initial cut on the stop looks to be machined but no one I found said the factory ever had done that. So it either broke off or was wearing down over time.

 

[Weasel]

So that lead to a new drive gear, new clutch basket, and kick starting gears. And it's also cheaper and faster to order parts from Splatsite.com in the UK then from the Sherco "dealers" in the states. :rolleyes:

So on to fixing the stop. I had considered welding it but given it's been sitting in oil and no idea how it would effect the case that was the second option. Decided to instead drill and tap it for a bolt that would act as the new stop.

Oh before that I opened up the oil drain hole to match the bolt diameter. This thing is very slow draining so figured almost doubling the size would help a bit.

 

[Weasel]

Cleaned up the step and the areas that were wearing with a end mill:

Then drilled for a 5/16 threaded hole:

Then flip the case over and tap from the outside:

Milled off a flat spot for the bolt to seat:

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[Weasel]

And from the other side:

And bolt install, CAT high strength bolt so should hold up just fine:

Same height as the stop:

So then pretty much reassemble and install back in the bike.

 

[Weasel]

Oh other then the new clutch basket I got doesn't have the correct profile cut out for the thrust washer, so back to the lathe.

Old on the left and new on the right:

And the new machined with the pocket:

So pretty much everything is sorta ready to get back to running.

 

[Weasel]

Well it almost was until....

I changed the rear shock spring out years ago for a softer rate as I'm considerably lighter then normal riders. I had a few few look at the front forks to re-spring but all they did was cut some of the pre-load spacers. The front end never really moved much with me so I decided to fix that. And I can change the oil and fix the leaking seal.

These forks are 40mm Mazochi stuff and I can't seem to find any info on them. Let alone any springs that are not just heavier rates. After a few days I did find that Fox has coils for their mountain bike line that are in the 40mm fork range. So a couple quick emails and I got some spec sheets for their springs which included several softer rates. The dimensions were similar enough but longer. The length can be adjusted for easy enough by shortening the spacer a bit more.

In looking at the forks though I wasn't happy with how they were assembled as there is some room for the to float around. So spend a bit a drew these up.

They will keep the coil centered in the fork. Printed out of Nylon 11

And fit into the end of the cartridge. Did take a small bit of fitment work, got a bit excited when I hit the print button.

 

[Weasel]

waiting for coils to show up now. Also had to order a few other dumb thing. The gear selector drum had some wear marks on it so replaced that. The radiator looked like it had been leaking and someone had stripped the mounting holes out and did a very poor job of heli-coil so got a replacement ordered. Also discovered the radiator hoses were cracking and so another over the pond order for replacement hoses. And replaced alot of the crap stainless cap heads with zinc flake bolts from CAT or McMaster. Looking at installing a new headlight as well but will see if I get tired of screwing with it or not. I'd like to run a nice round LED but not sure what's good and what's junk.

 

[Ebs]

How's the trail riding out there? Much single track? Black Hills always looked like real cool terrain.

 

[Weasel]

How's the trail riding out there? Much single track? Black Hills always looked like real cool terrain.

About 75 ish miles of actual single track. Which isn't a ton. Lots of tighter woods riding. You can ride any of the other designated trails on a dirt bike though.

 

[Weasel]

well my parts that I didn't didn't work so while waiting for other stuff to show up I got bored and painted the plastics.