primary oil

[derek taylor]

59 flash, have been running her with atf oil in the primary case, put in 225cc no leakage. just started to strip down to do gearbox mainshaft oil seal, when i took off the outer case i noticed  the primary chain was dry, i just get an awfull feeling that the capacitie
 written in the haynes manual is wrong. anyone else come across this ?    

[trevinoz]

Why not try filling it until oil runs out of the level screw/standpipe?

[derek taylor]

ah yes will look into that when i rebuild, also thinking of making a dip stick

[KiwiGF]

I use a torch to look down the fill hole, I think muskrat suggested that method, you can see if the oi has reached near to the drain hole, if it is near then it would mean the (out of sight) chain wheel should be touching oil, if the chain wheel is just touching the oil then you have enough oil in it, its best to have as little oil in the case as possible I (and others) reckon, to prevent clutch slip.

I also found the book amount is not enough.

With mine its a real challenge to stop leaks from the screws in the xase, which is another reason I dont use the level screw etc

[bobandbec]

Stopped my screws from leaking with lots and lots of PTFE tape. About 3 attempts adding more PTFE each time.
The chap at Lightening in Sale said the same thing when I visited him, ie. use as little oil as possible/practical to prevent clutch contamination.

[trevinoz]

If you fit the thick fibre washers under the screw heads this will help stop the leaks.

[bikerbob]

 That is correct amount of oil I put that amount in my A7 225cc and my chain runs in the oil as for leaking fixing screws you are supposed to put fibre washers behind the level and drain screws these are the only ones that will leak on my bike if I omit the washers.

[trevinoz]

And as I said, you have to use the thick ones which are available from some suppliers. Thin washers just chew up and let the oil through.

[RichardL]

I'll be corrected, if need be, but it's a wet clutch. I think if it's wet, it's wet, and there would be no small amount of oil that somehow means it's not slipping. The chain runs in oil and must be flinging that oil wildly, if the chain is indeed being lubricated.

Richard L.

[muskrat]

They are a "wet" clutch but they don't like to be drowned.
ATF or "motorcycle" oil with no friction modifiers. Car oil will kill the plates.
Cheers

[derek taylor]

right then just putting it back together and had a weigh up of where the level screw is, if you fill it up to the level screw it's still a good 1/2inch short of the chain "thinks i will use the dip stick method"

[bsa-bill]

I'm not sure we're all talking the same talk here, level screw ??, am I right in thinking 59 would have the level "plug" with attached level tube (stand pipe as Trevinoz stated), or the level screw as in the third or something chaincase screw along the bottom of the chaincase.
A pic of said screw would clarify Derek.
I've always found the level tube to be about correct in that the chain is always oiled, it's possible someone might have shortened the tube at some time

[KiwiGF]

hi derek, I reckon the oil should not be touching the chain at the level screw, only at the chainwheel. The botton of the case is not level when the bike is on its wheels so the oil is deeper at the rear than at the level screw.

Does that make sense?

[derek taylor]

no tube just a drain screw & a level screw

[derek taylor]

have sealed it up put some oil in so it's just up to the bottom of the chain, you can see the chain if you shine a light in the filler hole.   will see how it goes