Gauging interest in K100 rear shaft splines

[Sean_NZ]

Hi Folks,

I'm the proud New Zealand owner of a 1990 K100 LT and a long-time lurker on this site.

In common with many others my bike had some mileage and maintenance related wear to the rear shaft splines that I had carefully nursed along for several years, however I'd grown increasingly leery of travelling any great distance for fear of stripping them entirely.

In perusing the site and considering options for repair/replacement I noted very good feedback for repairs done by Bruno's in the US, but unfortunately the shipping cost made that somewhat less attractive as an option, so as a machinist with my own shop the idea of manufacturing replacements myself was pretty much a given. 

Long story short I machined a new collar for the drive shaft and rebuilt the pinion shaft.  Having gone to the effort of acquiring tooling I'm now wondering whether others might be interested in such components if I were to produce more while I have time available (say over the coming festive season).  As to how it might work in practice:

I wouldn't be offering a full rebuild or exchange service.  Instead I would simply provide a rebuilt pinion for the recipient to install or have installed, and a new collar that would need to be welded to the end of the drive-shaft (the worn one having been machined off).  This would obviously require some competence on the part of purchasers to attend to the installation themselves, or the necessary means to have others do it for them. 

As to cost I haven't really given it much thought at this point, but thinking aloud the saving in freight alone (again focusing on folks in the southern hemisphere) would be reasonable.  Given Bruno's already offer what seems to be an excellent service to people in the northern hemisphere I would suggest people in that part of world consider them ahead of this option.

If anyone out there is interested do PM me and we'll take it from there. 

Best regards to you all.

Sean

[Martin]

I've got a mate who has a small collection of K bikes 1 x K75s 2 x K75 RT's 1 x K100RS & 1-1/2 75's in bits.He was looking into welding in new splines.But could not  find
anybody in Aus making the splines.If you came up with a good product for a reasonable price and let it be known,with the amount of K bikes around they would have to sell.
Next time I see him I will ask him if he is still chasing splines.
Good luck Martin.

[bocutter Ed]

... Bruno's in the US ...

FYI, Bruno is in Canada. Iron Bridge, Ontario. 

[pfls]

Having a pinion gear exchange is not feasible since the pinion gear and the ring gear are a matched set. Installing a different set of gears into a final drive housing is time consuming and requires even more tooling to get the gear lash and contact patch correct through a shimming process. The easiest way is to repair the splines on the existing pinion gear, and reassemble the drive the way it came apart.

[Martin]

Sean finally contacted my mate about the splines and he has found somebody in Brisbane that does them.Apparently they do them for miniature Dragsters. Whether you would still have a big enough market in Kiwiland I don't know.
Good luck Martin