Hi experianced Buell owners.
I just purchased a 2004 Firebolt XB12R and had read about the dreaded oil pump drive. Well, I pretty much rode it home (only a few miles) and decided not to ride it again until I checked that drive. So after pulling the oil pump out, I found what I had been warned about. The teeth on the helical gear were razor sharp and there could not have been too many miles left before those teeth broke off.
So, firstly, thanks for all the various forum owners for warning about this issue.
I have ordered a new bronze gear plus the pinion locking tool and various gaskets, plugs, leads etc seeing as I don't know how old everything is, I may as well change a few things whilst I have the engine rotated. The current gear is steel so I assume it is the original. The bike has done 36k miles.
So, for people who have had the cam box cover off on their bikes, do I need to pull both rocker boxes off? They are not leaking, so if I can only disturb the front one, then I will just pull that off.
My plan is, to remove the front rockerbox cover, turn the engine to unload the valve springs then loosen/remove the rocker arms.
I then know that this pot is at TDC and the other is on intake/exhaust phase. Turn the motor another 315 deg so the rear is now at TDC and it would also be on a compression stroke so the valves relaxed.
I can then safely pull the cam box cover off.
Have I missed anything on my cunning plan?
I also intend to poke a small phillips head screwdriver into the hole where the timing sensor attaches to the cam to ensure I don't pull the front 3 cams out and slip a bit of shim in to keep the rear cam from pulling forward when I pull the cam cover off.
Lastly, I assume I will need to rotate the engine to get the front rocker box off, is that correct?
Also, pic below for those that like to see how close this drive was to failing. For those with a few miles on their bikes who have not checked that gear, do it on your next oil change.
Thanks!
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