Whilst wheeling my 916 out of the garage this morning i noticed the rear wheel binding, had a good look and noticed one of the cush drive alloy bushes had dislodged and had been grinding away at the hub, so i need to remove the cush drive/sprocket holder and have a good look at what needs replacing...i've never removed this before , i'm guessing i need to slacken the chain off and undo the big nut on the sprocket side of the bike and then pull the cush drive and sprocket away from the hub?...any constructive advice welcomed, thanks.
Just done a similar job on my Multistrada and the rear sprocket was left behind when the carrier and cush rubbers were withdrawn from the sprocket. Unfortunately you won’t have a centre stand to support the bike so you’ll need to draw on your inner Heath Robinson if you don’t have an Abba stand. Andy
Yeah ,I wasn't sure if could do it on the sidestand but thinking about it I would need to support the rear end ...mmm looks like I'll be needing to get myself an ABBA stand...more expense I can do without!
You don’t need a centre stand. Put it on the side stand and strap the front brake lever for a bit of security. Slacken the chain as much as possible, undo the centre nut and slide the carrier off the axle. Yale note of spacers washers etc. You can work on the carrier assembly on the bench and then refit.
Sounds like it is the original sprocket/cush drive carrier? Most of the aftermarket ones have a security tab behind each of the rubbers to prevent movement towards the chain adjuster ring when the bonding between the rubber and the bolt head fails. Carrier kits from Renthal, Talon etc are not cheap, but may work out cost effective in the long run depending on how many chain and sprockets you get through and the risk of the same thing happening again and doing further damage to the chain adjuster ring.
I just plan to remove and replace the offending rubber cush drive pin, if the other four appear to be Okay. Just had a look at the prices of new Renthal kits, which don't appear to include the cush drive rubbers, unless i'm missing something?... i cant really justify the cost of a new setup if only one of the pins is at fault.
Before you refit the carrier assembly, take a small cold chisel or a dot punch and punch the back edge of the sprocket, around each cush drive, in 3 or 4 spots. You’re looking to distort the edge enough to hold the cush drive outer steel ring in place. This will stop them coming out and rubbing the hub.
I'd get the renthal (or similar) carrier, in fact I did after mine popped a cush drive and chewed up the eccentric - it all happened in just a few miles, leaving me stranded 100+ miles from home. The eccentric could still be used but there was only a couple of mm of material left so I thought it wise to replace it, along with the bearings etc. Trust me, the price of all that makes the renthal carrier look like small change plus, with the renthal carrier/sprocket setup future changing of sprockets is a doddle. Also, if one of the cush rubbers is knackered then I would think the others are likely not far behind.
