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I have many things I'd like to share about the ride, just haven't gotten to them yet.....
Overall, I would say the Big X is a great machine! I was amazed at how well they ran and just got better. Yes, we spent a LOT of time building them and setting things up right, maybe better than original in some ways. Don't forget though that EVERYTHING was worn out and needed worked over.
With that said though, there are 3 major weaknesses that caused all of us a lot of grief. Number 1 is the primary chain situation. I would say that if the primary chain wasn't such an issue it would have saved all of us a couple hours maintenance every night. Adjusting that chain would take at least an hour, if there were no interruptions, which there always were! Once the primary chain was adjusted, then the rear chain, inner and outer brakes, foot clutch, hand clutch, shifter lever, shifter lock and compression release all needed to be adjusted and many of those adjustments are intertwined with the other so there is a sequence that these things need to be done in. In order to make these adjustments, the primary cover had to come off, as did the right side kicker cover, then a series of bolts and fasteners loosened and tightened in order to get the right tension. Number 2 I would say was the transmission lubrication system and trying to keep the lube inside the gearbox. The third is the clutch which is a bit quirky, with a set of double throw-out bearings, a poor lubrication system and a worn carrier bearing. However, mine seemed to settle down after about 1000 miles but was a source of constant worry.
Alex has shed some light on the chain situation, all of which I agree with. I would add to that by saying there are many issues that contribute to the chain wear. The primary chain is very short, about 52 links. Distance between centers is about 7 ", much less than the Harley. The motor sprocket is small at 15 teeth. These 2 factors cause the chain to travel very fast, especially at higher RPM. These fast chain speeds tend to throw any lube off pretty quickly. In addition, the clutch sprockets are not replaceable and were all worn to some degree but we did have new engine sprockets which seemed to show virtually no wear. The lubrication system is very poor for the chain, almost non existent really, unless the engine is heavily overoiling, which makes a huge mess of everything! I was aware that the X eats primary chains after talking to the few guys that ran them on the Cannonball. They all had issues, regardless of what chain they used! Mike Jensen just decided to replace the chain every day! It was much easier to do that than adjust them every day! In an effort to avoid some of these issues I set mine up with a 17 tooth motor sprocket whereas the other guys all ran a 15. I did have a larger rear at 35 tooth which gave the same overall gear ratio. This may have helped some, but not really noticeable. Perhaps the biggest reason though is that we simply ran these things a lot faster than they were designed to run on a continuous basis. For a few days we bumped our cruising speed up from 45 to 50 mph. My bike was quite happy at either speed and actually seemed to like 47-48 mph best. After a few days of this, Hans (always the engineer) suggested we scale back to 45 to reduce wear and fatigue on parts and fasteners, which we did. I have to say, that one change made the biggest difference in chain wear! Also vibration settled down a bit and the bikes were just not working as hard and seemed quite happy. I replaced my first primary chain at about 1500 miles, since restoration. Many of these miles were at slower break in speeds however. The second chain barely lasted 1000 miles and this covered the 50 mph spells. That chain was trashed! Rusty, kinks, tight and loose all over and very noisy! I'm on chain #3 now which has about 1100 miles on it and will probably need replaced soon. On my long drive home I was trying to figure out in my head how to fit a belt drive to the primary and avoid these problems. I decided that unless I do this again, it's probably not worth the effort, chains are pretty cheap....
Steve, to answer your question about an O ring chain: There simply isn't room between the chain and the inner primary cover at the rear, or the generator drive pulley which is attached to the back of the engine sprocket, to fit one in there. Stewart had one fitted and within a few hundred miles discovered that the wider chain damaged the belt groove section of the generator drive pulley. He was forced to go with a standard chain and file all the deep dimples out of the pulley groove which was made by the wider pins and was tearing up his generator belt.
Interestingly, we all ran the same rear chains as we had on the front. The rear required occasional adjustment but overall, very little. The differences in design here are huge, which added to this longevity. The rear chain is twice the length, all sprockets were new, the chain speed is about half that of the primary, so lube was more inclined to stay in place. The rear chain would easily last 10,000 miles or more.
The gearbox and clutch are other issues all together...... I'll have to save those for other posts, along with tires, throttle cable setup, exposed rocker arms and pushrods........
Overall, I would say the Big X is a great machine! I was amazed at how well they ran and just got better. Yes, we spent a LOT of time building them and setting things up right, maybe better than original in some ways. Don't forget though that EVERYTHING was worn out and needed worked over.
With that said though, there are 3 major weaknesses that caused all of us a lot of grief. Number 1 is the primary chain situation. I would say that if the primary chain wasn't such an issue it would have saved all of us a couple hours maintenance every night. Adjusting that chain would take at least an hour, if there were no interruptions, which there always were! Once the primary chain was adjusted, then the rear chain, inner and outer brakes, foot clutch, hand clutch, shifter lever, shifter lock and compression release all needed to be adjusted and many of those adjustments are intertwined with the other so there is a sequence that these things need to be done in. In order to make these adjustments, the primary cover had to come off, as did the right side kicker cover, then a series of bolts and fasteners loosened and tightened in order to get the right tension. Number 2 I would say was the transmission lubrication system and trying to keep the lube inside the gearbox. The third is the clutch which is a bit quirky, with a set of double throw-out bearings, a poor lubrication system and a worn carrier bearing. However, mine seemed to settle down after about 1000 miles but was a source of constant worry.
Alex has shed some light on the chain situation, all of which I agree with. I would add to that by saying there are many issues that contribute to the chain wear. The primary chain is very short, about 52 links. Distance between centers is about 7 ", much less than the Harley. The motor sprocket is small at 15 teeth. These 2 factors cause the chain to travel very fast, especially at higher RPM. These fast chain speeds tend to throw any lube off pretty quickly. In addition, the clutch sprockets are not replaceable and were all worn to some degree but we did have new engine sprockets which seemed to show virtually no wear. The lubrication system is very poor for the chain, almost non existent really, unless the engine is heavily overoiling, which makes a huge mess of everything! I was aware that the X eats primary chains after talking to the few guys that ran them on the Cannonball. They all had issues, regardless of what chain they used! Mike Jensen just decided to replace the chain every day! It was much easier to do that than adjust them every day! In an effort to avoid some of these issues I set mine up with a 17 tooth motor sprocket whereas the other guys all ran a 15. I did have a larger rear at 35 tooth which gave the same overall gear ratio. This may have helped some, but not really noticeable. Perhaps the biggest reason though is that we simply ran these things a lot faster than they were designed to run on a continuous basis. For a few days we bumped our cruising speed up from 45 to 50 mph. My bike was quite happy at either speed and actually seemed to like 47-48 mph best. After a few days of this, Hans (always the engineer) suggested we scale back to 45 to reduce wear and fatigue on parts and fasteners, which we did. I have to say, that one change made the biggest difference in chain wear! Also vibration settled down a bit and the bikes were just not working as hard and seemed quite happy. I replaced my first primary chain at about 1500 miles, since restoration. Many of these miles were at slower break in speeds however. The second chain barely lasted 1000 miles and this covered the 50 mph spells. That chain was trashed! Rusty, kinks, tight and loose all over and very noisy! I'm on chain #3 now which has about 1100 miles on it and will probably need replaced soon. On my long drive home I was trying to figure out in my head how to fit a belt drive to the primary and avoid these problems. I decided that unless I do this again, it's probably not worth the effort, chains are pretty cheap....
Steve, to answer your question about an O ring chain: There simply isn't room between the chain and the inner primary cover at the rear, or the generator drive pulley which is attached to the back of the engine sprocket, to fit one in there. Stewart had one fitted and within a few hundred miles discovered that the wider chain damaged the belt groove section of the generator drive pulley. He was forced to go with a standard chain and file all the deep dimples out of the pulley groove which was made by the wider pins and was tearing up his generator belt.
Interestingly, we all ran the same rear chains as we had on the front. The rear required occasional adjustment but overall, very little. The differences in design here are huge, which added to this longevity. The rear chain is twice the length, all sprockets were new, the chain speed is about half that of the primary, so lube was more inclined to stay in place. The rear chain would easily last 10,000 miles or more.
The gearbox and clutch are other issues all together...... I'll have to save those for other posts, along with tires, throttle cable setup, exposed rocker arms and pushrods........
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