Cam Gears VLD 1933

[FrankDM]

On my last trip I had the problem that after about 5 miles the engine suddenly became mechanically very loud and then blocked.
After dismantling the timing cover, I saw the disaster. The cam gears were destroyed and then blocked (see picture).

Has anyone of you ever had such a problem or could give me an indication of what the cause was?
I still have no idea what the cause of the destruction of the gears was.

Now I am looking for the cam #1 (613-30A) - which drives the circuit breaker, or the whole set (613-30A, 610-30B, 611-30C, 612-30A) in good condition.
Who can help me?
(I had already placed an advert in the "wanted section")

Thanks
Frank

[Jerry Wieland]

Frank

If there is nothing is tore up except the cam gears you would have to suspect the gears themselves. That sure is ugly. How long has it been since someone was in the cam chest? Might have lost a cog. Jerry

On my last trip I had the problem that after about 5 miles the engine suddenly became mechanically very loud and then blocked.
After dismantling the timing cover, I saw the disaster. The cam gears were destroyed and then blocked (see picture).

Has anyone of you ever had such a problem or could give me an indication of what the cause was?
I still have no idea what the cause of the destruction of the gears was.

Now I am looking for the cam #1 (613-30A) - which drives the circuit breaker, or the whole set (613-30A, 610-30B, 611-30C, 612-30A) in good condition.
Who can help me?
(I had already placed an advert in the "wanted section")

Thanks
Frank

[kitabel]

Those do not look like stock VL lobes.

[Sargehere]

One gear tooth broke off, maybe just from age, maybe metal fatigue in a newer repop gear, and caused all that.

[chuckthebeatertruck]

It appears you have two, and perhaps three issues at the same time:
1) indeed, a chunk of tooth went through that gear train in one fast motion
2) from the deep score marks in the roots it appears the gears had at least one if not multiple tight spots in their rotation
3) it appears there is blueing of the roots and some tips (hard to tell without seeing in the right light under a lens) which indicates high pressure = heat = dead teeth

As others have asked -- was this set of gears together very long? They don't normally fail randomly and generally fail in the first few hundred miles if fit too tightly with improper backlash.

Similarly, a jammed up idler gear or generator can start the train of destruction . . . as can having the lobes reground if someone screwed up the post grinding heat treating.

In other words, this happened for a reason not just because -- and you're gonna have to go through everything to find out why.

[kitabel]

Not extensive experience, but I've never heard of a single piece of debris breaking every tooth off. Most common: it breaks one, and falls to the bottom of the cam chest.
The base circle is almost gone, and the flanks of at least 2 lobes look concave, like a KR. Whether this has anything to do with it? IDK.

[FrankDM]

Thanks for your feedback.
I can't say anything about the origin of the cams. I bought the bike in restored condition a few years ago and have used it around 800 mls since then.
I hadn't opened the engine before because there was no need to ..... until now
Regards
Frank