Slinger

Hi Guys,
Just got my 60/2 on the road . All seems ok. Shifts good, Idles well. Maybe a new clutch needed. I pulled off the rims and had (N) tires put and just ordered some brake pads form Richard at Bench. I've heard about that slinger problem. Is there a way to diagnose that before it gets worse or figure out what condition its in without taking the whole engine apart? Any help appreciated. Best

David -

Welcome!! Are you original owner of the /2? Do you know the full maintenance history? The basic answer regarding slingers is that no, you cannot inspect them in any way to determine their state. The only way is to pull the crankshaft out of the bike. There's no real good rule of thumb for when they get full. In the olden days, before detergent oils, a majority of the particulates that fill up the slingers tend to settle out to the pan during non-running periods. So, simply emptying the pan on a regular basis helps to get those things out of the oil. But detergent oils hold that stuff in suspension, subjecting them to being slung out and filling the slingers.

I've heard mileages of 30-40K miles between slinger overhauls, but that's probably starting at a point where the engine/slingers were cleaned and then regular oil changes are done. Putting rare earth magnets in the oil pan can help with that along with having a magnetic drain plug...Vech has those magnets. But if a bike was sitting for years, had been using non-detergent oil, then changed to detergent oil, I suspect that the slingers would fill up pretty fast. I've heard stories of bikes with only 10-12K having full slingers and bikes with 50K miles having half-filled slingers.

For my R69S which had about 27K miles, I did a mechanical restoration and decided to ride the bike for a year or so in order to get a sense of what else needed to be done. Then I took the engine down and had the slingers done and went the extra mile and had the top end converted to lead-free components. I'm changing oil once a year, which is probably less than 1K miles. I suspect I'll never have to deal with slingers again.

So, can't help you, but it's something to consider. If it goes too far and the slingers occlude the hole that feeds the main bearings in the crank, it will be ruined. Money can fix that...there are places out there that can rechrome the journals and machine back to spec.