Hitchcocks Forum

Does upping the oil in the primary drive casing from 420cc to one litre make the sprag last longer?
(There is a theory the sprag fails due to lack of lubrication due to it height about the normal oil level.)
Personally I would have thought the normal amount of oil would be thrown all over the inside of the casing anyway.

The sprag might be considered as a weird type of roller bearing with loose fitting rollers, so yes it needs lubricating. It sits on the inside of the primary drive where we might expect plenty of oil thrown at it by the chain. Adding more oil might encourage the primary case to leak. Are you using ATF? ATF is a gear and clutch lubricant, but then so is the regular specified oil. Maybe try changing the type of lubricant rather than overfilling(?)

Jefrs I am asking anyone who has actually run with 1 litre of oil in the primary chain case.

I know of one instance where more than a litre of oil ended up inside the primary chain case...

It filled up as a result of constantly siphoning/draining oil out of the catch can. But still suffered sprag failure/s.
The factory upgraded the original sprags after a year or so to ones which came with lubrication holes. From memory they were almost non-existent on the early sprags fitted to the X. I believe there is a Borg&Beck roller half which can be fitted onto the OEM half of the sprag which results in a far superior arrangement compared with anything RE ever supplied on this model (and at the time cheaper).

Papa, i ran it for about three years with 1 litre oil changes, I'm still with the original sprag 2002..

I think if the ignition timing and carb settings are spot on and maintained that way then the biggest killer of sprags i.e. kick/spit back, will be eliminated..

I admit that i changed back last year simply because i was trying to iron out all possible causes of clutch problems..

I think it was BW who said that too much oil may be a cause of clutch drag.. the only thing i noticed was a more pronounced swishing sound coming from the primary case and maybe a little more oil finding its way down the pushrod and into the gearbox outer case..

Not really a problem as such, ATF has been used throughout and the clutch is working nicely these days..

Just hope i haven't put the hext on it now.. gwilly.

Hello there,
I read somewhere that you had to fit 800cc of oil (ATF welcome) in the primary case for the AVL Enfield. That's the maount I fit on mine, and no clutch sleep. For the sprag clutch, I don't know, as I only use the kick starter, except total emergency occasions. It seems for me that a liter is too much. Hope it will help you. Claude

Considering the sprag clutch is only engaged for a few seconds when starting,then sliding loosely most of the other time, it shouldn`t need a large quantity of oil constantly slopping around it.