Hitchcocks Forum

Hi has anyone here fitted the Carberry vibration reduction plate on a UCE Efi Bullet?. If anyone has, I would be interested in any comments as it looks a tempting buy for a vibey Classic Chrome!

I cannot, in all honesty say that I can notice a difference.
Others may have had different experiences.

Frank

There ought to a (printed) video link included of Mr Carberry himself showing the correct way to fit these things in every kit sold.
Might save some grief further down the line.

I didn’t find the video that helpful actually; he made it look a lot more complicated than it really is. The main problem with these is whether or not the one you get is accurately made. Some owners in order to make them fit have omitted to refit the shims with the result that the outside of the cams has worn against the plate.....The poor accuracy has been reported to our host who has taken this up with the supplier. I ordered mine from India ( before I discovered that our host now supplies them). Mine fitted ok. Basically instead of the plate being fixed in position as determined by two dowels in the original setup, you centre the additional bearing in the new plate on the crankshaft, then tighten the plate, the idea being that it is then correctly positioned on your engine, not relying on the accuracy or otherwise of the position of the dowels. As for is it worth doing, my opinion is probably not. My C5 was a shaker; it still is. Note that the “scientific” demo of the reduction of vibration on the demo bike is actually a 350cc, hardly a shaker anyway. To those who say, well it probably prolongs the life of the timing side needle roller bearing I say, until this plate came into the market where was the concern or evidence that the bearing is short-lived (Electra EFI excepted)? My honest conclusion is that it is an unnecessary answer to a question nobody actually asked. If you want a UCE 500 that is smooth buy a Euro IV one; these are made at a new factory on automated state-of-the-art production lines. The vibration on the earlier models is primarily down to how well the crank was trued and balanced. Trying to correct an out-of-true crank by adding another bearing doesn’t make much sense really...

Thanks. Rattlebattle - that is helpful. I have a Euro 4 with 2200 miles and 3 oil changes. It is vibey above about 55mph. My 2014 Efi Watsonian Woodsman was smoother than this Euro 4. I watched a number of videos and picked up the importance of following the instructions. I also thought the same thought about the 350. However, it is useful to get feedback. I might hold fire until the next service at 3750 and see if it has smoothed out.

Just fitted mine today. The engineering is nice and I can see possible benefit in having another bearing to support the crankshaft, but I noticed no difference to vibration at all. Mine was never that bad anyway, as a 2016 500 EFI. The 19 tooth drive sprocket that I fitted at the same time was a definite improvement for UK roads! Thank you to our hosts for bundling up all the parts that I needed for this little job!

I have had no experience with this plate but I would agree with Rattlebattle. My 2006 Iron Barrel was always a shaker until on its last rebuild I used a crankshaft from a friend's motor which he had scrapped. He had had it balanced some years earlier so I put my roller big end and conrod on it, had it trued by an expert and it is now a different bike to ride. It revs out quicker and the vibrations are nearly zero. So, in my opinion the balance of the crankshaft is the key and as they are mass produced it stands to reason some will be better than others. I have never rebuilt a UCE but I imagine it would be harder than mine was.So if you want to spend the money and time I'm sure balancing would be the answer.

Save your money they're not worth it. I bought one from our hosts and whilst fitting it the inner race of the bearing cracked across its entire width.

I showed the plate and race to a friend of mine who has 40 years of experience as an engineer for the MOD and he just said 'crap, get rid'.

Sorry but this seems a gimmick and not something that will actually enhance the Enfield motor in any way.

Ian

Horses for courses! Road testers and owners noticed from the start that EFIs had a vibration problem. No surprise - being a 500cc four stroke single with no balance shaft. In many cases vibration became most noticeable and unpleasant at around 55mph. Other vibration periods, more or less intense, can vary from bike to bike.



EFI vibration can have a number of related causes, not all related to lack of balance shaft: engine mounting, excessive play in the headstock bearings, crankshaft imbalance, and crankshaft whip among them.



The Carberry Anti-vibration plate isn’t supposed to be a cure for every cause of vibration on an EFI. It wasn’t designed to be panacea. It was designed to reduce vibrations that are caused by crankshaft whip, a problem directly related to the excessive crankshaft overhang. To say it doesn’t fix other causes of vibration – like crankshaft imbalance – is like saying a new spark plug didn’t cure my puncture!