Old Aluminum---New Again?

[Beyond The Pale]

What is the "red death"? I did pull the sproket, cleaned it and the shaft well. I thought the red stuff was just powdered rust:excuseme: Both the parts looked good, there was a little bit of play between the shaft and the sproket...is this normal??

Unfortunately is is normal. The sprocket and shaft slowly wear. Eventually the splines on the shaft strip and it is time for a new countershaft. It was more of a problem on the 70's and 80's XRs and XLs that only had 6 splines. The newer fine splines tend to last longer as the force is spread out on more splines.

Engine looks great. I'm going to have to try that method.