Gentlemen, check your balls. and ladies too.

[hools100RS]

ME109? Is that you Jeff? G'day. After talking to you and your brother at the Off Centre, I checked the tension of that bypass spring (with the end of a wooden skewer!!!) and It seems OK. Is it worthwhile taking apart to check the spring length or just be happy that there seems to be 'adequate' tension there?
Oh, by the way, after leaving on Sunday morning I cleaned up two feral goats about 80 kms from Wanaaring and threw the G/S away big time!!. Duct tape, ocky straps and a bit of fencing wire got me 1000k's home!! Old BM's. Tough as nails!!. Mark.

[gspd]

After what mine was like (loose, almost falling out by itself) I would recommend to at least check that the retainer is not loose.
A easy twist with a long thin screwdriver in the slot on either side of the hole just to see if it's snug.
When I re-installed mine I screwed it in until I felt some resistance.
It looked flush with the housing and the slot was aligned with a line in the casing that I assume was a feeble factory attempt at peening.

[ME 109]

ME109? Is that you Jeff? G'day. After talking to you and your brother at the Off Centre, I checked the tension of that bypass spring (with the end of a wooden skewer!!!) and It seems OK. Is it worthwhile taking apart to check the spring length or just be happy that there seems to be 'adequate' tension there?
Oh, by the way, after leaving on Sunday morning I cleaned up two feral goats about 80 kms from Wanaaring and threw the G/S away big time!!. Duct tape, ocky straps and a bit of fencing wire got me 1000k's home!! Old BM's. Tough as nails!!. Mark.

Gidday Mark, yep, ME109 is me!
Bummer about the goats man, are you OK? I have a thread on the OCR in the 'off road' section of this forum with a nice picture of your GS.
The OCR was a blast, I had a great time there and the ride was excellent. My RS performed perfectly the whole trip.
Man I love that bike!

I would be happy that there is adequate tension on the ball. GSPD's thoughts on checking the tightness of the retaining screw has merit although the down side is that you could disturb the 'Peening' process that was done by the bmw factory to retain the 'retaining plug'
You would then need to re-peen the engine casing back into the slot of the retaining screw.
It isn't a really big deal to re-peen it, but you need to have a good look at the retainer to see how the factory did it.....
There is another thread under the 'scheduled events' heading with post titled 'Oz Boxerworks ride' or sumthin' like that.
10-11-12 September at Talbingo. It would be great if you could make it. I'll send you a PM with my contact details.

The blunt end of a wooden bbq skewer is ideal to check the ball tension, you only need to poke the ball in 2-3mm and it won't hurt anything.
Just between you and me though, I used the pointed end of a chainsaw file to check mine.

Jeff


Edit: Oooops, I told a fib. I didn't have a pic of your GS in my OCR thread..... so here it is.
And by the way, welcome to the nuthouse Mark!

[Airbear]

Welcome aboard, Mark. Pull up a log and grab a brew. I love yer bike, and I hate goats, though they are nice to eat if you get a young one without testicles. As Jeff says, check out the Talbingo thread

http://boxerworks.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=4

[SteveD]

Welcome Mark.

Where you from?

[dougie]

I cleaned up two feral goats about 80 kms from Wanaaring and threw the G/S away big time!!. Duct tape, ocky straps and a bit of fencing wire got me 1000k's home!! Old BM's. Tough as nails!!. Mark.

Seems old Aussies are quite tough too!
Did you go to the ME109 school of mechanics?

[George Ryals]

Please note that the peening of the retainer only needs to be a few thousanths of an inch to keep it from rotating. Knocking an eighth inch tab of aluminum into the slot is not necessary.

[Major Softie]

The filterd oil, and any oil that flows through the bypass end up in the same oil gallery immediately behind the oil filter cavity.
For oil in the gallery to hold the ball closed, wouldn't the oil pressure need to be greater in the gallery than in the filter chamber?
Most of you guys are expressing what I think.
But I'm missing something when it comes to oil pressure assisting in holding the ball closed.
Ooops, gotta go to work

I know George tried already, but I'm not sure he completely cleared up one point for you. "For oil in the gallery to hold the ball closed, wouldn't the oil pressure need to be greater in the gallery than in the filter chamber?" No. The total pressure on the ball valve must be higher, but that pressure is not just the oil pressure. As George said, it is the pressure of the oil PLUS the spring.

[hools100RS]

Thanks guys, nice to be able to chat! The old G/S is a little worse for wear after the goat incident, mainly screen, bent and broken luggage and fittings!! Uggh! it was ugly!! Still.......R80G/S..2. Goats..0. I'm having trouble opening ME109's pictures. Any secrets??? Thanks heaps. Mark.

[grant81rs]

Gidday Mark,

Love a groovy GS, man they look neat & welcome!! Love a good set of "Pot Racks" also, mine are hanging up in the shed just waiting to be matched up with an older GS one day, I haven't told my lovely wife that yet so keep it quiet

Bloody hell that one fancy "walking space suit" in the background behind ya bike, how go they keep their garments so sparkling clean & bright with all that lovely red aussie outback dirt ....He must of trailered his suit to the rally I think.....

Anyway always great to have another Aussie on board....