Replacing POG WITHOUT splitting cases....

[DragonLady58]

Here are 2 links to vid's showing how to replace the gear, using simple hand tools....and the last one even has camera footage of shaft and gear being replaced.
I have done this myself twice....and it does work. Takes about 4 to 5 hours, 2/3rds of it is setup and getting ready....
Hope this helps someone down the road....



Then watch-


Download these for your library!

[DragonLady58]

I'm just simply amazed at how many bikes escaped the Kawasaki upgrade of replacing the plastic gear....
What made me throw this back out there was I ran across a 99' drifter in pretty sad shape....engine is toast, thanks to the POG.
Guy there close to Seattle has one for sale for $1500....looks pretty ratty, poor paint job, rust all over. He hasn't listed it for awhile, so I hit him up. Since I'm interested, he went ahead a listed it again.
I'm a good bit away right now, will be about another week before I'm back there to pick the bike up.
Weeeeellllll, as luck would have it, I found one right down the road from where I'm staying, for a 99', blown engine (POG), almost perfect shape, other than the exhaust, seat, headlight are gone, for $1000. Guy will deliver to a friends bike shop, whom will hold it for me till I can get back with pickup.
Will be putting my HotRodded 1600 in it....along with some other goodies I'm taking off my 2001 Nomad, like my duals....
Anyway, there seems to still be quite a few POG Bikes still floating along out there....and for a nice leisurely weekend, you can bring back a old 1500 for less than $100....
The Drifters are getting scarce and I rather like that style....so I'm adopting this one personally....

[duffy]

I had a 99' Drifter about ten years ago and my researching showed that the Drifters never had a POG.....at least that was the consensus on the Drifter site.

[DragonLady58]

Originally Posted by duffy

I had a 99' Drifter about ten years ago and my researching showed that the Drifters never had a POG.....at least that was the consensus on the Drifter site.

Yea, I've heard the same thing....talked to a few of their mechanics at the national siminars, etc....and they said that though they never officially install them in the drifters, that there were a few that slipped by....falling between the cracks.
They said all the early 1500s had the plastic gears, but not the drifters. I think they probably had the 1500s and they accidentally left a few slip by. Basically the same engine except for the left side cover, painted covers, etc.
I really don't care how it happened, I got a great deal on the 99' 1500 drifter....

[OldSchool]

The Admins should make this post a sticky post to be saved for future. Bet it comes in handy for some for sure.

[mick56]

This is the best fix that i have heard of. Phil Halling's email to me, after i told him about the POG on his 99 Nomad, several years ago. "Just sorted my oil gear out, got the replacement complete with shaft, had the shaft machined off to leave an exact hole the size of the existing shaft, broke the plastic gear off - then heated up the new steel gear and slid it on and put 3 tack welds on it. costings wise, it was about £55 for the gear and a new RH gasket, then £75 to have it machined and took us 2.5 hrs to do. In my mind a better fix than Judges oil gear and a lot easier than splitting the crankcase or dropping the oil.
The only testing bit was stopping the existing shaft from going back into the case a few mm, we got over that by using one of those little round magnets on a car aerial type thing - the magnet was the same diameter as the shaft, so the hot (expanded) new gear just slid down the "aerial" and popped straight onto the shaft.
Pity they don't sell just the gear with a 12mm hole in the centre."

[duffy]

Originally Posted by DragonLady58

Yea, I've heard the same thing....talked to a few of their mechanics at the national siminars, etc....and they said that though they never officially install them in the drifters, that there were a few that slipped by....falling between the cracks.
They said all the early 1500s had the plastic gears, but not the drifters. I think they probably had the 1500s and they accidentally left a few slip by. Basically the same engine except for the left side cover, painted covers, etc.
I really don't care how it happened, I got a great deal on the 99' 1500 drifter....

I may get the chance to buy back the Drifter I had (sold it to a friend with the caveat that I got first dibs on it when he was ready to sell-I bought it from my brother).

[andyvh1959]

I have worked on many mobile equipment engineering projects over the decades. I'm always surprised/dismayed when the purchasing department has enough influence on a system design that a part is spec'd by engineering and then down-graded/cheapened by purchasing to get the cost down. Like in the POG case. I'd hope it was spec'd by engineering to make the oil gear either from machined steel or sintered metal, but not plastic. Sure plastic, when new, is in many cases durable and a very attractive lower cost option. But over time, chemical exposure, heating cycles, vibratory loads, plastic ages, hardens (not in a good way, meaning it gets brittle) and fails. In some cases if the failure does not cause a subsequent catastrophic failure and is easily serviceable, then fine, plastic is ok. But in this case, the POG failure can easily toast an entire engine. Whomever at Kawasaki that decided the POG was a good choice should be banned from any engineering endeavor.

[mick56]

It probably saved the company a fair bit of money, but it sure fucked up their reputation on that particular bike. My brother was a manager at Ford UK. They had an incentive scheme, that rewarded workers for money saving ideas. A bloke came up with an idea, to shorten the wiring needed to fit the dashboard on the Transit vans, by about 2 inches. They had a nice little hand clapping ceremony, and stuck a plaque in his hand. They also gave him his choice of any new Ford vehicle, as a reward. He was smarter than they thought. He chose the most expensive thing they made. And as they had just bought Aston Martin, he did ok. .