Topic: Tricks to pulling 550 primary shaft?

[FunJimmy]

I'm tearing down my 77 CB550 engine and need to pull the primary shaft before spliting the cases.
Problem is that the manual calls for a special slide hammer tool sold by Honda and I don't have one.
Anyone have a tip for pulling the primary shaft that they can share?

Thanks
Jimmy

[paulages]

get a dowel or drift (you should use something soft, but i've done it many times with a steel drift) and tap on the end of the shaft on the oil pump side. with the oil pump removed, you will see the end of the shaft in the middle of the bearing it rides on where the oil pump splines to. put your punch on the end of the shaft, and it will drive out the other side, probably with the right side bearing attached.

[FunJimmy]

Thanks Paul

I was hoping you would chime in.

I'll give it a try tomorrow.

Cheers

Jimmy

[spitfire_garage]

I just took my 78 550 engine apart and didn't take the primary shaft out untill after splitting the cases and didn't need any kind of puller.

[FunJimmy]

I just took my 78 550 engine apart and didn't take the primary shaft out untill after splitting the cases and didn't need any kind of puller.

What! Did it just pull out?

[spitfire_garage]

The clutch side bearing slid out without any effort after removing the primary gear and circlip , then I gently pried the shaft over using a tire iron between the primary sprocket and the case. The primary shaft is held all in the lower half of the case. The oil pump side bearing did need drifting out, but is exposed from the other side once you remove the oil pump.

[spitfire_garage]

With the case split to gearbox looks like this. The gears can be lifted out as two units.
Main point is you don't have to pull the primary shaft before splitting cases. I think you actually don't want to until after.

[FunJimmy]

Thanks for posting the photo.
That makes more sense now.
My manual said to pull the primary shaft first, but I see that the trick is to lift the upper case. Right?

Jimmy

[spitfire_garage]

Factory manual says to split the cases first. So yes lift the upper case.

[FunJimmy]

FYI - I was just poking around the shop getting ready to pull the primary shaft and thought I'd try to fab up a hammer puller.
According to the manual a hammer puller is basically a bolt that threads into the end of the primary shaft and a slide weight.

What to use as a bolt? Wait a minute, that thread looks about the size of the engine mount bolt!
Presto, the lower rear engine mount bolt is the perfect thread and long enough to offer good silde room for any weight.
Getting a slide weight is as easy as using large sockets and as specific as turning one on your lathe.

Hope it helps.

Jimmy

 

[Ryan 550k]

Before you read this post, know this is the first time I've really dove into an engine this heavily.  I'm a total novice learning as I go.  So if give any wrong info please let me know and I'll modify my post.  Thanks.

I DID IT!!!
Hey guys.  So I've been a little stuck for a bit, getting the primary shaft out of my 78 550 in order to split the case.

 Spitfire, I'm not sure how you were able to split the case without pulling the primary shaft. 

And that's the trick!  Pulling!!!
Thank you FunJimmy. I took your advice and tried the engine mount bolt.  Worked beautifully!!!  What I learned in discussing this with a few different folks on SOHC as well as friends here in Portland is this......at least I think it's this.... on some of the old Honda engines you can pull the oil pump and have good access to the primary shaft and knock it out the other end with a drift.  Not on all though!  When I took my oil pump off I found that I could only see a fraction of the barrings from the shaft (see pic).  Not really enough access to get at it.  And from the other side you can see that the shaft has threads on the inside (see other pic). 
I just unscrewed the bolt to the right of the shaft that helps keep the barring set in place, screwed the engine mount bolt into the threaded end of the shaft and pulled.....voilà!  It popped right out.  Freeing up the drive chain and thus allowing me to split the lower casing.
I started this whole process because of serious shifting problems.  Once I split the case, had access to the transmission I could see that one of my shifting forks was corroded and tearing up one of my gears.  I'm purchasing parts pretty soon.

[FunJimmy]

Awesome!

I'm glad someone else benefited from that suggestion.
I actually had to use a ½” drive socket as a slide hammer to free mine up, but it didn’t take much once things started to move.

Later
FJ

[Ryan 550k]

FunJimmy, my girlfriend and I are heading up to BC for a weekend in Dec.  It'll be my first time there.  I hear it's great.  Good place to take the bike up to as well.  I may do that next summer.

[mlinder]

Actually, it's "voilà", Ryan...

Glad to see you getting your bike in order, buddy. I expect it to be perfect by the time I make it back to Portland...

[Ryan 550k]

lol, smart ass

[spitfire_garage]

R550, you can split the cases without pulling the primary shaft IF you have taken the cylinders off first. Didn't realize sometimes you would want to split the cases without taking the top down too.