Kawi2strokes.com Forum

The had a Labyrinth seal failure, Marc, my local triples friend had an ominous noise coming from his H2 and I took the motor apart and found a lab seal loose and trying to destroy a crank bearing.

We replaced the crank and everything is fine.

What appears to be the problem was the seal’s OD was a little small and although the seal was glued into place it worked loose and started wondering around.

Lesson; make sure the seals are the diameter of the bearings and use enough sealant to make sure they don’t move.

I have seen lab seals that have O rings on the OD, I would supposed to keep them from moving.

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Using a poorly conceived idea along with bad mechanical practice is not an upgrade but rather a recipe for disaster.

Never use any sealer on a lab seal, you probably caused the problem.

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Twist the throttle, tilt the horizon, and have a great time. What triples are all about...........

I am talking about the OD to the cases surface, if that is what you are talking about what is the logic? You sure don't want them spinning. Even outer bearing races are supposed to be glued in place.
These lab seals were undersize compared to the bore of the cases.

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Using a poorly conceived idea along with bad mechanical practice is not an upgrade but rather a recipe for disaster.

they were probably undersized when you crushed them with goop on the outside.

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Twist the throttle, tilt the horizon, and have a great time. What triples are all about...........

A similar failure occurred to a fellow on the Canadian Board. In this instance it was an H1. The last land of the end of the lab seal broke off and was bouncing around up against each adjacent bearing. As far as I know no loctite or goop was used on either the bearing ODs or the alum lab OD upon assy.

The seal maker identifies the seal with three letters and a serial number...

J

Very same failure, the od was small in every direction. Would have likely egg shaped it if it was the sealant.

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Using a poorly conceived idea along with bad mechanical practice is not an upgrade but rather a recipe for disaster.

So your lab seal came apart also Joe?

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Twist the throttle, tilt the horizon, and have a great time. What triples are all about...........

Not mine, but yes indeed, moved, loose in the cases, ran into the bearing and started coming apart. Hard to know which came first.

Again moving is apparently enough of an issue that the European lab seal I saw last night had o rings in the diameter, can't be any other reason but to make sure they hold still.

I can't tell the tone the comment was made in, and I know you are too nice of a guy to be sarcastic, all I am trying to do is give everyone a heads up, Marc was well on his way to engine damaging failure, but we caught it in time, and no damage, just a rebuilt crank.

I was not being sarcastic asking for the logic, I really could not think why one would not use sealant or something like it. Apparently fear of distorting the seal is the logic.

If there is more insight into the care and use of labyrinth seals, I for one would be glad to hear it.

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Using a poorly conceived idea along with bad mechanical practice is not an upgrade but rather a recipe for disaster.

I have lab seals that were made by Chis Richie, I have about 15k on the crank with no worries.... 1/2 kick to start.
They have the o-ring groove to keep them put.

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http://kawatriple.com/wtf/

I have a pair of those too, Andrew, and they're going in my H2 when I (finally) get the crank rebuilt. I feel lucky to have gotten them when I did. It was after he quit making them, and then decided to do a few more sets.

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If it surges, that's normal, upshift.