This evening, after talking to Mickey, the Anchorage Ural dealer, I started in on the Ural. I removed the exhaust headers, crash bar, valve cover, left carb, rocker arms, push rods and the head. After tapping on the cylinder with a rubber mallet, the base of the cylinder broke free from its gasket and I was able to slowly pull the cylinder from the engine. The piston is at TDC (Top Dead Center) to maximize how far I could pull out the cylinder without exposing the piston rings.
This is what things looked like at that point. The lifters can be seen in the center of the picture with the exhaust lifter the one on the left. The push rod tubes with their rubber seals are in the bottom of the frame. If you look carefully, the flat headed screws that hold the lifters in place can be seen. To remove these flat headed screws, I used a hand impact driver to loosen the screws without damage. Then pulled the lifter and follower from the block.
The damaged follower can be readily seen in this picture. I believe that the follower is hardened steel and this one (or batch) was insufficiently hardened. I thought about removing the intake lifter and follower just for comparison but thought that I should wait until I hear back from Mickey.
This photo is the best my son could do at trying to get a picture of the cam surface. Just wondering if the cam was damaged by the follower. If it was worn much more then it would be more likely. This morning, I got approval to pull the rest of the lifters.
The following PBC video is the debut of the BMW. I didn't ride into work this morning due to the temperature but by the afternoon it had warmed up to -28°F. As it was last year, the BMW is a pain to get up the driveway. But after that, no problems at all. The BMW is much harder to steer but is much less "tippy" than the Ural. And I really have to watch my right hand as I frequently found myself going much faster than at the same engine rpm and gear on the Ural.
I would be worried about the missing metal in the lower end. That cam sure doesn't look like it is centered to me. At least the Ural seems easy to work on. Is the Dealer going to mail you the parts or do you have to go get them?
I suspect that the missing chunk has worked its way to the pan. There isn't much to block its path. Tonight, I'm pulling the other lifters so off comes the other head which means the sidecar comes off as well.
The plan is for me to send pictures and he will send parts.
Wow! I'd be thinking about checking the cam out for sure. At least spin the motor over slowly and look at the lobe... That is one chewed up lifter. Best of luck!
The challenge is that I can't rotate the engine or the pistons will come out of the cylinders. Or the openings get covered up when the pushrod tubes get pushed back into place.
you may be able to skip removing the sidecar RichardM. Just remove the four bolts holding the front half to the subframe, add weight to the trunk and it'll tilt up and out of the way, secure it for safety and do your work. Got that tip from GlennandSun, can forward a pic to you if you wish of his rig in such a position.
That tappet sure took a beating, hopefully the cam shaft lob is fine and I am hoping the remaining lifters will be fine as well.
And yeah, there's not much to stop that bit of tappet from ending up in the belly pan I think. Actually pretty surprising to me, first time I saw the interior of the URAL engine, lots of space in there.
Thank you, I will definitely be doing that instead of removing the sidecar. I guess I would think that all of the lifters are from the same batch and if one is insufficiently hardened then the whole batch may be the same...
I'm just gonna skip all the mechanical/techy stuff - I would be useless anyway.
I have to confess this is the first video I've watched and Wow! How pretty the ride through the snow! Especially the first part where the road was white as well. So pretty!
I would be worried about the missing metal in the lower end. That cam sure doesn't look like it is centered to me. At least the Ural seems easy to work on. Is the Dealer going to mail you the parts or do you have to go get them?
ReplyDeleteI suspect that the missing chunk has worked its way to the pan. There isn't much to block its path. Tonight, I'm pulling the other lifters so off comes the other head which means the sidecar comes off as well.
DeleteThe plan is for me to send pictures and he will send parts.
I'm doing my tranny without removing the sidecar. It takes a little longer, but I'm crazy like that.
DeleteWow! I'd be thinking about checking the cam out for sure. At least spin the motor over slowly and look at the lobe... That is one chewed up lifter. Best of luck!
ReplyDeleteThe challenge is that I can't rotate the engine or the pistons will come out of the cylinders. Or the openings get covered up when the pushrod tubes get pushed back into place.
Deleteyou may be able to skip removing the sidecar RichardM. Just remove the four bolts holding the front half to the subframe, add weight to the trunk and it'll tilt up and out of the way, secure it for safety and do your work. Got that tip from GlennandSun, can forward a pic to you if you wish of his rig in such a position.
ReplyDeleteThat tappet sure took a beating, hopefully the cam shaft lob is fine and I am hoping the remaining lifters will be fine as well.
And yeah, there's not much to stop that bit of tappet from ending up in the belly pan I think. Actually pretty surprising to me, first time I saw the interior of the URAL engine, lots of space in there.
Thank you, I will definitely be doing that instead of removing the sidecar. I guess I would think that all of the lifters are from the same batch and if one is insufficiently hardened then the whole batch may be the same...
DeleteI'm just gonna skip all the mechanical/techy stuff - I would be useless anyway.
ReplyDeleteI have to confess this is the first video I've watched and Wow! How pretty the ride through the snow! Especially the first part where the road was white as well. So pretty!
The first part is the road leaving our subdivision. The next video has some pretty, snow covered sections.
DeleteLovely winter wonderland... alas the temperatures are not much to my liking. Hope you get your problem fixed.
ReplyDeleteShould get fixed easily though I'm not sure about quickly.
Delete