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Cush Drive Blocks

Gappy

Gappy

Tuned and Synch'ed
Joined
Jan 5, 2019
Messages
30
Location
StLouis MO USA
Hi guys I have the rear wheel off my 94 cal 1100 to clean up and put some straburags on the splines which have little or no wear. The bike has 66,000 kilometers on the clock. Should I be concerned at this time about the rubber blocks? If I do go farther into the wheel is there anything special about taking the hub apart that I should know, like special tools or procedures . I don’t want to take the wheel off again for a long while, it was a SOB to get out the bike by myself.
 
I sort of agree with John - I wouldn't make a special trip to check them. However if you take the wheel off I would open up them up and grease the blocks with rubber grease or similar synthetic. The blocks on my lemans were completely frozen to the spyder and therefore weren't doing much 'cushing'. Indeed the plate that holds the drive gear was frozen solid - I had to drill some small holes in the centre hub and drive the plate off some punches. I think this is pretty unusual and may be because my bike was stored in a basement that flooded.

Some people drill holes in them to add a little more cush or remove half of them - not sure it is worth it. They are there for a reason though and that is to prevent shock loads from damaging the drive. If you are a smooth shifter this is not such a worry but it may save you some expensive parts.
 
If they're anything like the typical rubber cush drive blocks in a myriad of chain driven bikes out there, they'll eventually compress, harden and generally cease to do any "cushing". I, and other blokes in some dirt/trail bike fora which I frequent, do a job on the rubbers each time they replace their rear tyre. There are a few methods people use, but I remove mine when I remove the rear wheel and submerge them in a bath of ATF. This revitalizes the rubber, causing it to expand back to original size as well as lubricating it. Some blokes do the same with brake fluid. When it's time to remount your rear wheel take each rubber piece, wipe it dry(ish) with a clean rag and replace as per usual. The rubbers will still eventually wear out, but they'll last at least 3 times as long if you take this simple step.
 
I've never heard the ATF/Brake fluid trick. Maybe that is what is in 'Rubber conditioners'. Will have to try it.

Rubber if it is not exposed to oxygen will last without hardening pretty much forever. I once witnessed some tires from WW2 that were part of a mulberry harbour being pulled up from the depths - they were like new once hosed off. I greased mine with a synthetic pink grease from our Canadian Tire and I think one treatment is enough. Rubber grease is pretty much the same.

I don't think the Guzzi cushes ever wear out like dirt bike ones - they are pretty damn stout.
 
Here is how I look at the cush drive blocks. They are a redundant system. There already is a shock absorbing feature in the gearbox. So if the cush blocks get hard, so what. The loop frames didn't have them at all, neither do the CARC bikes.
 
Thanks for the feedback , I did inspect the rubber blocks once I figured out how it came apart. I did wipe them off and check to see if they were still pliable which they were, however I did not lubricate them. I thought they were in good condition. The bike was designed and built with them. After the other comments about them I had to see if they were ok. If lubricating them is a good Idea ,it is no big deal to take it apart again ,about a 2 min procedure. The wheel gets a new tire Friday, so I have plenty of time to lubricate the blocks. I will do some research on it.
 
Gappy: I don't think lubricating them will make you more attractive to the opposite sex or the darling at the ball. I did it on my bike mainly cause mine were frozen solid and I didn't want to repeat. I think sticking some rubber lube is not a bod move but hardly important.

What John says is true and frankly I forgot about that shock clutch mechanism inside the gearbox. I think Tonti put this into the design because it was good or maybe standard italian engineering practice - Guzzi has always been belts and braces in its design philosophy.

To me the only difference between the cush working and not working is a certain feeling of 'windup' when the you give it some throttle on dry pavement otherwise I don't think you would ever notice the cush doing its thing. Some people seem to believe in softening it (Guzziology?) and advocate taking out cushes or drilling holes in them. If anything I would go the other way - hysteresis is never good for performance. But again I am not sure I could feel the difference when it counts - i.e. changing gear mid-corner when driven in anger.
 
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