AJS & Matchless Owners Club

Afternoon All
I'm sure this has been covered before but I can't find anything specific to ridged rear
The rear wheel of my 1950 model 18 fits between the rear forks but the spacer behind the speedo gear sticks out to far
There is no way of locking the gear in place Is it the wrong spacer or is there a sleeve that goes over this one Any advice or a diagram would be greatly appreciated
Thank you
Mick

It will save a lot of explanations and you'll find it worthwhile familiarising yourself with the info in Christians Archive.

A diagram on page 125 in the Workshop Manual in Christian's Archive may help........

http://archives.jampot.dk/book/Workshop ... dition.pdf

Also the Parts List from Christians Archive. Page 51 et sub. here:

http://archives.jampot.dk/book/Spares_l ... 8S_18C.pdf

Thanks for the pointer
On neither the diagram or the spares list does it show a threaded spacer but does refer to a locking nut so still not sure
The wheel sits central to the fork so I think the spacers are the approximately right length
just can't see how the gear is locked in place

If you look at the wheel section of the parts list you will find it states 014896 is the spacer for the speedometer gearbox for the rigid models G3L and G80. It is stated that it is 3/4 inch long. There is a longer one for the swinging arm models at 1 1/16 long. It also shows part 014893 spacer for right hand side of the hub again for the Rigid model, this one is shown as being 1 1/64 inch long. The illustration is not clear but it may have a threaded section.
I have an earlier rigid and on this the speedo gearbox is not held by a nut but simply has a spacer either side and is locked in place when the spindle is tightened. I also have a slightly later swinging arm model on which the rear wheel adjustment is by snail cam. The one on the right has a threaded section and a nut which is tightened against the speedo gearbox once the spindle has been tightened. I assume the rigid also has a locking nut and this second spacer 014893 may be the one on your first photo. This then would suggest your other spacer is the swinging arm one and is 5/16 too long. From the first photo that looks about right. You could either try to track the correct spacer down or given that the measurements are in the parts list shorten your spacer to the correct length on a lathe.
hope that makes sense.

Sorry for the slow reply “work gets in the way of live” after some measuring and poping into Russel Motorcycles it would seem I have spacers from a later swinging arm model
And in 50 the wheel bearings changed sizes ? So identifying the correct spacers is proving difficult
I will have to get them turned but if anyone could post a photo of the spacers I place that would be a great help
Thank you
Mick