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Went in to replace the clutch cable on my NC and clean out like 40 years of crud in there.
Looking at things I noticed the nut and the sprocket have a slight amount of back and forth play.
Not in and out but, clock wise and ccw play. My instinct says this is wrong but I don't know.
It's a 66 Monza, I have no history on the bike. Still in process of getting it ready to fire up. (I hope)
Any ideas or help is much appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike

Sounds like wear in the splines, Mike. Shouldn't be there. Take the sprocket off, and have a close look at the splining on the shaft.

Hopefully, however, the wear will be on the sprocket. If so, best change it.

If it's on the shaft, there are fixes ...

HTH

Craig

Normal backlash in the box?.

The lock tab washer underneath the nut is made of relatively soft material. After years of use, the washer gets squeezed between the harder nut and washer and loses thickness. Eventually, the nut is loose on the threads, only held in place by the bent-over tab on the lock tab washer. Ducati uses these lock tab washers throughout the engine and any of these nuts are prone to loosening, especially the clutch hub nut. All these nuts should be tight. I’ve taken to replacing the lock tab washers with Belleville washers which will not loosen.

Matt