Can anyone tell me if the drive sprocket should have any play on the shaft? I have a small amount of play back and forth as well as in and out. I can’t find anything in the manual about this.

 

If by play you mean that you can turn the sprocket back and forth about 1/2 inch or so while it's in gear and shut off..... that's normal

Here's a [crappy] pic to help explain why...



The gear on the left has the gear dogs, and the gear on the right has the grooves

When you engage a gear, the gear dogs slide into the grooves on a corresponding gear. This is what locks that gear to the mainshaft or countershaft, depending on which gear you're engaging. Most of the time, the grooves (right gear) are wider than the gear dogs (left gear). They have to be to allow them to engage while moving. If they were exact fit, you'd never get it into gear. But this allows for some freeplay between the two gears even when engaged. This is the same freeplay you feel in the front sprocket... just the gear dogs moving back and forth in the extra space in the grooves of the gear it's engaged to

 

Thanks for the reply, but I am talking about play in the drive sprocket that the chain runs on.
The play is axial (in and out) as wellas back and fourth. I'm not talking about a bunch,
about .020" axial and maybe .030-.040"back and fourth.

Just use to seeing drive sprocket pressed on to shafts and thought that there may be a problem. If I was to take out the bolt, the sprocket would pull right off. Is this the way it should be.

 

I know the thread is a little old but I can't find the answer. I'm in the middle of changing sprockets. It seams that the washer doesn't press up tight against the drive sprocket leaving the sprocket to wiggle side to side a small bit. Is this normal? The sprocket I took off did the same thing.