PROGRESS REPORTS II

Transmission Rebuild

I have been having occasional problems shifting into 3rd gear. Also, the last time I adjusted the tension on the primary chain it felt like one of the transmission mounting studs was starting to give when I tightened it. So my plan was to have helicoils put in the transmission case with new studs. Of course that requires completely disassembling the trans. because the mounting studs go thru into the inside of the trans. case and you don't want to be drilling and tapping the stud holes and running the risk of leaving shavings inside the trans. So, disassembling the trans. to put helicoils in the base will give me a chance to see what the 3rd gear problem is.

In order to remove the transmission you have to remove the oil tank. In order to remove the oil tank you have to remove the rear exhaust pipe and loosen the rear fender so it can be moved. To reposition the rear fender you have to remove the rear wheel. Then the primary drive has to come off so you have to remove the compensating sprocket nut (the one that's torqued to 250 ft. lb.) and the clutch basket. By the time you finally get the transmission out the bike is starting to look pretty stripped down again.

Turns out though that it was a good thing that I disassembled the trans. because I found lots of things that need attention.

I won't go into the complete tear-down process because between the HD Service Manual and the Clymer Service Manual it was pretty straight-forward. However, I do want to show what I found inside.

> Next Page (added 3/17/05)

Outer Race

This is the outer race that is pressed into the transmission housing. It is badly pitted and will need to be replace.

Main Shaft

This is the main shaft showing some scoring in the area where the maingear bushing rides. Might as well replace this too since I'm replacing just about everything else.

Counter Shaft

This is the counter shaft showing some pitting and corrosion in the roller bearing area. Needs to be replace.

Shift Fork Shaft

This is the shaft that the shift forks slide on. As you can see - the one end has broken off. I don't think this contributed significantly to the 3rd gear shifting problem because the broken end is at the opposite end of where the 3rd-4th shift fork is on the shaft. But it may account for the difficulty in finding neutral. I'm not sure what would have broken this shaft - there should not be any radial forces on this shaft. And, to be honest, I think it broke after I got the bike back together after last winter's rebuild because pictures from that time period show the shifter fork shaft flush with the outside of the transmission housing and now the shaft was protruding from the housing.

Third - Fourth Shift Clutch

This is the 3rd - 4th shift clutch. Again, obvious damage to some of the teeth and will need to be replace.

First - Secong Shift Clutch

This is the 1st-2nd gear shift clutch. Obvious damage to the corners of several teeth. Needs to be replaced.

Main Gear

This is the bearing surface of the main gear. It is quite pitted and will have to be replace.

Main Gear

This is the main gear. The clutch teeth are kind of beat up and the next picture shows another problem with it.

Third Gear

This is the main-shaft 3rd gear. The clutch teeth are kind of worn and the bushing is worn so that the gear is kind of wobbly on the shaft. I'll have to decide if I want to replace the whole gear with a new 59 style gear which has a longer bushing. If I do go that way then I have to replace the main-shaft 1st-2nd gear cluster too.

First Gear

This is the counter-shaft 1st gear. It is in pretty good condition, but I guess that's understandable since it doesn't get the abuse that shifting into the other gears does.

Second Gear

This is the counter-shaft 2nd gear. The clutch teeth weren't too bad on 2nd gear, but the real problem is that almost all the gear teeth have this pitting. I don't know what caused it - the mating teeth on the main-shaft 2nd gear are not affected. Definitely need to replace this one.

This page last updated on December 18, 2006