Left side trans cover torque spec?

[etek253]

I have an XJ11 that seems to have the "5th Gear Blues". I've replaced the dowel & metal plate but I don't have the torque spec for the 9 left side transmission cover bolts. If anyone has the manual with the specs, could you please look it up and post it here. I'd rather not just tighten it up and go...

Many thanks in advance.

BTW, has anyone ever figured out what causes this plate to bend allowing the 5th gear dowel to fall out?

JR

[Ken Talbot]

The general torque spec table calls for 7.2 ft-lb. Here's a copy for future reference:

[Jerry]

Just did the same fix on my XJ, except both the 4th and 5th gear plate tabs were broken. 4th gear dowl was still in place, in fact, I could not remove it even with a pliers.

The XJ uses Allen head bolts on this cover; I didn't use a torque wrench, just an Allen wrench and tighten the bolts down about 3/4 turn past snug. No leaks so far. I did use anti-seize on the threads.

My guess is that the '1st gear clunk' somehow puts side pressure on the dowl pins, causing that little tab on the washer to eventually break. However I am not well-versed on this topic so maybe one of the other transmission gurus can speak to this.

Incidently, something I found out this time around. If you look at the assembly that hold the dowl pins you will see an alignment mark. This should line up with a mark on the arm that catches the dowl pins. If it does not you can adjust the spring on the shift arm pivot point, you will see a jam nut with an adjusting screw. Loosen the jam nut and adjust the screw, which is an eccentric, until the the two marks are aligned, then tighten the jam nut.

Again, don't fully understand the significance of these marks, but the shifting seems to be a bit better and the marks must be there for a reason, if only to center the dowl-catching arm half-way between up and down shifting.

[GtrMn]

Did it look like that alignment mark could go out over time...or from hard shifting? Just curious about that.

[79XS11F]

On my XS1100 I torque all the engine cover bolts the same as the specs that are listed for the valve cover bolts. All the bolts are the same type and size with only the lengths being different. They also all do the same type of job so I use that spec on all of them.
If all your engine cover bolts are the same as is the case on the XS1100, and you have valve cover bolt torque specs then you should be good to go with that value. On my XS1100 engine the value is 7.2 Ft. LBs
Rob

[etek253]

Ken:
Thanks for the chart... just what I was looking for.

Jerry:
Those marks seem to line up when the transmission is in 2nd gear. They may be off just a tiny bit but not much. I think you're right. It looks like it's for centering the shifting pawls.

About that "1st gear clunk"... this bike has that problem too. I wonder if they all do this?

Sometimes the shift lever will bottom out when shifting to 1st and will get stuck there. The return spring won't pull it back up and you have to lift it up to free it.

All this might need to be in a separate thread with a more relevant subject line...

JR