First gear fix part 2

[Kevin W]

I'm having trouble getting my transmission back into the bike and wondered if one of the more "experienced" repair people could tell me if this is forth gear. I thought I put it into forth, but it's possible taking off the shifter I moved it, or maybe never got it into forth. Would I have been able to get the tranny out if it wasn't in forth? The tech tip makes it sound easy.
Thanks
KW

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Kevin,

This is from the tech tips, Explaination of the transmission:

4th Gear:4th and 5th Gear not engaged. 2nd/3rd gear pinion engaged with 4th gear pinion

The above photo looks like the shift drum is rotated a bit farther around than the one in your photo!

But, also, are you doing this with the bike on it's back??

Is the shift fork shaft in place? If so, that may be causing you some of the greif. There is a recess cut into the shaft near the sprocket, but it can spin and block the ability for the middle driven gear to fit into place allowing the countershaft to drop down into the bearing!? See photo:Here the shaft is NOT all the way in, and the recess is NOT over the gear!!


Also, sometimes you have to rotate the rear wheel to spin the gears a little to get things to MESH!?

Here's a view of the tranny BEFORE the countershaft is inserted, and the directions I posted on placing the countershaft back into the engine!

With all but the 5th gear on the shaft, you slide it back into position meshing the 1st gear shift fork onto the gear, then slide the shift fork shaft partly in to engage the shift fork and to hold it in place in the shift drum slot. Then you may need to use a piece of stiff wire bent at the end to grab the 2nd/middle shift fork and pull it up to align with the shift fork shaft and shift drum. Then slide 5th gear in from outside, pull up the last shift fork, and mesh it with the gear, and the shift drum, again using a wire to grasp the fork to pull it up, then slide the shift fork shaft thru this fork as well, and then out the side of the case, keeping the shaft slots aligned, you may need to rotate the rear wheel/shift drum during this process to get the gears to mesh with the others below the countershaft. I also recommend turning the rear wheel a bit to ensure that the gears will turn in the tranny and that you haven't gotten it wedged/binded up somehow, but that's doubtful, cause it won't/shouldn't go back together if they aren't meshing properly.

Good Luck, I've done it with 3 trannies. However another member had considerable trouble getting it back in, and ended up splitting his cases to do it!
T.C.

[NemisusDM]

Hello,
I too have done this 3 times but, not by choice...lol... long story.. TC's walk through was invaluable so I had a printout on hand each time.

First this beast goes together with little effort but, that's if it's gonna go together. The trick is you have to hold the parts just right and not try to force things.

The way it worked for me was I pulled 4th gear towards 3rd with the drive shaft and put in the middle gear pinion and 1st then slid 4th and the shaft back towards the middle gear pinion and 1st. I also wiggled the rear wheel back and forth to allow the gears to mesh easily. I then placed the shift fork guide back in and used long nose pliers to pull each shift fork back in place after inserting 5th gear.


PS: If the drive axle doesn't go in within 5 minutes just walk away, have a beer and come back to it a few minutes later.


Hope it helps...

[Kevin W]

Thanks T.C.
I tried to get it in for a while and started getting a little frustrated. Mainly because I wasn't sure if it even was in fourth! But since I was able to get it out I figured I must be able to get it in. You mentioning you've done it 3 times spurred me on.
I could see what needed to happen, and I finally got it in. If the bearing on the middle drive end were a clock, I slide the axle in from about the 11:00 position. There was absolutely ZERO space between the axle and bearing, and I could see that first gear was JUST clearing the gear below it. I wondered if it's the same with the XS and XJ model?
Anyway without the list help and tech tips I wouldn't even have attempted it. Yes I have the bike flipped. I don't see how you could do it otherwise. It was no big deal to flip, and minimal prep time. I drained the carbs and everything else. It's taken me so long because I decided to change the clutch springs,oil pump o-ring, and whatever else the tip mentioned, I just didn't have them before hand
I also found an oil pan for the XJ on e-bay that I'm waiting for.
Have a safe rest of the weekend all.
KW