Ironhead Shady shifter shaft

[Captain Johnny]

Hello Ironheaders. Got a shifter shaft that is not behaving. Today, for the second time in 6 months, the ball on the end of the shaft has popped out of it's nest in the shifter mechanism when I dropped into first from a stop.

Was able to upshift through the gears (but not downshift) and got home. I pulled the tranny and saw something that might have caused this. The nest in the shift mechanism looked fine, I think. Does lt look OK to you guys?[url=https://ibb.co/KbHML66][/url

I then closely eyeballed the shift shaft and saw this.
Does that look like it's bent a little to the right?

The shift shaft bushing in the case feels good, just a tiny bit of play. The bush in the cam cover has a little more.

The first time this happened the only thing I found was excessive countershaft end play and I corrected it.

This tranny shifts very smooth. Neutral is easy to find and can be got when at a stop. The clutch action is light. It doesn't slip or creep. I'm running it wet with Barnett wet/dry plates+1 with no cover.

Anybody got an idea why ball on the end of the shaft keeps popping out?

[ryder rick]

But what about end play on the shifter shaft?

The witness marks on the pocket indicate the ball may not be centered (fully engaged) in the pocket, which may allow it to pop out.

[Captain Johnny]

Didn't see anything in the manual about shift shaft end play. Don't see how that could be set. Could you explain further Rick?

Has nobody else run into this? With the exception of the maybe slightly bent ball mounting on the end of the shaft I can see nothing that might cause this.

[ryder rick]

The manual assumes all parts are machined correctly and not mismatched.

You can see where the ball is working against the very top edge of the pocket.
If there is room to shim the shifter shaft .020" - .030" to move the ball deeper into the pocket so it can't fall out.

With the trans installed (no shifter), how much end play is there in the shifter shaft?

[Captain Johnny]

OK I see it Rick. I have .032" of end play on the shifter shaft. So I would put a shim on the shaft to bring the ball into the pocket deeper.

Should I leave .007" to .010" end play?

[brucstoudt]

to check for a bent shaft use a straight edge like a blade from a 12'' combination square or roll on a flat surface.

[ryder rick]

I was expecting more endplay. But moving the ball .020" into the pocket should make a significant difference.

Can you test without complete assembly?
Was it easy to make it pop out? Repeatable?

They don't call me Ironhead Rick just because I'm hard headed

[Captain Johnny]

Well I reread a thread from last Sept. when this first happened. Turns out Ryder Rick and Randy 3934 touched on the shifter shaft end play back then.

Mia Culpa. For some stupid reason I didn't follow their suggestion to reduce end play to bring the ball closer to the pocket. My bad.....

I sure as hell am gonna do it this time. In the garage now, found a .025" shim. That should leave .007".

I'll check back when finished. Thanks for the replies and especially to Rick and Randy.

[Captain Johnny]

Got it back together and was riding all day, most of it in a cool drizzle.
To answer your question Ryder Rick, it didn't pop out easily and it was not repeatable. Just twice in the last 6 months and I ride daily, if it's not snowing.

Now with the slack (end play) taken up on the shifter shaft I guess time will tell if the ball will stay in the pocket. But the shifts actually feel a tad more positive. I rode all day and the tranny shifted like there was a stick of butter in there.

Again thanks guys. I'll try to remember to check into this thread in 6 months, hopefully to report no shifter disengagement.

[randy3934]

it will not pop out again.