problems shifting into 2nd, and intermittent problems w/ 3rd and 4th gear

[1904Sportster]

I apologize for bumping such an old thread, but since I'm dealing with the same problem I figured it was better than starting a new one.

The clip holding the detent plate on my bike broke a few days ago. It was simple to diagnose thanks to this thread. I also took the opportunity to replace my 1st and 3rd countershaft gears. When I was reassembling everything I noticed that where the shift shaft assembly bolts on, the two holes are elongated and I can't figure out exactly how it's supposed to be positioned. I assume the play in the holes is to adjust something, but what?

[decman]

Yes, it is for the shifter pawl adjustment.
The pawl is the metal piece at the end of the shifter assm that actually grabs the pins on the shaft and rotates the drum.

The goal of the adjustment is to get the pawl equal distance between two of the pins as shown here.

The manual tells you to take a drill bit of a certain size and place it through the hole in the detent plate to do that when in 3rd gear.
I like to do the adjustment before I place the detent plate on so I can see both sides of the pawl.

If you are off one way you will upshift fine but downshifting will be bad
or of course the other way around.

Originally Posted by 1904Sportster

When I was reassembling everything I noticed that where the shift shaft assembly bolts on, the two holes are elongated and I can't figure out exactly how it's supposed to be positioned. I assume the play in the holes is to adjust something, but what?

[1904Sportster]

Makes perfect sense. Thank you very much for the explanation!

[1904Sportster]

I found the section in my manual that describes the shifter pawl adjustment. I'm all dialed in now. Thanks again for the help.

[bustert]

super duper info!!!!
my 01 sport chucked the cheesy detent spring clip, I went with a new detent plate and a thin washer and safety wire retention. they do sell a bolt on drum assy if you have the $$$.

[1904Sportster]

I'm having another shifting issue that hopefully someone can help me with.

In my post above, I mentioned the broken clip holding the shift detent plate on. That was just one of the two reasons I was in my transmission. The other reason was to replace the 1st and 3rd countershaft gears as the bike would pop in and out of first. Everything came apart and went back together like it should. I adjusted the shifter pawl as described in the book and the bike runs and shifts just like it should. Or, at least it did for a few days...

After a couple days of riding to and from work it became difficult to get the bike into 5th gear. A few days after that and now it's damn near impossible to get it into 5th. No problem getting it out of 5th, but I feel like my foot is going to break before the bike finds 5th.

What gives??? What did I do wrong?
The only questionable thing I can think of is the shift detent plate was galled a little by the broken clip but I filed it all out and smoothed everything over. It could be the problem but I can't see how. Any ideas?

[bustert]

using the drill bit sometimes is tricky, too much pressure distorts the adjustment. detent plate is cheap around 8 bucks. the pins do have a tendency to back out and makes the detent plate off kilter. the cheesy clip will allow wobble, reason I trashed the use of it. your adjustment could have slipped. also, it is best to replace gears as a set due to wear pattern issues. the fsm shows spacing on the 4 speeds but is mum on the 5 speeds. there is snap wire rings and thrust washers that could be out of kilter. therefore at least, a readjustment in in order.

[1904Sportster]

I guess that if I have to open it all up again to check the shifter pawl adjustment it won't be too much further to go to take the gears back out.
As for replacing the gears "as a set", do you mean ALL the gears? Because buying the 1st and 3rd countershaft gears was expensive enough.

It's also possible that I got the order of retaining rings and thrust washers mixed up. The diagram in the book has the parts drawn very clearly but the labeling seems not to correspond in some places. For instance, it will point to what is very clearly a thrust washer in two different places but it will label one as a washer and the other as a retaining ring.

And for what it's worth, I didn't replace the retaining rings or washers but I'm not sure if that's what is causing my problem. I think it's more likely my adjustment moved. Very frustrating.....

[decman]

Well you can do the adjustment without taking the clutch basket off. I've done it.
Since you know how it all works now you should be able to do it by feel.
Worth a try anyway.

[1904Sportster]

Well I guess I know what I'm doing on Saturday.