Unofficial Royal Enfield Community Forum

Royal Enfield Motorcycles => Bullet Iron Barrel => Topic started by: guss,guss on October 14, 2013, 04:17:02 am

Title: 99 stuck in third
Post by: guss,guss on October 14, 2013, 04:17:02 am
the title almost says it all.
 i went for a victory ride after re-jetting my carb. ran better than ever. feeling good about myself and my bullet then stopping to turn left the shifter (still a lefty) would not budge down. thank god for the neutral finder, or who ever thought of it.
 up on the stand i did some jiggling to the linkage as that was my first thought. did something and pushed the long connecting rod toward the gear box and felt something give.  got on ,started up found first and as soon as i got to third it did it again. made it home.
 i have never opened the gear box cover so no tinkering has been done in there.
 don't see anything hung up in the @#!* linkage.
i do see excess grease on the linkage which may not have to do with this. but i think the grease came from the sprocket cause it wasn't there before and i haven't oiled the chain lately. but i have been adding oil to the gear box that was packed with grease.  anyone had this happen before or am i just lucky to be the first?
Title: Re: 99 stuck in third
Post by: mrunderhill1975a on October 14, 2013, 05:37:10 am
That has happened to me two or three times.  In my case, it was different causes, the first time the lever on the cross shaft fell off next to the sprocket.  That may be  your problem. The bolt on the lever may have loosened and allowed the lever to partially disengage from the cross shaft.  It is a tight fit to get your fingers in there to get the lever reattached but, I have done it (in very cold weather I might add). You will need a very short wrench to loosen and tighten the bolt (10mm if I remember correctly).

 The other time, the figure eight spring in the ratchet assembly popped out of place. Possibly, this may be your problem or the spring may have broken.
To see if it is the spring problem, you will have to remove the outer cover of the gear box. It may also be a problem with your detent plunger not engaging the gear selector lever correctly.
If you want to see a description of the gearbox, see the link below:

http://www.hitchcocksmotorcycles.com/technical-notes

The five part file on the Albion gearbox gives a great description with lots of photos (although it is for a right foot shift version, the left shift is similar.).
Title: Re: 99 stuck in third
Post by: ROVERMAN on October 17, 2013, 06:54:15 pm
Believe it or not this happened to me where it would not shift out of first (yes, thank god for the N-finder). After some overthinking delay i found a tiny piece of pea gravel stuck in the linkage! Look close, then look closer, preferably after a cuppa'.
Good luck.
Title: Re: 99 stuck in third
Post by: guss,guss on October 19, 2013, 11:02:18 pm
thanks for the tips.
 first i thought it would not be the linkage connection to the long rod because i had seen it was loose some months ago and tightend it up. now i see it has worked its way almost off. i think that will be my first best effort when i can get on the ground again and crawl around.
 this little misshap occurred the day before i had surgery, and now cant bend excessively or do any lifting, witch is what it will take to get myself back up off the ground.
 i did managed to take the outer cover off the gear box , i plan to do a pawl replacement and decided to go ahead and order new ratchet spring and figure 8 spring. i found a little extra something inside the outer case. this little pellet and don't know where it came from or if its needed.
 now another question. the instruction for the pawl replacement say remove the outer plate ,other ratchet assemble, inner ratchet parts but do not remove or loosen the stop plate as this will effect gear selection. but isn't the other spring behind that plate?  how do we replace the other spring behind that plate?
Title: Re: 99 stuck in third
Post by: mrunderhill1975a on October 20, 2013, 12:53:37 am
I understand the crawling on you back problems, I've been there.  I now have a motorcycle lift which helps greatly.
I can tell you that the round disk is not included in my '99 gearbox.  It almost looks like someone placed a neodymium magnet inside the outer cover for some reason.  In fact, if this disk is magnetic (or, even if it is not magnetic)  it could attach itself to the ratchet mechanism and foul the shifting.  Is this thing magnetic?

The pawl replacement instructions your are referring to are for the right foot shifter, to get to the pawl on the right shift assembly you would have to remove the ratchet mechanism completely (although there is one flat head screw behind the ratchet assembly holding the inner cover to the inner gearbox case). If you still have the left foot shifter setup, that design does not require the removal of the entire ratchet assembly to get to the pawl. However, you should be able to visually see if either of the figure 8 springs are broken without removing the ratchet assembly. 

If not broken, you may want to leave them be, as the removal of the stop plate will require that you readjust the stop plate on reassembly. It is this readjustment that can prove time consuming as you will need to reassemble the entire ratchet assembly and outer cover, then put the bike on the center stand such that the rear wheel is off the ground.  Then test the ratchet adjustment by starting the engine and running through the gears.
When I did this testing, I must tell you it was a steep learning curve until I finally figured out how the stop plate adjustment changed the shifting characteristics. It was during this time that I decided to invest in a motorcycle lift which saved me from repeatedly lifting my old bones off the floor, and made the motorcycle repair much more enjoyable.

 In answer to your question,  in order to replace the inner broken spring, you would need to remove the ratchet stop plate, then make the stop plate adjustments thereafter.
Title: Re: 99 stuck in third
Post by: guss,guss on October 20, 2013, 04:12:49 am
OK. the disc is not magnetic, it was hidden in a clump of grease in the bottom of the case. i was digging around looking for the washer that fell off the ratchet shaft i thouhgt fell inside the case and was in there but i later found the washer under the bike. but i found the disc in the grease. it may be a part punched out at the factory and left inside. i think i may be the first to open it.
 so the springs are in there places and look all in tact. i will not mess with the one behind the plate. i may have to take the ratchet assembly out to get that one screw that hold the inner cover on anyway, i will have to take the ratchet fork loose from the long linkage rod too so the fork lever is loose.
 i appreciate the pointer on that back plate. i don't want to fool with that till its time for my RH convertion that will be next summer i think.
Title: Re: 99 stuck in third
Post by: guss,guss on December 01, 2013, 02:40:37 am
OK. i just got able to crawl around and its 55f.
 turns out it is the left hand linkage. the very inner most, upper one pivot point.
 this point the pin points from the engine side out with the cotter pin should be near the primary case. the cotter pin is gone and the pivot pin is hanging in to allow the link to go down which transfers to an up shift. but when in needs to go up the button head of the pin drags on the engine side case and a protrusion, as far as i can tell is what wont let it go up , which would transfer to down shift. i will order the right hand kit but for now I'm just going to put a few washers and a   hitch clip in with some very long needle nose pliers. i see nfield gear has that linkage kit again but i will put that money toward the right hand kit. 
Title: Re: 99 stuck in third
Post by: mrunderhill1975a on December 02, 2013, 05:16:00 am
I remember the linkage well.  When it gets worn, lots of difficult shifting results.  I nursed mine for a few years by replacing the plastic bushings on the pins with brass bushings I fabricated.  They worked well until the bush on the shift lever spindle (under the footrest) wore out.  I was not able to replace that one with out pulling the primary inner and outer cover, so at that point I went to the right foot shifter.
Title: Re: 99 stuck in third
Post by: noisymilk on December 02, 2013, 03:32:05 pm
I believe this kit will fit your bike....some super basic drilling is involved. I have used it with great success.

http://nfieldgear.com/enfield-store/4-speed-bushing-kit.html (http://nfieldgear.com/enfield-store/4-speed-bushing-kit.html)