I recently bought a secondhand Commando gearbox on eBay with a view to stripping and rebuilding and then swapping it into my bike (whereupon I would do the same to the take-off gearbox and keep as a spare - anal? who, me?)

Anyway, the stripping has gone good and the parts all look in good shape. I'll put in new bearings, bushes, oil seal/o-rings, and springs just 'cause I'm in there, but for the most part (apart from that layshaft bearing stamped "Portugal") they don't really LOOK like they need it.

EXCEPT for the second gear main bush, which should be free floating but was in there so tight I had to press it out with a vise and a couple sockets. Doesn't appear to have done any damage, but I was a bit surprised and thought I'd avail myself of the group wisdom - anything to watch out for here (again, I will be replacing that bush, like all others, and on reassembly will make sure it's free floating).

Any other words of wisdom for a first-timer welcome also. (I do have Mick Hemmings's video, Old Britt's tutorials, the workshop manual, and a Haynes guide, so don't need to be told to get them.) Thanks all - BrianK

Would it matter if the bush was tight in the gear? on modern machinery that would be called correct.

Dunno. Some of the gears have pressed in bushes which are "solid" - no oil holes. Others, like second gear main, have floating bushes which are drilled to let oil through (and the gear surface underneath is scrolled, and holes in the gear itself, to the same end). If this bush wasn't floating, oil certainly wouldn't flow through as well. But would that matter, if the surface of the bush isn't rotating against the gear surface (bit of cause and effect question there, too)? I don't know.