Andover Norton Gearbox Outer Cover

I haven't found anything on the forum about my particular issue. I bought the cover with machine lip-seals installed because by old cover was a bit beaten up and leaky on the kickstart and gearchange. However, installing the old parts into the cover and trying to fit it brings up issues: I can't get the gearchange to locate properly to effect a change and every time I take it off, four so far, to have another go, it requires careful levering until a 8th of an inch gap is achieved and it will eventually come off.
I've had the old cover off a couple of years ago and have not had any problems with either of these issues (nor the amount of gaskets I've destroying while levering the cover off!) Has anyone else had this problem because I'm considering putting the old one back one...

The dowels in the outer cover to fit the locating holes in the inner cover will be tight fitting on a new outer cover. So gently relive the holes with emery paper on a rod or relive the OD of the dowels to achieve a looser fit.

Also to give you a good way to pull the outer cover replace the gear lever but pointing backwards and tighten the locking bolt. Then you have a hand sized handle to pull the cover off.

kommando said:

The dowels in the outer cover to fit the locating holes in the inner cover will be tight fitting on a new outer cover. So gently relive the holes with emery paper on a rod or relive the OD of the dowels to achieve a looser fit.

Also to give you a good way to pull the outer cover replace the gear lever but pointing backwards and tighten the locking bolt. Then you have a hand sized handle to pull the cover off.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip and I'll try to get those dowels fitting better. I've already tried the gear lever trick but it's still too stiff to dislodge from the inner cover.