Gear Box issues.

Went for my first ride today on my rebuilt 72 Commando today. Motor sounded great and pulled strong. Only one issue, I can't shift out of first gear. On the stand with the engine off I can get first, neutral and at least second gear. Starts in neutral, shifts into first fine but once rolling I can't get any other gears, not even neutral. I have the plug out and the fluid draining. Tomorrow the cover comes off. Any ideas on what to look for?

The gearbox must be 'timed' correctly. From memory the bit of the cam plate with the hole should be sticking out. Then hold the quadrant so that the internal bit is right up, and push the case closed. Have a look in your Norton manual, it is all in there somewhere. I'm sorry if I'm not much he lp, I usually put my Norton box t ohether w ithout t hinking much about it.

I have the cover off and found that I had installed the spring that goes around the rachet pawl upside down. I'm hoping that maybe this is the problem. I think the problem is somewhere in the ratchet mechanism because it felt like moving the shift lever wasn't moving anything inside the box.

I was going to suggest having a look at the pawl spring. While the cover is off, have a look at the spring clearance. If you do not have a manual get one and refer to the pawl spring set up clearance. It is rather finicky if you do not get it right. When you study the manual illustrations and recommendations and then study the pawl you should be able to figure out what needs to happen and what clearances you need and where.

It's all here: http://www.oldbritts.com/gearbox_a.html

Ah ya beat me to it Brian, Great place to check before rebuilding a box ht. Have done both boxes on my bikes and worked out very well.

Yeah, pays not to be too casual with gearbox functions, an engine seizure at speed is bad enough, you can still declutch...but gearbox...ah, rather not, really...

Okay, got everything together last night and went for a ride today. I now have all four gears and the bike shifts pretty smoothly. I guess having that hairpin spring around the ratchet pawl on upside down was causing the problem Kind of hard for me to tell in the Old Brits picture which way was right so I took the cover off a spare box I had and it was obvious I had it on backwards. My old Clymer manual also showed a better picture and said to have a plus ten thou clearance on each side of the pawl. The factory manual or Old Brits never mentioned a specific clearance. But I bent the wires until a feeler guage just pasted. All's well now with the gear box, on to a carb problem. One clean plug and one black plug.

Yep sir dog leg at bottom. I've had two go bad just being old and used, somehow lost their springyness. Anywho you can't feel smug yet as you ain't yet learned the real trick adjusting a new pawl spring to function by bending it - w/o cruving the legs. The main issue is to get the two legs parallel withing the arch swing of the pawl, the gap is not very critical I found - regardless of manual measures shown. If you do try to match the manual you vastly increase the risk of losing parellel so re-set will power to start the tedium again. Next thing that might mess with 1st N 2nd shifts and staying in 1st is the paper thin 1st gear bush that's at least up front so easy to do once outter cover off. Get a spare pawl spring and 1st gear bush now to save some shipping down time down the road.