Gearbox pointers....

Chaps,

One of the few things I didn't tackle myself on my recent build was the gearbox. I did strip it myself, and couldn't see any signs of wear etc.

The clutch is fine and definitely not dragging.

But it isn't right, so I'll dive into it when the bikes off the road (which will be soon). I've never rebuilt a Norton box (lots of Triumphs etc) so it'll be good learning.

The problems are:

1. When warm, it can be difficult to get into first, from neutral, when stationary, I have to deliberately drag the clutch a tad, perhaps to make things move(?) then it goes in. It does not do this every time though, sometimes its fine. It did this prior to the rebuild, but I put it down the the primary belt being WAY too tight. It seems I was wrong.

2. When on the move, it sometimes finds false neutrals that its in so well, I have to stamped right through the next gear to find a gear. I do not recall it doing this prior to the rebuild, but I didn't use it much, so cannot be sure.

To my untrained mind, it feels like the lever isn't travelling far enough to make proper selection.

What say you guys? Any known and / or obvious things I should check for?

Might be an adjustment of the gearshift ratchet spring needed...After assembling my gearbox I would have trouble finding gears...Took outer gearbox cover off and adjusted the spring..There is a link with instructions on what you need to look for and do...

http://www.oldbritts.com/gearbox_a.html

Beach said:

Might be an adjustment of the gearshift ratchet spring needed...After assembling my gearbox I would have trouble finding gears...Took outer gearbox cover off and adjusted the spring..There is a link with instructions on what you need to look for and do...

http://www.oldbritts.com/gearbox_a.html

Click to expand...

Thanks Beach, will check that out.

Norton gear boxes are easy to rebuild, just follow the manual and you can't go wrong, I rebuilt my box on my Norton in 1979 when the lay shaft bearing blew, I was young, no experances with Norton gearbox or any other gearboxes and it is still working perfect to this day, I just finished rebuilding my mate's Norton gearbox and it was completely pulled apart from the P/O and sat for a few years in a box, it was pretty straight forward to replace the bearings and anything else that showed any wear.

You problem with your gear change probly will be inside the outercase the rachet and spring could be worn or not sitting right or may need to give the spring more tension or somethink simple, I had a problem with my gear shift once and was hard to down shif, what happen was the gear leaver shaft and the inside shaft for the gear indircater had gone dry and went tight, just pulled the outer cover off and pulled the shaft out, gave it a good clean up and relubed it and was all good again.

Untill you pull the outer cover off, it could be many things, you just got to dig and look for any wear, but what ever you do don't be afraid its not that hard to do, take your time and lay all parts out in order, replace any worn bits and reassemble in reverse, get all parts clean spot on before reassembling.

Ashley

When thermal effects mentioned 1st thing to come to mind is the primary chain over tensioned cold. Of course being a Cdo it can also have all the prior listed faults too plus some issue with the clutch mechanism which can involve clutch center nut backing off some or even the TS main shaft nut, ugh.

Start with pulling the outer and fitting a brand new spring . There's a wierd crook -bend in it that could be overlooked as of correct way placement too.

Spring crook is placed to bottom and about only other thing is to do is get the spring legs sections the pawl swings past parallel and don't worry about the clearance factor the manual lists or may end up back in again and again. This area is always above oil level and never gets lubed in use so tends to crust up so i've taken to grease smearing or painting over so nice next time its seen.

http://www.nortonownersclub.org/shopping#

L.A.B. said:

http://www.nortonownersclub.org/shopping#

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I've had join the bloody club to get them now!

Thatsa top tip Hobot, rainwater runs down the clutch cable and into the outer cover, everything in there goes rusty so paint it or cover it with thick grease.

Thanks for the tips guys.

The fault of not going into first easily at standstill was there before having the box rebuilt, so that fact, plus that it was rebuilt by Norman White, should minimise the likelihood of assembly error being the cause.

I'm thinking that either something is worn, or even that there could be a fault that's been there since new.

In 2002 I fixed a gearbox fault on a T160 that was clearly there since it was built in 1976!

Ugh, gripper, thanks for the heads up on clutch cable funneling water in, over looked that so will dab on some grease to shed water layer forming in gear box. I'm often surprised by the members listing of possible faults annoying someone to have them dig in and find the issue that turns out not listed by anyone. Combo's of more than one fault at once, each causing the same signs/symptoms must also be kept in mind to stay sane for plodding on to the pie in the sky fully fettered state.

Fast Eddie wrote;

I've had join the bloody club to get them now!

Click to expand...

If you haven't already joined (us :lol: ) I think you can get these directly from Mick Hemmings.

Reggie said:

Fast Eddie wrote;

I've had join the bloody club to get them now!

Click to expand...

If you haven't already joined (us :lol: ) I think you can get these directly from Mick Hemmings.

Click to expand...

I've taken the plunge and become a NOC member, I'm not normally an avid joiner of things though. I'd heard that Mick didn't sell them anymore, should've checked a suppose!

Eddie,
I'm just wondering what Norman said when you discussed the problem with him. It looks like he was lost for suggestions when your looking for help on the forum or have you not spoken to him about it?

J

auldblue said:

Eddie,
I'm just wondering what Norman said when you discussed the problem with him. It looks like he was lost for suggestions when your looking for help on the forum or have you not spoken to him about it?

J

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Good question and it's important that I clarify:
I haven't even talked to Norman yet, I will do, but I haven't done on the basis that I'm quiet certain it is not due to any error on his part.
The box functions perfectly when cold, so he would not have found any symptom.
I'm sure he'd happily say "bring it in, I'll take a look" but he is quite a distance from me, and I'd like to get my head around it myself.
I mentioned his name as a way of pointing out that I therefore believe it's not due to assembly error, I would not want anyone to think otherwise as I rate Norman very highly.

Eddie
I was only thinking ,given Normans Norton knowledge that a quick phone call to him might have been prudent in the circumstances and he may have had a few pointers to solve your problem.

I myself would be glad to have reason to chat a bit of Norton shop with him, remember Eddie "it's good to talk".

J

No reputations or feelings were endangered in the execution of these opinions. Bob Hoskins.

hobot said:

When thermal effects mentioned 1st thing to come to mind is the primary chain over tensioned cold. Of course being a Cdo it can also have all the prior listed faults too plus some issue with the clutch mechanism which can involve clutch center nut backing off some or even the TS main shaft nut, ugh.

Click to expand...

+1

I'd be carefully scrutinizing the clutch and primary chain.

You've reviewed all this, yes?
http://atlanticgreen.com/ndnsclutch.htm

http://atlanticgreen.com/clutchpak.htm

If you're finding false neutrals you may have the gearbox timed (indexed) incorrectly. Take it apart and go at it again....Skip

Beach said:

Might be an adjustment of the gearshift ratchet spring needed...After assembling my gearbox I would have trouble finding gears...Took outer gearbox cover off and adjusted the spring..There is a link with instructions on what you need to look for and do...

http://www.oldbritts.com/gearbox_a.html

Click to expand...

I did much with my gearbox last winter including changing that ratchet spring.

Although shifting was OK, it wasn't perfect and going into first has been much less than optimal. I hadn't realized how sensitive this relationship between the pawl and the spring was. Although the new spring fit fine, it did have, if even slight, some pressure on the pawl.

This afternoon I decided to go in there and check this out. I tweaked the spring to allow an ever so slight amount of freedom between the spring legs and the pawl. This has made shifting into first positive and smooth and the rest of the shifting to match.

Beach, your info is solid.