selecting 1st from neutral

There have been many posts about this problem over the years with varying opinions, but I couldnt find a solution or cause mentioned that
was considered the most common cause, was or is their one?

madass140 said:

There have been many posts about this problem over the years with varying opinions, but I couldnt find a solution or cause mentioned that
was considered the most common cause, was or is their one?

Click to expand...

Most common is a little extra clutch drag.

Too much countershaft end play or a bent shift fork can cause problems also. Jim

I resolved this by fitting a clutch pushrod o-ring seal assembly and changing to type F trans fluid. For me, the cause was sticking clutch plates due to oil on plates especially on start-up.
Ta.

hmmm.
I have RGM belt drive with fibre plates , no oil. definitely no drag at all, also Daytona 1st gear set (RGM).shift forks seem fine.
engine not running, selects with ease. engine running tries to engage but near impossible.
the 2nd gear layshaft gear comes up to the 1st gear but wont engage, I guess it would with a lot of force.

well Its obvious I have to much layshaft end play, will shim accordingly and report back.
Don

In 40 years of ownership I have never had any problems putting my Norton into first gear from netrual, if the clutch is ajusted right and even with oil on the plates mine just goes in with a click, I am still running my oginal plates with over 140,000 miles on them, have run them with nomal motor oil when it was new, they use to slip from the motor oil then went to lighter oil, have ran my clutch with belt drive for a few years and back to chain drive and the Ford tranny oil and my gears still select the same as it has always has, the only time I have been in my gear box was 34 years ago when replacing a blown lay shaft bearing and to replace the kick start pawl (4 times now) and a kick start shaft that broke over 30 years ago, the only time my clutch has dragged was when running motor oil, but that was over 35 years ago and have never had any problems since, but of course you still got to pull the clutch apart for nomal maintenance, maybe I have been lucky but my gear changes and selecting gears has alway been smooth.

Ashley

madass140 said:

There have been many posts about this problem over the years with varying opinions,
but I couldnt find a solution or cause mentioned that was considered the most common cause, was or is their one?

Click to expand...

In earlier Nortons (pre-Commando) the 'cure', before starting, is to pull the clutch in and kick it over until the clutch frees off.
Usually only takes one or 2 kicks.
Assuming the endfloat is correct and nothing is bent.

Having the primary chain too tight can also cause shifting problems, not sure if this can apply to belts. ?
Have fun. !

endfloat was 1.2mm, reduced that, now it seems great, thanks to all,
I bet thats the most common cause becoz like me , didnt bother to check that on assembly.

That was quick.
50 thou endfloat doesn't sound much, what is recommended ?

Rohan said:

That was quick.
50 thou endfloat doesn't sound much, what is recommended ?

Click to expand...

I go for .005 to .0010 inch end play of the kickstart shaft -regardless of whether it has a roller or a ball bearing on the LH side .

Jim

thats what I was aiming for but had no shims so made one from 1mm sheet metal. all good.

Ashman why did you revert to a primary chain after going with a belt?

Chris T said:

Ashman why did you revert to a primary chain after going with a belt?

Click to expand...

I had a RGM belt drive and had it running for a few years without any problems at all but the belt was getting wear on the outside edge, it was trying to run off the front pully, I had 2 gearbox ajusters and the rear pully had no wobble in it at all when running but the front pully plate shatted, the belt had about 3 mm worn off it because the belt was trying to spin off the pully even after reajusting evey thing it kept doing the same and gone through 3 belts and 2 pully plates, got a bit frustrated with it even after putting my other belt drive kit on that I had for my project bike it did the samething so went back to a chain drive which I never had any problems with in 37 years of use, only replaced the chain and clutch centre.
That was about 3 years ago now, I can't notice any diffrents with vibrations between belt and chain, I was running a dry belt but now run the Ford tranny oil in the primary for the chain, when I got to replace the triplex chain when it wears out I will put one of Andy's duplex chains in, but so far haven't had any problems with the triplex chain.
In 40 years I have only replaced the triplex chain 3 times, the orginal chain lasted over 70,000 miles, the second chain I missed placed when rebuilding my motor it had about 40,000 miles, so far I am happy with the chain drive, the front and rear pullies are all orginal except for the clutch centre, also still running the orginal bronze and steel plates in my clutch with over 140,000 miles.

Ashley