Transmission stuck in gear: Sprockets forum: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine

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Aug. 15, 2011 7:52 p.m. benzbaron Dork

I started another similar thread with a "sensational" title which didn't garner much info so I'll give it another try.

Last week while driving my 2000 buell blastardo, I kicked the bike into 1st after riding for awhile and the damn thing wouldn't go past neutral. Oh well, I thought. After a few libations I head back out, start in second and all is great in the world. In my bravado I decide to try first again and loose all shifting. The shifter won't budge.

I truck the punky back home and pull the primary cover, all the shift mechanism is intact. The shift shaft is a bit sloppy and wobbly and the pawl might need a bit of adjustment but I don't see any reason why the damn bike won't shift.

Today a grabbed the detent plate and am able to get it into one of the slots but the bike won't go up or down from this one slot.

To check if a bike is actually in gear do I need to have the clutch basket and primary sprocket, chain and rotor installed. The bike feels like the clutch is stuck in neutral. I don't know if I can just grab the damn shifter and pull up to get it into gear without all the BS attached or if the clutch basket primary need to be installed to tell if the bike is actually getting into gear.

Any ideas what could prevent the shifter from moving smoothly through the gears?

Thanks for any help or suggestion,
Aug. 18, 2011 10:13 a.m. GregW New Reader

The return spring on the pawl mechanism broke? For some reason the shifter cam drum is not turning. I suggest you take the shifter apart and look for worn or broken parts.
Aug. 18, 2011 6:02 p.m. 4eyes HalfDork

Does the shift fork attach to the shaft with a roll pin? I've seen those shear, and it's hard to spot without pulling stuff apart. Do you have a service manual? Does it have an exploded diagram of the gearbox?
Aug. 18, 2011 6:39 p.m. Curmudgeon SuperDork

Motorcycle transmissions are very difficult to shift unless everything's turning. If you have the chain off, you can turn the output shaft and work the shifter at the same time, see if that gets it shifting. From your description, it sounds like the shift drum is not being moved by the mechanism. I'm not at all familiar with the HD shift mechanism, unfortunately.
Aug. 18, 2011 11:38 p.m. benzbaron Dork

I have the primary clutch assembly off as well as all the shifting bits and it seems like something has gone awry on the "dark side" of the transmission. The bike would usually go through the gears even without a clutch cable installed so I think there is something amiss in the internal gear selector like either a stuck shift drum or shift fork bent or broke.

The buell blast transmission is just a harley 5 speed from a sportster I think so if anyone know about those trannys don't be afraid to chime in. Unfortunately the buell transmission doesn't have a trap door so to check it out I have the pleasure of taking the motor apart and splitting the punkys cases. I've only gone 500miles on the rebuell so I'm a bit bummed but after I go through the tranny there shouldn't be much else to go wrong.

I have the manual so if I do have to pull it apart I have a good 50/50 chance of getting it back together.

Thanks for any help or suggestions, I do appreciate it. I think I'm going to hook everything back up and see if it still won't shift then go from there.
Aug. 19, 2011 7:25 a.m. 44Dwarf Dork

Ya thats one way HD trimmed some weight by not having a trap door like the bigger bikes. My 52K model has no trap door either but it was the 1st HD with integrated trans..they added the door in 54... Sounds like you popped a fork off the drum. Make sure to check the bushings at the ends of the drums and replaces the forks there not big $$. File the dogs on the gears or better yet send them out for under cutting if you plan of abusing the gear box. (fast by Gast and others can do this) Just go slow take your time when seporating the cases you'll be fine. Heck you wanted to replace the base gasket anyway right?

44
Aug. 25, 2011 2:16 a.m. benzbaron Dork

Thanks 44dwarf, I'll be looking at the punky tomorrow. I think I'll be looking at the shifter mechanism first but it sound like something won't move behind the idprimary casing. I don't know if something broke or just got loose. Either way

Thanks for the help folks I'll keep ya posted!
Sept. 23, 2011 3:32 p.m. benzbaron Dork

Ok the punky is apart and 44Dwarf got it. One of the cotter pins broke which holds the retention pin in the shift fork to the shift drum. This allows the shift fork to move around and now it is seized on the shift drum. I'm working on getting the shift fork off but if it wont play nice I'll be dremmeling it off.

Thanks for all the help and I'll keep y'all posted. I can't wait to get this punky buellster back together and start terrorizing the hood again. In the meantime I have to drive the punky benzer around.
Sept. 23, 2011 9:04 p.m. 44Dwarf Dork

Not possitive but i belive Punky uses the same trans as Sportsters so parts should not be hard to find.
Sept. 26, 2011 4:28 p.m. 4eyes HalfDork

benzbaron wrote:

Ok the punky is apart and 44Dwarf got it. One of the cotter pins broke which holds the retention pin in the shift fork to the shift drum. This allows the shift fork to move around and now it is seized on the shift drum. I'm working on getting the shift fork off but if it wont play nice I'll be dremmeling it off.

Thanks for all the help and I'll keep y'all posted. I can't wait to get this punky buellster back together and start terrorizing the hood again. In the meantime I have to drive the punky benzer around.

AHEM
Sept. 27, 2011 12:53 a.m. benzbaron Dork

Don't feel bad, I'm the one eating my hat trying to figure out how to fix it. Everyone wins and I lose! Thanks for you help also 4eyes!

It looks like all of the the shift dogs(not airdales) are beaten up. When the shift pin came loose it beat up the shift drum pretty good. The drum had about a 32nd in of smeared metal around the lip of the middle shift fork guide.

How much wear is acceptable on the shift dog upper lips? Are the lips supposed to be straight and clean or will a bit of roundness matter? Sorry for my ignorance, but I'm elbow deep right now and my iron horse is lame, boo hoo hoo!