Did I ever tell you what I like about snap rings - nothing. Great video series!

@Open-Sport

Жыл бұрын

I love it, like the sign says, "when removing snap rings, cover your good eye." Well, for me it was more chasing them across the room, or maybe having those dang snap-ring pliers slip off 40 times. Thanks for the comment.

Really like the tall windows you have in your work area

@Open-Sport

Жыл бұрын

Its the patio window in my living room. I want to work in air conditioned comfort, not out in the Florida garage!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who uses a battery terminal puller as a gear puller. Great video and bike. Thanks!

@Open-Sport

Жыл бұрын

At least the world did not convert to those side terminals GM went to in the 1970s. The thin jaws of that battery terminal puller would get into a places a regular gear puller would not fit. Thanks for the comment, and ride on brother.

I have a 1974 sportster transmission that was coming in and out of second gear. I took the transmission apart. The only thing I could see that didn’t look good was the forks were wore a lot so I replace them I put everything back together exactly like you say in the video it shifts perfectly all the spacing is good when I put it in the motorcycle without hooking a clutch or the cog on the other side and go through the gears it wants to lock up in first and fourth, but it will go in neutral second and third if I put it on the bench it shifts through everything just fine

@Open-Sport

Жыл бұрын

Hi, if it shifts OK on the bench but not in the bike that sounds like an endplay problem. You have to check both the mainshaft and counter-shaft. The mainshaft is easy, grab it or the chain sprocket and push and pull. For the counter-shaft sprocket, you need the primary cover off, then use a bent spoke or wire to get behind the closest gear and a small screwdriver in front of the gear so you can push and pull on the gear. The tolerances are in the manual, as is the procedure. Also be careful when you assume it shifts OK on the bench. You have to be able to push on the gears gently to see they don't move into contact with other gears. That is what you fixed with the new forks, but maybe there is some slop somewhere I don't understand.

Great video ! Very helpful as I'm about to replace the shifter shaft which snapped at the foot lever.

@Open-Sport

2 жыл бұрын

Oh gosh, that is terrible. Sometimes to get the primary cover off the remains of the shaft will pull the bronze bearing and seal out of the primary cover. You might try to pop the seal out, and then see if you can use a Dremel to grind any of the shaft that is bent over. If it is a clean break, no problem, the primary will just slip out. Some guys leave the engine sprocket in the bike, so the mainshaft stays in the cases. I have never tried it, but it is supposed to work. Just make sure all the thrust washers and such go back where they were. Good luck, it is one of the biggest jobs on an Iron Sportster.

Going through all this on my 79 xls so I'm hanging on every word.

@Open-Sport

3 жыл бұрын

Great to hear I am helping out. Sorry I can't bead blast the LH case today, since I needed to order a special tool to push out the sprocket shaft bearing race. It should come Monday, so stay tuned. Meanwhile, I might drag out all the ignition setups tonight and do a video about them.

Hey Paul, love your videos - I'm putting my primary back together on my 82. I tightened the front sprocket nut to 165 lbs like the manual says but I did not use Loctite as the manual does not mention it. Everyone on the Facebook groups says use Loctite and some even say use red. Should I pull that nut back off and put blue on it and how may lbs with the Loctite? Thanks, Jay

@Open-Sport

2 жыл бұрын

Do not use red Loctite, you will need a torch to remove the nut and the heat will probably ruin the seal on the sprocket shaft. I do put a touch of blue Loctite on the sprocket, but I really think it might not be necessary. If you look on the inside of the 1982 primary cover, you can see they molded a funky boss that sits very close to the end of the sprocket nut. The intent there is that if the nut does come loose, it can't back all the way off, that boss on the primary would keep it from dropping and you might hear the noise of the rubbing. If you actually measured the torque, you are 5 times ahead of most guys, who use a pipe wrench and hammer. Let me go look at the service manual.... Yeah, nothing about any Loctite in the 1979-1984 factory service manual. On page 6-14, item 4, it just says: "Install SPROCKET LOCKING LINK, Part No. HD-97200-55A on engine sprocket. Tighten engine sprocket nut to 150-165 ft-lbs torque." Heck, I use an electric impact wrench, so I make up for my lack of torque control with a dab of blue Loctite. It's up to you, but if it were me I would not tear it back apart.

Is there a seal at the crankshaft i have a 74 with belt conversion and its leaking there i believe behind the front sprocket

@shaymus1968

3 жыл бұрын

Yes. There is a seal in the case behind the engine sprocket.

@Open-Sport

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, Thomas is right, there is a seal behind the front sprocket, in a 1974, it's a 35151-52A. You would need a 37533-52A bending lock tab under the clutch nut when you put it back together. The seal seals to the sprocket itself, so let's hope the belt drive sprocket you have is not cracked or worn out where the seal presses into it-- in other words, a big groove worn away by the seal. Chain sprockets are steel, belts sprockets might be aluminum down there, not sure. Once you get the belt off, you can get to the seal, remove it, and and maybe pound in a new one a little more or a little less if there is a wear groove in the sprocket. Resist any temptation to slather silicone in the seal, it can burn up the bearing with even a tiny bit. If oil is weeping through the sprocket splines, well then you can put some silicone on after the sprocket is on, under the nut that holds the sprocket, so that no silicone can ever get close to the bearing.

This is the closest transmission to what I have, was wondering if you could solve my problem? I have an 87 sportster 4 spd. The bike was apart for seven years and I just put it back together. Every time I shift to 2nd, it goes into neutral. I have to lift the year shifter twice to get into 2nd. Same with down shifting, always goes into neutral before going into first. Can you advise me on what to fix? The top hats are good.

@Open-Sport

3 жыл бұрын

It might be that the clutch is not disengaging enough, so that the dogs on the gears are spinning so much they stop the gears from engaging on first try. Make sure the clutch is adjusted right, that is easy. The bike should not creep forward in gear even without the brakes on. If you are really lucky, you can shift into neutral with out rocking the bike back and forward when stopped. I assume you know to blip the throttle on downshifts to help the dogs engage. There is a small chance the cow paddy shifter plate is worn. You can usually see this by how nice the top-hats fit in the slot at the various gear positions. You can have all this put together with the tranny on a bench, and shift the shifter with screwdriver in the slot where the shaft actuates, and move the cow paddy through the gears. Another common problem is that the shift forks are worn where the slide against the gear. This means the gear does not slide as far as it is meant to when you shift. It might be too much end play in the countershaft. A lot of folks don't check it. You have to get a little hooked dental tool and a small screwdriver slipped under the trap door and hook behind the countershaft gear with the hook and press on the other side of the gear with the screwdriver, pulling back and forth to move the countershaft. Fancy is to pull the oil plug so you can put a dial indicator on the end of the shaft to measure, I just have a feel for it, tick tick instead of thunk thunk. Spec is 0.004-0.009" endplay on the countershaft. Mainshaft endplay is 0.003" minimum, not sure what the max is, book does not say. To use the dial indicator you have to have the whole primary and clutch off, but you might be able to get the dental tool and screwdriver under the trap door with the clutch still in. Then you can at least get a feel for how much endplay there is in the countershaft before tearing anything apart. There is also the whole rigamarole of setting the spacing's of the gears, see the factory manual for that, there are several washers that come in different thicknesses so that the movable gears are not too close to the others in neutral, but close enough so they engage all the way when it goes into gear. Finally, maybe the bike got dropped on the left side, and it bent the shifter shaft. I doubt this is it, the shifter centers on the "cow paddy" assembly, so the twisted shaft should not affect the travel of the gears. Some winos would take the chipped dogs on first gear and sand them down shorter, so they look good but are too short. That usually means popping out of gear, which is more common, another thing that can happen with bad endplay or running gaps. This is all based on Iron Sportster stuff, your bike has the 4-speed still, but the electrics are under the clutch I think, I hope this helps. You might join the XL Forum and post your question there. This is an interesting problem, and maybe someone else had had the same thing.

@shaymus1968

3 жыл бұрын

@@Open-Sport thanks for the informative reply. I belong to xl forum but, you have given me an answer faster than I can get a reply there. For that, it's very much appreciated. Thank you for your time. I will try some of your suggestions when I get off work today. Thanks again.

@Open-Sport

3 жыл бұрын

@@shaymus1968 OK, I hope I helped. I also did two videos just about transmissions, kzread.info/dash/bejne/n6B83NpylMfTcag.html kzread.info/dash/bejne/gnqo1tyBZKnOeto.html Those might give you some answers too.

I have a problem, all gears disappeared and stuck in first gear and no neutral, what has happend?

Can those 23 roller bearings be installed from the right without taking the transmission out? I've detected play in my '69's mainshaft and need to replace the bearings , I'm guessing.

@Open-Sport

3 жыл бұрын

I don't see why not, you would need a strong magnet to get the first one out but a dental tool would get the rest. There are 23 off them according to the parts book, 9095 stock; 9096 = 0.0004 over; 9097 = 0.0008" over. But but but, this is for play in the radial direction, not end play. If the sprocket moves back and forth along the shaft direction, that is end-play spacers inside the transmission. Also, most times, the oversize rollers don't fit all 23 unless you line hone the bearing race with the 300-dollar reamer tool. Don't use a brake hone like I used to, it bells out the bearing race. All this requires pulling the tranny. If radial slop has developed, it is likely that the mainshaft has worn, and new rollers will not always fix that. Also, this radial play can be pretty loose and you get away with it, does the seal around the sprocket leak? That is one problem you would get. Like I said, be sure we are talking about slop created by the chain loads, not the shaft pushing and pulling out a bit along its length. With that, the problem is the tranny pops out of gear or clatters in neutral. Maybe the first thing is to get the cover and chain off, and just feel the sprocket, will it turn smoothly? Maybe some silicone or junk got in the bearing, and then it is all blue with a bad race, bad mainshaft, and dang it, I have seen the rollers look fine with the race and mainshaft being blue and torn up.

@billvandyne4685

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks so much--appreciated!

@billvandyne4685

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, I am referring to observed side to side play and was wondering if this could be done . at least as a test, before pulling the tranny out.

@Open-Sport

3 жыл бұрын

@@billvandyne4685 Yes, when Dr. Dick posted on a forum that his is how he does it, I kicked myself for not thinking of doing it this way. You have to take this stuff apart anyway if you do a transmission pull, so why not get the bearings out from the sprocket side? It will let you see if there is any blue heat damage on the shaft, or if the rollers are OK. The only downside is that it is pretty hard to get that snap ring back in with the mainshaft in the way. Without the mainshaft installed, I just turn the ring sideways, and tap it into the race, then rotate it so it snaps in. Good luck tearing into this, hope it is just some new rollers that will get you back on the road. I did an article on honing the race with that expensive tool: www.open-sport.org/Repair/Honing-transmission-mainshaft-bearing/ Sorry, no video on that one.

So behind the primary is there a place where oil leaks out . I have a 76 that oil is just leaking from behind there someplace

@Open-Sport

Жыл бұрын

Hi Brandon, sorry for your troubles. I don't know what you mean by "behind the primary". Are you saying engine oil is leaking into the primary oil? If so, sure, the seal on the chain sprocket can leak, especially if the seal has worn down the sprocket so there is a groove in it where the seal runs. But there is also the famous "transfer valve" in the primary. That is in between the engine sprocket and the nut, and it is designed to leak engine oil into the primary oil. If your engine gets "sumped." where you don't use it much and oil in the engine oil tank leaks down past the oil pump and fills up the bottom of the engine, then that transfer valve lets the overflow into the primary case area. Then when you start the bike, the vacuum that is made when both pistons go up will start to suck that extra oil out of the primary and back into the engine, until the primary is back at the right level and the engine oil tank is full again. Now, if you mean there is some leak on the outside from back by the motor mount, well that could be engine oil or transmission/primary oil. The kickstarter shaft has an O-ring seal but I rarely see those leak. One bad thing is sometime there is a crack in the case where the screws for the primary cover go in, and sometimes oil comes out those. It could also be oil leaking from the tranny shaft on the right side of the motor and working its way down and back making you think it is from the primary. This is tricky stuff. I gave up trying to stop all my leaks, but if you want to troubleshoot, I would do this. Run the bike around town for 15 or 20 minutes. That makes sure that any "sumped" oil is out of the bottom of the crankcase and back in the oil tank. Check the oil tank, too full will make the bike smoke and for sure make sure you have oil before you even ride the bike. Now check the oil in the primary case by standing the bike upright, not on its kickstand, and pulling out that little Philips screw towards the bottom of the primary case. If oil flows out, let it until is stops. If no oil, you are welcome to fill it until you just get a drop starting to come out of the screw hole. Button the screw up, and get out the hose. I don't pressure wash bikes after I got water in the primary, but you can just wipe it down if you want. A little engine de-greaser will help whether you use a hose or just wipe things down. Then a quick ride around the block, and then look for where the oil is coming from. If not obvious, let the bike sit for a few hours or days until you can see where the oil is coming from. A mirror helps you see under the bike. Good luck, this can be a real pain to figure out.

@Open-Sport

Жыл бұрын

Hi Brandon, sorry for your troubles. I'm not sure what you mean by "behind the primary". I assume you see oil back where the kick-shaft goes in the primary case. There is a seal on the kickstarter shaft, and primary oil can leak out. I don't see that seal fail very often. It might be a loose hose or fitting on the oil tank that lets oil leak on the top of the tranny, and that is dripping down and making you think it is coming from underneath. This stuff is tricky. It can even be the oil is coming from the transmission shaft on the right side of the motor, and dripping down and underneath, making it look like its behind the primary. If you have electric start, the oil can leak from that unit where it bolts to the engine. If you have a kicker only, there is a plate over the opening, and that can leak. At least that is pretty easy to check. There are two bolts on the motor mount back there. Those bolts go right into the transmission, and some oil can weep up those threads, but it is not enough to be called a real leak. I gave up fixing leaks, but if you want to troubleshoot, ride the bike 15 minutes so any "sumped" oil in the bottom of the engine gets pumped back into the oil tank. Then stand the bike up and take out that little Phillips screw at the bottom side of the primary case to check the oil in the primary. If it is over-full, let it flow out the check-hole. If it is under-full, you can take out the oil fill plug and add just a little until you see a drop just starting out of the check-hole. Now with engine and tranny oil both at the right level, you can wash the bike down. I don't pressure wash, I got water in teh primary that way, and washed the grease out of the front wheel bearing. You can use a hose or just wipe everything down. A little engine degreaser will help. Then a real short run around the block and look for the leak. A mirror can help look underneath. Lets hope you don't have a case crack. Good luck, this is a pain but I hope you find the problem.