| Author | Message | ||
     Advoutlander |
After fitting a new gasket to the primary casing, the primary will only go in gear 1 or 2. When I tap down in to gear 1 the shift lever stays down and does not return to the middle position, when I tap the shift lever up to gear 2 it stays up. Any idea what is wrong? | ||
| Ratbuell |
Primary chain is out of adjustment. Did you have the shift linkage apart inside the primary at all? Disassemble any internals? Or just replace the gasket? Did you have trouble fitting the cover back on, like something was in the way? Like...the primary adjuster shoe? Do you have the bike running? Or are you doing it sitting there on the lift, before you start it? If this is the case...it's normal. Start the bike. | ||
| Froggy |
Your shifter getting stuck up or down means that you did not re assemble the shift linkage correctly and it is not at the right angle.  | ||
| Etennuly |
I couldn't get into my gear when I gained over forty pounds!  | ||
| Advoutlander |
How could the chain be out of adjustment if It was working fine and I did not change anything. I did not mess with any internals. The primary adjuster shoe is under the chain. I have ridden the bike and its the same as when its off only 1st or 2nd gear and the shift lever does not go back to its normal position. I made sure the linkage is the same as the above pic. Im really getting fed up with issue and issue, and the bike is just how I want it, im supposed to be riding across the country next week, I doubt ill take the buell now. | ||
| Etennuly |
Is it possible the O ring seal for the shift shaft moved out of it's grove letting it bind up? Should have some oil on it when reinstalling the cover. | ||
| Brother_in_buells |
It's worth checking the shifter springs. http://www.buellxb.com/Buell-XB-Forum/Buell-Firebo lt-XB12-XB9/Troubleshooting/Firebolt-Shifting-prob lems} | ||
| Reepicheep |
I'm with Etennuly, though some information about why you pulled off the primary cover in the first place might be worth digging into. Maybe that will shed some light on the situation. Or maybe you left something in the primary. The way that thing works inside is that it has a couple of arms hanging down with hooks on the end, and they engage pins on a horizontal drum. So you flick the shifter up, and it lifts the front hook, and rotates that drum clockwise. Flick the shifter down, it lifts the rear hook, and rotates the drum counter clockwise. There are springs on the hooks to center the shifter again. That whole assembly sits behind the primary chain. So if it shifts from 1 to 2, it ought to keep shifting to 3,4, and 5. Reasons for what you see is usually a low side where somebody bends that shifter shaft, so it isn't true to the hole in the primary cover, and binds up. But like Etennuly suggests, maybe a seal or some other debris got wedged in that primary shifter hole seal around the shaft and is binding it up. | ||
| Ratbuell |
How could the chain be out of adjustment if It was working fine and I did not change anything. You listed a symptom - hard shifting / not shifting - and a misadjusted primary chain is the most common cause. With limited information ("I fitted a new gasket") I proposed a solution. If you'd prefer an accurate diagnosis, bring it to Maryland. I'll put it on a lift, grab some tools, and fix it for you because I'll have all the information I need - the motorcycle itself. | ||
| Motorfish |
After my recent rebuild, my bike would not shift past 2nd, then got stuck in 1rst. It turned out to be the "fingers" that shift the drum in the primary. The rivets that hold them together had somehow loosened up and let the fingers get stuck. It was taken apart, rivets tightened, and reassembled. It has been fine for over 1400 miles. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Another possibility that occurs to me is the primary cover/seal may be binding on the shifter shaft. If you didn't loosen the primary adjustment screw before you removed/reinstalled the cover, the chain tension might have forced the cover downward somewhat. I'd suggest backing off the primary adjustment, loosen all the primary cover bolts, and then try shifting (yea, you'll have to drain and replace the oil again). If everything's OK, carefully tighten the cover bolts in sequence and see if it still shifts OK. THEN re-fill with oil and adjust the primary chain. | ||
| Advoutlander |
I followed all the above instructions, the fork/fingers were all in the correct position and it still does not return to the neutral position or change gear out of 1 or 2. When the primary case was off shift lever works fine, it selects all gears and returns to the middle position, when the case was put back on nothing worked. I'm not going to be able to take the bike on my vacation after all the farkles I did, when I get back i'm going to have to trailer it to my nearest buell service people and get raped in the process. | ||
| Thejosh |
Might be a silly question, but did you use a torque sequence when you put the cover back on, it could have gone on all crooked and either bound the chain orthe shifter shaft, or something poppoed loose around the shift pawl. | ||
| Skifastbadly |
If it works fine when the case was off but not when the case was replaced, something got hosed with the case. Check the gasket, that's a bitch to get on properly. | ||
| Advoutlander |
Sequence was correct, pushed chain up to clear tensioner, using permatex right stuff instead of a gasket now. | ||
| Ratbuell |
And you loosened the tensioner completely so it isn't trying to push the case cover down from the force of the chain? Any signs of the shifter shaft binding on the bushing inside the cover? | ||
| Motorfish |
Try putting the cover on and just finger tighten the screws and see if it shifts. It sounds like that cover is definitely binding the shaft some how. I know that is pretty obvious, just throwing it out there. | ||
| Rdkingryder |
Silly question, but can you post a picture of the shifter with everything in place? Checking a theory. | ||
| Advoutlander |
Ill post some pictures when im back from vacation. I carefully removed the oil seal on the shifter shaft and it is not binding on the bushing when the shifter shaft goes. I have not touched the chain tensioner. When I put the primary cover on , I pushed the chain up onto the tensioner, but I never touched the tensioner. | ||
| Griffmeister |
If you're using Permatex instead of the gasket, the cover could be too tight reducing internal clearance. Of course that would only be if you used the P'tex from the start. I'm not sure by reading this if you did have a gasket on there the first time you reinstalled the cover. If you didn't have a gasket at all, then you could make a card stock shim to put under the cover to test this theory. | ||
| Advoutlander |
Originally the gasket was on there when the problem started, then swutched to permatex and while ive been trying to troubleshootnit ut has no gasket or perma tex and still does not work. The only thing I have not tried is to loosen the chain tensioner. | ||
| Ratbuell |
From my service manual in the "cover removal" schedule: 9. See Figure 6-1. Loosen locknut (7). Turn chain adjuster screw (6) counterclockwise to remove tension on primary chain. I'm willing to bet once you remove chain tension...it'll all work perfectly. | ||
| Reepicheep |
I agree with Rat. That's a lot of pressure on that cover if you don't loosen the tensioner. Even worse if the chain hasn't settled into old grooves. You want that cover to be able to lightly self center on that shaft and the other centering pins. I'm sure there is a bit of play engineered into the system to address exactly the problem you are having. | ||
| Advoutlander |
I completely backed out the tensioner, put 6 of the primary cover bolts in hand tight and the gear shifter was working fine in that it was returning to the middle position, I could only get it in 2 gears but I think that was because the bike was stationary. I then took the primary cover offand reassembled everything according to the service manual, apart from retensioning the primary tensioner. Now everything is back on it wont shift. | ||
| Advoutlander |
Can someone please provide the part number for the shifter oil seal, the 13 primary hex bolts and the shifter piece in the pic below.  On the piece pictured, the long hex bolt that goes through it, is not tightening onto the shifter splines, I think it was over torqued. Would this cause the shifting problem? | ||
| Steveford |
If the shift linkage is simply slipping past the splines, yes, that would do it. That Allen bolt always falls out unless you use a drop of purple Loctite on it. (Message edited by SteveFord on July 10, 2013) | ||
| Hughlysses |
If the linkage is not gripping the splines, you should be able to see it by kneeling next to the bike and working the shifter. I don't think it would slip however even if the bolt is missing. The linkage might however come off the shaft while you were riding. The bolt has to be removed to get the linkage off of and onto the shaft as it fits in a groove in the shaft. | ||
| Uly_man |
Just a thought but? Did you put the rubber spacer on the shifter shaft BEFORE fitting the cover? I know it does not look like it does but it goes on the OUTSIDE between the cover and the shift arm. | ||
| Advoutlander |
The splines does not look like it is slipping. Yes the rubber spacer is on the outside between the primary cover and the shift arm. | ||
| Advoutlander |
The latest with my uly is that my friend and I couldnt figure the problem, we took it to the nearest buell hd dealer 80 miles away. Got a call last friday advising they cant see anything wrong on the primary side and that they assume its the trans and wanted my approval for rotating and opening the trans, 18hrs at $88 per hour, they havr me by the balls. Ill update the post once I find something out. |
