Sticky Shift Fork

[Dr. Frankenstein]

I have a strange problem with the gears on my '63 CA77 - after tearing down and rebuilding the engine Completely, it seems it only wants to shift into One and a half gears!

It will seemingly shift OK through one gear, but then the shift fork seems to get stuck about halfway through the cycle to the next gear, coming to rest on the 2nd little metal tooth on the face of the shift drum...the instructions are very vague about rebuilding the transmission, but I checked and double checked everything was turning fine before I sealed up the engine...any ideas??

[G-Man]

Have you got the retaining plate on the end of the shift drum the right way up?

Should be this way.....




Not this way.....



If it is the wrong way up it snags the shifter mechanism.

G

I have a strange problem with the gears on my '63 CA77 - after tearing down and rebuilding the engine Completely, it seems it only wants to shift into One and a half gears!

It will seemingly shift OK through one gear, but then the shift fork seems to get stuck about halfway through the cycle to the next gear, coming to rest on the 2nd little metal tooth on the face of the shift drum...the instructions are very vague about rebuilding the transmission, but I checked and double checked everything was turning fine before I sealed up the engine...any ideas??

[Dr. Frankenstein]

Yes; I discovered that horrifying fact the day after I sealed up the case the first time with it mounted upside-down...there was much colorful invective heard in the garage that day...but it WAS my fault for not studying the diagram thoroughly enough, so there you have it. ;)

[Tim Allman]

Yes; I discovered that horrifying fact the day after I sealed up the case the first time with it mounted upside-down...there was much colorful invective heard in the garage that day...but it WAS my fault for not studying the diagram thoroughly enough, so there you have it. ;)

Not your fault at all. It's Honda's for making a machine which could be misassembled. ;-)

[Dr. Frankenstein]

Not to mention the 'manual' only gives me a little black & white grainy picture about 1 1/2" wide of the entire side-case that says 'shift drum plate position", or some such nonsense...


So any idea why I can't get it to shift through the gears? I hate to ask, but all it says in the 'manual' is to install the shift drum, then screw/bolt in the guide pins, then assemble the case 'in the reverse order of disassembly." (Big help!)

[Dr. Frankenstein]

I have the shift-drum positioned the way it looks in the book - I moved them around til all three of the drum dogs are to the left, at 11, 9 and 6, roughly- does the actual position of the shift-drum make a difference? I've even had the dogs at 10, 12 and 2, like the picture, but it doesn't seem like it wants to make more than a shift-and-a-half..


Looking at the orientation that G-Man has the top pic in, I'm starting to get a baaad feeling about this...

[G-Man]

There is nothing 'correct' about the shift drum orientation in my picture. It was just mocked up for some photographs with an empty case.

This is the best(?) picture of drum position in a freshly-dismantled engine....




G

I have the shift-drum positioned the way it looks in the book - I moved them around til all three of the drum dogs are to the left, at 11, 9 and 6, roughly- does the actual position of the shift-drum make a difference? I've even had the dogs at 10, 12 and 2, like the picture, but it doesn't seem like it wants to make more than a shift-and-a-half..


Looking at the orientation that G-Man has the top pic in, I'm starting to get a baaad feeling about this...