Britbike forum Forums British Motorcycle specific Brands Royal enfield forum Shifter Does not move in the down motion- Solved!

Hi All
Just about ready to fire the 69 Inter and I just realized there is a problem

Aside from my lack of understanding the transmission operation fully there seems to be an obvious issue

I can get the trans I to any gear using the neutral lever but not the actual shift lever.

The shift lever only allows me the upward motion. No down movement at all. It's as if there is something in the way internally.

Before I take the covers off and let the box of springs shoot off I to the atmosphere..is there something I am doing wrong or is this a telltale some of adjustment or failure?

Thank you!

Is the rear wheel off the ground? Try rotating the rear wheel slightly as you shift. 1st gear is up, 2,3,4 are down.

Thanks Al. That is how I found the problem. From there I took the bike off the lift and rolled it in gear with no plugs to get oil up to the rockers. Even after shocking it like that and getting the clutch free there is still no movement of the shifter.


If the neutral finder is faulting or not all the way down because of adjustment, will the main shifter not move down?

What is the history of this box ?
Has it been apart lately ??

Now I don't know this box intimately, but most boxes have a spring for the shift action,
either up or down. Some boxes I have met, if the spring is merely installed upside down,
then very little will happen. The spring looks symmetrical, but its not.

Its also possible for springs to just break. There is no rhyme or reason to this,
nor age, but stuff happens.

The real test is what happens with the engine running.
But if you can't change gears now, then its probably not going to improve.
And if a previous owner left something out, this is not good either !

A gearbox opening would be your only option at this point....
If you have a workshop manual, this is usually not an impossible task.

Copy that
No history at all on this bird. It's new to me so I am doing an overall shakedown and run test to see why it was parked years ago. Aside from this potential issue the one major issue I found was the missing stator nut. When you would slowly kick the engine over the magnet would rock back and forth on its badly hammered key causing what sounded like a connecting rod trying to poke a hole in the engine case. I was able to fix that with little issue and of course the other basics like carbs ignition etc. Now as I'm trying to develop oil pressure I'm noticing that the thing will not shift, up shift as in the shifter won't move down.
I was hoping there was some kind of issue with the neutral finder and my inability to use it correctly. For instance if the neutral finder is not completely down as it should be maybe the main shifter won't move correctly?

I have Kim the CD man's information but it doesn't go into the shift mechanism at all. I have been searching for a different repair manual that might have some more detail and maybe even a picture! Seems like Royal Enfield had spent the rest of their labor time on building the bike and none on the 64 page service manual.

Mmmm, hopefully someone will chime in who knows these boxes like the back of their hand.
The neutral finder on my single doesn't interfere with the shift action.
That I've noticed anyway, I don't use it that much.

Ha, I had a Commando with that missing rotor nut.
There were no marks to indicate it had ever been fitted with one.
When the battery went flat, they just parked it ?

Can you just press the neutral finder down into neutral, and see if the gear selection has returned ?

You should be able to change gears using the neutral finder,try that first,with rear wheel off the ground.If that works but gear lever
still will not shift down it is the selector adjustment that needs centering.Snidal does a manual and that explains adjustment well,
But all the remaining is for the Bullet singles.
With luck it is just an adjustment issue,and a little involved on the Albion boxes.

There is, what appears to me, a pretty thorough instruction on the gearbox and neutral finder in the manual on the Ozemate site.
Series II Workshop manual

That is what is happening. I can get all the gears smoothly with the neutral finder
Tonight I noticed the neutral finder is not resting fully on the stop. it is about 3/16" away all the time

It still wont shift down.

Thank you for the link gents. I will search Ozmate and Snidal this weekend and when back at the shop next week I will see where we are at.

Just dug into this with no luck. The gearbox section is mostly un-available and there is no detail on the shifter mechanism. Maybe I am missing it somewhere?

Luckily, these transmissions didn't change much (at all ?) from the late 50's on. They are fairly simple and so long as everything is there and in good condition, you should be able to solve the problem with a bit of research..
If you haven't had the chance to check, there's quite a few videos on YT covering these .
Below is one example and this fellow is a knowledgeable rebuilder



Good luck !

The gearbox section of the manual is complete. Note that the highlighted links contain all the information for the related sections and there is an operational and an exploded view of the gearbox. Section 63 "Change Gear Mechanism" is across two pages, on the links for 58-63 and 63-66. Open the 58-63 link and bring up the PDF - leave it open and go back to the Index and click the 63-66 link which will bring up the other PDF. The PDF reader will now have the two pages and you can toggle back and forth to read them as you would in a paper manual.
Hope this makes a difference and that you can get her working. I am lucky my bike needed only minor adjustments to the neutral finder. I did have some hard second to third shifts last time I rode it. Maybe I should check this procedure myself!

The video and the manual go together we'll. Thanks for that!

Almost there. I'll post pictures of the gearbox as soon as I get a chance to remove the cover



The stator when I removed the primary cover..replaced the key and reinstalled the nut. The klunking noise this made as the stator rolled forward and back was so loud I thought the left rod was broken. This was when rolling the engine over with the kicker.

Hitchcocks has copies of some articles showing the rebuilding of an Albion which are really good. It also describes adjustment procedures.
https://accessories.hitchcocksmotorcycles.com/Technical-Notes

REsolved!!

After a short fight with removing the cover I noticed there was a cross-head screw that looked out of place. The cover would not come off. I removed that screw and the cover came loose

That small screw...located in what I would assume is a hole for lubricating the shifter/kicker shafts was keeping the movement from happening. There was just enough room in the well/tapered area machined into the shifter shaft to allow shifting into first, but no other gears using the foot shift.

All is well now. I read at minimum a dozen articles, manuals and how-to's on the Albion and I have all you gents to thank.

Back to getting it fired up tonight!!

Cover off


Now the shifter moves as it is supposed to


The machined well for lubrication? - You can see the damage from the foreign screw


The screw that is not supposed to be there..


The screws protrusion into the oiling well on the kicker/shifter shafts - This is def not correct and required me to remove it before getting the cover off

OMG: why do people do things like that?

Imagine knowing so little, but thinking you know it all ...
..gREgg

Well done,there is supposed to be a screw there but obviously much shorter.I never knew
what it was there for before,so i suppose we are meant to remove that every so often and apply a
drop of oil.

Wow. Great photos and well done at solving the problem. Never seen the insides of the gearbox til now. I'll be looking for that screw tomorrow when I go out to the garage!
Al

I can just imagine some PO put that stupid screw in there thinking they were doing a good thing, then the bike wouldn't shift so they parked it.
That one little screw probably saved that bike from years of use and allowed it be in such nice condition when you found it.
Thank God for little screws. LOL

Woo hoo!!

Fired up first kick!! - Sounds great and everything works well.
I was concerned about the oil to the rockers and just about wore out my paddock starter getting the oil to the top. After that I gave the carbs a half-assed squirt of cleaner through the air bleed holes and prayed to the fuel gods to allow the bike to hold the fuel with no leaks. What luck!!

I screwed up the sequence of re-installing the primary in my excitement and failed to install the left peg when needed. I will sort that over the next weeks as I detail and service this machine. As you can see I was covered in appropriate gear.

Here is a video of it riding for the first time in a billion years...we think since the mid nineties as thats when the last registration tag was applied and when the non-operation status was applied...

Cool,you must be chuffed.I found the screw part number G2/14,i'll have to remove those on my bikes and lub them.
I wondered about them before but didn't figure they were an oiling screw.

The mighty Interceptor and Hwy 49 are a perfect match!
Put an oil cooler on it, RE's do not like hot weather.
Tom Oil

Terrific bike and interesting thread. I guess you've spotted the small crack in the primary chaincase in your pictures, if not, then I apologise for adding to your list of things to do.

Oh no!! Thanks anyway...I did not notice that. It makes sense as the primary but was dramatically overtightened and there was glue all over the rubber seal.

This is SO common. And yours is pretty mild.
I've also seen more than a couple of inner cases where the mating boss was pulled loose and had to be welded.
If the O-ring seal is shot...it's SHOT. No amount of over tightening will cure the problem.