shifter wont ratchet.

[brian1570]

2004 xb12s, yet again another issue. bike has ~19k miles on it. i had the primary cover off during an oil change. figured it was a good time to inspect everything. bad idea, didn't know what i was doing and was trying to go back and forth from the house and the bike reading the manual. anyways everything actually looked great so i put everything back together per the manual. or so i thought. but when i started the bike up on the stand i noticed the shifter didn't want to ratchet normally. thought ok maybe it just needs to warm up and move some fluid around. nope, that wasn't it. thought maybe the clutch cable was too tight. again, no joy. going to start over again tomorrow and readjust the clutch/cable and primary drive chain and see if i screwed up somewhere. in the mean time, anybody got any ideas? it wasn't exactly the best shifting bike in the world but it shifted....

 

[thrstrmech]

Primary cover or case? either way, you're going about it the right way by starting over, do you also have the parts catalog? Helps by showing how and where the parts go together visually, be careful when removing/separating any parts, almost always there will be something that'll slip out of place while removing or handling it. Hopefully all goes well, if you get caught up somewhere, don't hesitate to get on the forum and ask questions before moving on, good luck.

 

[squidbuellie]

This is a stupid question but bare with me.
If you didn't mess with the shift shaft at all, did you put the rubber garment on the inside of the primary?

 

[brian1570]

hmmm...i just looked up the bushing you speak of. i dont even remember seeing one coming out of the primary...

 

[squidbuellie]

I was talking about the rubber garment goes between the shift cam and primary.
Believe it or not but I have seen it a couple of times on sportsters.

 

[brian1570]

what? you mean the oil seal? yes the oil seal is there. however the rubber bushing between the shift shaft and primary case is missing. this is #2 on pg 506 of the 2005 lightning manual. the oil seal is #19.

 

[chrispudd]

If you had no issues before you pulled the primary cover then it's likely you knocked a return spring off the shift shaft. With the primary cover removed, you can see the shifter shaft and the two ratchet arms on it where they engage the shift drum. On each ratchet is a small return spring. Hope this helps. The grommet on the shaft is more for keeping crud off the lip of the seal. It shouldn't be on the inside of the primary tho.

 

[brian1570]

i was afraid of this, looks like the primary cover is coming off again [mad] time to get oily

 

[brian1570]

problem solved. needs a new gasket. thought i could get away with not changing it but the old one is pretty tired and i think the cover is getting sucked in too far. which in turn is making the shifter shaft rub the cover. if i loosen all the cover bolts and only snug them up, the thing shifts perfect. better than ever actually. however by doing that the gasket leaks like a siv. and even when torqued properly the gasket was leaking slowly. SO new gaskets on the way.

 

[brian1570]

ok new gasket installed, but all is not well in the kingdom. bike shifts perfect when not running. fired it up on the stand, after adjusting the clutch on both ends per the manual(as always). then the shifter starts sticking again. WTFFF after messing with the clutch for like an hour i finally get it to shift on the stand. so i take it out for a ride, then it starts sticking again...[mad][mad][mad] ran out of day light so i said fukk it and put it up for the night. so till tomorrow, anybody have any bright ideas? btw right now the clutch screw is 1/2 turn in and the lever has a nickel's gap worth of play in it.

 

[brian1570]

bump, i need help. for real.

 

[squidbuellie]

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