Subject: RE: FIXED! Four speed shifting problems
Author: Keith Ruff
Date: Mar 31, 2005, 6:01 AM
Post ID: 1718626726
Greg,
You said below "So, I scavanged a straight 4 speed shift arm to replace
my dog-legged shift arm and found the clearances I needed". My arm
coming off the back of the tranny has a bend which provided the
clearance I needed around the clutch cable arm, see this pic:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/klruff3/detail?.dir=/6aab&.dnm=675a.jpg&.src=ph
You also wrote "if the linkage is too short, the lower shift arm will
hit a cover bolt on the upswing." What cover bolt? I don't recall
there being anything in the way of the lower shaft arm.
About the bend in your allthread, if you look at the pic above of my
linkage arm, that is the OEM linkage arm and it already had that bend in
it when it was used on the other side (on the OEM welded shaft linkage
arm), so I'm hoping this one won't snap like your allthread did. Take a
look at that pic and tell me how your setup was different mine (do you
have any pix of your SOB installed?)
Question for you and John Ulrich: Did you ever have problems with the
Shift Offset Bracket slipping on the shaft when you tried to shift? I
still have to take the Ambo out for a test drive after she is back
together, but I was wondering if I should find somebody to tack weld it
onto the shaft to definitely prevent that from happening. I did grind
down the back piece of the bracket to get it to squeeze the shaft more,
and also used loctite on the 2 bolts and threw some permatex bonding
stuff around the shaft where the bracket squeezes for additional stick
(per JU's recommendation). Just wondering if you had any slippage
problems.
Thanx.
Keith Ruff
70 Cafe Racer Ambo
Manahawkin, NJ
Greg Bender wrote:
I am very happy to report that my four speed shifting problems are a thing of the past. Here's the story: A while back, I gave up on the shift offset bracket. The clearances were so tight around the shift arm, that I couldn't get the adjustment I wanted. I'm certain that it works great on the Eldo 5 speed...but things are just too tight on the left side of the 4 speed. A week ago last Sunday, whilst beginning a ride with the local classic owner's group, my shift linkage broke. I had bent the stainless allthread to clear the shift lever. You guessed it, it broke right at the bend. So, I snuck her into 2nd gear and headed for home, grabbed the Quota, and met up with the guys in time for breakfast. Fast forward to today - my first opportunity to work on the Ambassador. I really wanted to continue using my hiem joints and allthread (this time leaving the allthread linkage unbent). So, I scavanged a straight 4 speed shift arm to replace my dog-legged shift arm and found the clearances I needed (these are the little arms that attach directly to the shaft exiting the rear of the tranmission - I didn't even know that Guzzi made more than one kind). Along the way, I took the time to notice the movement of stock lower shift arm (this is the arm that is welded to the shaft that connects directly to the foot operated shift lever). Low and behold, if the linkage is too short, the lower shift arm will hit a cover bolt on the upswing. I made sure this had ample clearance and put everything back together. For reasons I won't go into here, I'm just certain that the extra-bend in the linkage was causing the welded arm to hit the case bolt before it travelling as far as it needed to go...thus shortening my stroke. The test run proved my theory correct. It shifts MUCH better. It still has that characteristic clunk that let's you know it's in gear. Safety features like that affirm the 4 speed a far superior transmission than the 5 speed. ;> So, to all of you who told me it was a linkage problem, you can now say - in unison - "I told you so!" Regards, Greg Bender 1971 Ambassador 2000 Quota http://www.thisoldtractor.com/gtbender |