1967 Norton Atlas Gearbox

Just getting back to my Atlas project. Fell and tore my quad ligaments right off my knee cap 3 months ago and had to have them sewn back on. It was a long Winter!
Anyway sometime ago, I partially rebuilt my gearbox. New main shaft, bearings, nuts and bolts, o rings. Finally got around to turning the rear wheel forward and tried shifting through the gears. Just doesn’t seem like the mechanism inside the outer cover is catching all four gears. I haven’t put oil in the gearbox yet. I’m assuming that I should be able to do shift it through or without oil will it just be to stiff

Ok so I did a search here ( which I should have done first ) and it looks like the problem is not enough clearance between the pawl and the ratchet spring. The spring was tight up against the pawl

Still won't shift. Can anyone tell me if the ratchet spring leg with the two bends goes on the bottom or does it go on top and face the bottom?

jms said:

Still won't shift. Can anyone tell me if the ratchet spring leg with the two bends goes on the bottom or does it go on top and face the bottom?

Click to expand...

And also does it matter what gear its's in when you fit the outer cover?

Here's quote out of the P11 manual. Kind of disagrees with tips provided by other sources.

The spring must be fitted with the straight leg in the uppermost position as illustrated. Make sure that the legs of the spring are on each edge of the pawl to enable it to trip and engage with the rachet plate.

There are probably some AMC gearbox assembly instructions in the Old Brits section in the Technical Information sticky at the top of the Norton Commando Forum.

It's been a while since I've been inside one of those boxes
But make sure the hairpin spring isn't upside down
Make sure the clearance on the spring is good
Bearing in mind sometimes even new springs don't work because they are made inaccurately
I have seen a great detailed article on this setup so do a search for it,as said above it's probably on old Brits
Good luck with your knee,the gearbox is easier to fix than your knee

Won’t shift as in locked up or your gearbox is full of neutrals?