1972 Roadster Rebuild

Ok, made sure the layshaft bearing outer race was fully seated, freed up the inner race on the layshaft just a tiny bit more, and reassembled everything again, but this time with the gasket. As I had originally thought would happen with the gasket in place, the end play on the kickstart shaft increased to .035", so I believe I should be looking to add .025" to .030" of shim. Quickly got a small assortment of shims on order from Old Britts.

Grandpaul: yes, that was the way I originally put the bearing outer race in. This time I just double checked that it was all the way seated with a larger socket against the o.d. with a 1/2" drive extension, against a block of wood with both shafts removed. I don't understand how we differ on calling it adding or subtracting for the gasket, but does .025" to .030" of shim sound correct to you at this point?
Bill

Yes, if your end play is at .035 and you add a .030 shim, you'll end up with .005 free play.

I see now I was thinking incorrectly in my reply. You were on the right track all along. For some reason, I was thinking of shimming inside the inner cover.

Sorry.

Please, absolutely no need to be sorry. I have huge respect for your input, and you forced me to go back over what I did, and I'm very happy to have done that. I always have to second and third guess my work and understanding of instructions because of some dyslexia issues. So, at least for the moment, I'm feeling pretty o.k. about my first gearbox tear-down.

You can feel even better if it shifts properly!

.025" of shims installed, end play now .006". If this is proceeding too fast for anyone, raise your hand.

I think .006 is okay.

The gearbox rebuild has me hung up again. I'm at the point of trial fitting a new outer cover onto the installed inner cover with a new kick start shaft in place, prior to installing the clutch operating lever. The outer cover assembly is a new Andover Norton p/n 06.0740 with a new kick start shaft bushing and MK3 type seal already installed (as well as the MK3 type gearchange shaft seal and bushing already installed). The outer cover gets to within about a 1/4 inch from full on and then starts binding up on the kick start shaft and the two dowel pins. It gets tight enough on the kick start shaft that the spring can't return it back to its starting position. The dowels are both easy fits (separately) into their holes, and the shaft fits into the seal and bushing nicely. The kick start shaft works freely by itself. I lubed the shaft and seal/bushing, partially installed the cover, and cycled the kick start shaft with the kick start lever a number of times, but it is still binding. I'm afraid if I tap the outer cover fully on, I'll never be able to remove it without destroying the gasket surfaces on both covers. I got a new outer cover because my old pre-MK3 cover was badly scuffed up and a new AN cover was fully assembled to MK3 specs as well as being beautifully polished, for a very attractive exchange rate price. I got a new kick start shaft because the old shaft's spline was destroyed. Is there anything I can do to free everything up? Should I permanently remove one of the dowel pins? I can't just drive the cover fully on at final assembly and count on normal kick starting operation for a few years to free everything up before I need to pull the cover off again, but can't think of a way to fix things.
Bill

Well, I couldn't think of anything else to do except put the cover on with about a 1/16" gap, oil the bushing and seal again, put the kick start lever on, and just exercise it back and forth full travel to see if things freed up. After about 5 minutes and a some warm rubber smell, it did start working more normally with the spring returning the lever back. So I guess I'll continue with assembling all the parts under the outer cover, and button it up (hopefully for good).

Not a good idea.

SOMETHING needs to be corrected or there is the possibility of further issues, and even significant damage to the gearbox.

You're sure the shifter peg is inserted into the steel roller with the hole in it?

grandpaul said:

You're sure the shifter peg is inserted into the steel roller with the hole in it?

Click to expand...

Not sure which parts you mean?

These two?

Now with further operation of the kick start, it is binding again. Removed the cover and the kick start shaft operates just fine.

grandpaul, I'm just trial fitting the outer cover without any of the parts that go inside it, and no hold down screws yet.

As best I can tell it is the oil seal that is somehow the problem. I think the bushing would be leaving marks on the kick start shaft if it was binding on that. I'm tempted to remove the oil seal, and see if it works normally then.

Yes, remove the seal and see if that "fixes" it.

It might be that the kickstart shaft inner bush is not fully seated. Check to see that it is, as mine was not and it totally bound the tranny when the outer cover was installed.

I took the KS shaft in to an engineering shop near me that does a lot of frame work for Beezers here, and he pressed the bushing in using the old bush as a drift. It gave a bit of resistance and then pressed in to 12.6 mm deep - bang on half an inch.

Assembled and shimmed to .005 - all good.

kickstart-shaft-too-tight-t17637.html#p342371

Sorry, I've been dealing with a much loved 150 or so year old huge sugar maple that blew down yesterday, and knocked me off line for a day, but have been thinking gearbox a little. I'm now considering pulling the dowel pin that is nearest the kick start shaft instead of the seal, to see how it works then. Any thoughts about that? As far as the bushing goes, the outer cover came fully assembled from Andover Norton, if you can trust them. I'll measure it when I have a chance.

I just barely got back to the gearbox today, when I noticed the two tapped holes for the small inspection cover on the new outer cover were machined out of position, and the gasket surface wasn't properly cleaned up. So I have emailed Andover Norton about exchanging the outer cover. I also mentioned that I was having an issue with the kick start shaft binding up when trial assembling the outer cover to the inner cover assembly, and I suggested that there might also be a problem with the location relationship between the two dowel pin holes and the kick start shaft hole.

pantah_good said:

...... when I noticed the two tapped holes for the small inspection cover on the new outer cover were machined out of position, and the gasket surface wasn't properly cleaned up......

Click to expand...

Bummer

Maybe this has a silver lining. Ashley at Andover told me to send it back, and agreed that there might be a possibility that the dowel pin holes and kick start shaft hole may be a little off too. Posted it off to Portway West Business Park today.

pantah_good said:

Maybe this has a silver lining. Ashley at Andover told me to send it back, and agreed that there might be a possibility that the dowel pin holes and kick start shaft hole may be a little off too. Posted it off to Portway West Business Park today.

Click to expand...

Parts out of wack? I'm shocked..no not really

I spent about $500 buck with AN a week ago. :roll:
unfortunately there is a break down in an organization that seems to fall short of the mark...
Why you can't buy it from a US dealer for a fair price is the crux of the problem. oh well.
Why you can't return it to a AN dealer in the US is the crux of the business break down.
Why I have an item (2 ea) out of a $500 order that should go back ($$$ wasted) to England or be "fettled" to make them fit is IMO a business failure of monumental proportion.

My first years of college included quality control as part of a mechanical production engineer curriculum at Hartford State Tech in Connecticut. Nixon draft and vietnam put an end to that for me

QC Measurement and statistical analysis at the manufacturer and by incoming inspection to AN according to your "original factory specs and drawing" Then my studs would fit !!!! and the 26CEI nuts would actually be able to screw on the studs. :roll:

Compared to the original norton factory part, the AN parts failed in 4 specs/dimensions, the equivalent Norvil parts failed in only 2

To be fair I was satisfied with the bulk of the parts from AN and I am also usually satisfied with the majority of norvil's parts

https://andover-norton.co.uk/en/pirate-parts/

Does AN have a dedicated quality person? I could not find one on their website.
What Quality Management System do they subscribe/adhere to?