4 speed problem

[Ohio-Rider]

Hi guys,
Before I start taking things apart I thought I’d run my problem past you guys. My 56 pan tranny is starting to give me reason for concern. While going thru the gears the tranny doesn’t engage the gears until the engine rpm drops. I’m talking about nice and easy shifting, not banging thru the gears. It has always done this between 1st and 2nd if I was getting on it hard so I’ve learned not to do that. But now it is doing it thru the entire gear range.

Once the rpm’s drop I can hear the gears click and engage and everything is fine till the next shift. I had the tranny apart 2yrs ago to put a speedo gear in and replaced 3rd gear on the main shaft while I was in there. At that time the shift forks showed some signs of wear but nothing worth worrying about. Or so I thought. Any idea’s…?

[rousseau]

Your problem is in the clutch. Something is not letting it release cleanly. Check it completly before going into the tranny.
The fact that it upshifts when the RPM drops leads me to this conclusion.

[Ohio-Rider]

That is sweet news to my ears. I will look at those clutches first thing tomorrow. The same time I did the tranny I went with a 1.5 BDL belt closed primary and haven't looked at them since. I had a 3" open belt drive during my bobber period but got tired of the clutches constantly flash rusting together. Since I've gone to the closed primary i've had no need to fool with them.

I should mention here that when I converted to the 1.5 belt drive I left a metal friction plate out from the clutch pack, cause for some reason I could not get things to work correctly with the complete set inside the basket. We're talking about a set of clutch pads which I have no idea of how old they are. I do know they have 22k miles that I've put on them. Hey they where nice and flat and plenty of pad left so why spend money changing em? Right..? It may be time to do so now though. -Steve

[Ohio-Rider]

Yep... You nailed it for me rousseau. Those old clutches where hanging up in the hub. A couple of the rattle balls are also missing. Don't know where they went. I cleaned everything up and reassembled it. Went for a short ride and all is well again. I'll be shopping for new clutches this weekend. Thanks again. -Steve

[rousseau]

I'm glad I was able to help. Sometimes I get lucky and know the answers.
As they say here in Rocky Top "Even a blind hog will find an acorn once in a while"

[portagepan]

Great feedback! Just remember, in any clutch, the stack height of the discs and plates is what matters. Otherwise, you can play all you want, and it will give you fits. At least, that is what I have found.