1990 FLHTCU with a broken pawl spring. I've read the sticky and have it well into the tear down. One post says you can fix it without touching the primary side. So I am giving that a go. I am at the point where the trap door is on its way out but not moving any more. I have gently tapped it about 1/4" out and have not wanted to "persuade" it any more until I am sure that it can come out without removing anything from the primary side?

So that is my question. Can you remove the cartridge trap door assembly without removing anything from the primary side?

Thanks for any help.

 

I thought you had to remove the inner primary bearing race if you wanted to pull the gear set.

Personally I'd pull the primary just to give myself more room to do that job.

 

Well that is what I am trying to figure out. I'd love to not have to take that side apart but I don't want to start wedging out the trap door if the race is holding it on from the primary side. I'll just end up breaking something super expensive. If I can't get a definite answer then I will pull the primary. But if you look at post #14 (I think) on the Pawl Spring Sticky here, he says you can leave the primary side completely alone. IDK

 

I remember when Spanners posted that.

I've never done this job, but what I took him to be saying is that his technique is to pull the trap door off of the shafts, leaving them behind. This will stress the roller bearings on the trap door, which will need replacing.

The key is if you do this Spanners style, you don't need to worry about the mainshaft race because you never remove the mainshaft.

Like I said, I've never done it, but I think that is correct.

If you do it the other way (the way the OP in that thread described), there is no way to pull the trapdoor/gears/mainshaft out completely without pulling the race off the mainshaft on the primary side.

Here's a good video from Baker that should make all this pretty clear. He's installing a six speed, but at the disassembly level, this is pretty much what you're up against.

 

+1 on Omaha's description.

I just enjoy watching Bert's video. What an expert. He makes it look easy.

 

What spanners did was pulled the gearset out to the point you have it now just enough to be able to remove the shifter pawl. Now your going to need some small right angle snap ring pliers to remove the pawl snap ring.

I've never did it this way but I can see it working. It has to be tough getting that snap ring on and off with the primary in the way. Light and mirrors may help.

 

I haven't done it, but do have a Baker DD6 gearset and watched it being installed. This is one of those jobs which, I suspect, can be done the easy way by the book, or the contortionists way. Which takes longest or is 'easiest' I can't guess at, but dismantling the primary seems to me the most suitable. At least doing that the job is well documented, whereas the other way may be fine for someone whose done it umpteen times and has worked out the short-cut himself.

 

The resistance you are encountering is the inner primary bearing contacting the main drive gear.

Omaha`s description is correct, when doing it this way the shafts will remain inside the case, the trap door is pulled from the transmission by removing the retaining nuts for the shafts, and then using a special tool to push the shafts out of the bearings.

Also keep in mind that this method damages the bearings, and they must be replaced.