First hello im new here. i bought a 85 FXSB harley from a friend who was having shifting problems. I sent the tranny to a friend who is one of the best Harley Mechanics around and he said everything inside it looks brand new. anyway i put the tranny back on the bike using the manual to set clutch and everything. 1st ride it shifted 1st thru 4th fine down shifing worked but was a little difficult. took it for second ride shifted great 1st thru 4th and now is stuck in 4th. I think what i have is a ratchet problem in the top of the tranny. this being a 85 its a odd ball (first year of evo motor but in a 4 speed frame, front drive is a wet clutch rear drive is a belt) my question is what other model bikes could i get a top ratchet from to fix this problem. i looked into 5 speeds and 6 speeds but they are just to costly. anyone have any parts or suggestions? thanks in advance. great website.


mike
N.W. florida

 

Hi Mike, from the UK and welcome to HDF. Your first port of call should be the friend who is a mechanic. He's probably the only person who has looked inside that trans since it was made. There is no substitute for an expert close at hand!

 

When you put the rotary top back on, the shifter forks need to be lined up PERFECTLY. Jim's makes a tool for doing this, but there may be others out there too. (My shop manual gives the part number, but I don't have it handy.) I'd take it back to the mechanic who looked at it.

 

This^ and I bet you did not adjust the clutch properly

 

Never used one, never had a problem....I would suspect that maybe the mech left a shifter fork collar off, or one has broken (this can happen easily).

Either way you need to look at the linkages in the shift mechanism, from gear leaver back to where it connects to the top of the gearbox, before you pull the tranny out again because its easy to get this adjustment wrong and cause issues.

 

yea the mech i sent it to lives in Idaho and im in Fl. so im trying not to ship it again (but i will). when you up shift it has the spring like action down shift has nothing. We put the tranny in as one unit. anyone know if the top will come off without removing the tranny?

mike

 

Depends on your oil tank, might have to pull it to get to the tranny top.

 

There are a lot of good shops (and bad) right here in FL, why ship it there? K&K Customs in Palm Harbor is a good shop.