Hitchcocks Forum

New box installed and everything connected up and filled with oil.

Gears seem to change very sweetly (as expected) only issue I have is that the kickstart does not return under the pressure of the spring - I have to return the kicker by hand.

Is this something that will resolve itself in time, or is there something I am going to have to do?

Think I saw something on the net about 5 speed gearbox and kickstart issues.

Thanks.

Try hitting the end of the kickstart shaft with a hammer - that might do the trick [seriously]. Regards, Paul.

10 or 12 lb sledge hammer

Only joking I'll give a couple of sharp taps with a rubber mallet.

Hi Andy - a rubber mallet will probably not work, although try it first by all means. A 2lb or 4lb hammer or copper mallet is what you want. No need to beat the crap out of it, but a decent, sideways shock is what might be needed here. It has certainly worked a few times for me. Regards, Paul.

It hadn't occurred to me to give the kickstart a whack with a copper mallet when my Not A Fury's 5 speed box had the same issue, and I ended up fitting two end casing gaskets. They do seem to be using thinner gasket material these days.



A.

OK I'll give it a go, but what is the underlying issue here ?

Am I right to assume that as I put some miles onto it and a few kicks it will loosen up anyway ?

If B.W.'s advice sorts it out, that does rather suggest that there was a bearing somewhere on the layshaft that wasn't sitting QUITE where it was supposed to sit.



Or the current batch of end cover gaskets are too thin, as above! If the kick-start rotates freely with the outer cover off but binds with the cover fitted and tightened up, you might get a better idea of where the trouble lies. I mention this as B.W. brought to light that some of the Electra-X timing cover gaskets available are also a bit too thin and causing the camshafts to bind up when the cover is tightened, the offending 5 speed gearbox end cover gaskets appear to be made of the same stuff.



A.

No joy - gave the shaft a few sharp whacks, to be honest I dont want to hit it too hard !

Guess I'll have to take the outer cover off, if it is still stiff with the cover off what should I be looking for ?

Clearly if not stiff with the over off it is down to the thickness of the cover gasket.

in my case it was the grooves that hold the two o-rings in place that were ever so slightly not deep enough, coupled to the fact that there was no grease applied anywhere.


with a little grease and a couple of kick's later it sorted it self out.

Mauri - looks like I have the same problem.

O rings are incredibly tight on the kickstart shaft, take the cover off and the kickstart returns quite hapilly.

No sure if just applying some grease will fix things - I'll do some measuring later.