Hitchcocks Forum

I have a problem with my gearbox . I know that gearbox problems are common . The bike is fitted with a 4 speed box. There is a lot of play on the remote linkage at the foot rest mounting and at the gearbox shaft and there doesn't seem to be any way of tightening the linkage at these points . Is this a common problem and if so are there any suggestions on how to rectify this problem . I would be grateful for any comments .
Thank you

All the wearable parts of that connection look like they can be replaced reasonably inexpensively via our hosts. Including the pivots and the pins. So I'd see what looks worn and order new parts.



Another possibility would be to drill out the pivot eyes in the linkage and insert an appropriately sized bronze or PTFE bush

Hi wheelnut

Which parts are actually worn? If it is the gear pedal itself and/or the gearbox lever then they are very ex[ensive to replace (see the on line parts section of this site). In that case you can try to repair by making a bush as stinkwheel suggests. The parts of the actual gear linkage (eg the connector and pivot pins) can wear and can be replaced fior a lot less money (also see the onlinbe parts section). Alternatively you could try and create a sleeve that fits around around the pivot pin. I did this quite simply by cutting a strip from an aluminium beer can and wrapping it round the pins. The 4 speed gearbox is normally perfectly reliable - its the 5 speeders that can sometimes have issues due to the thinner width of their gears.

I should add, when I did a similar job on the loose and rattly brake lever pivot on my VFR750, I used a type of bush called a "glacier bush" which is an inexpensive, slightly springy split steel shim lined with PTFE. I treated it to a new bolt at the same time. Same idea as fork bushes on modern telescopic forks. This allows you a fair degree of leeway in the diameter of the hole it's fitting in where a solid bronze one needs to be a pretty fine tolerance.

Thanks all for your comments .I removed the remote gear linkage to check for wear and whilst doing this I tried to select gears directly from the gearbox shaft and I still only get 1 gear and neutral so although there is wear to the remote linkage (as suggested Hitchcock's do have new parts to fix) there is an obvious fault internally . I'm not sure if this is something I can do .
Thanks for the help and comments