Hitchcocks Forum

Suddenly my 2003 4 speed Bullet wont go into 3rd or 4th.
Sge feels like she only has a 2 speed gearbox, there seems to be nothing after second gear.

I've had the cover off the gearbox but I didn't notice anything unusual.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Many Thanks.

John D.

Have a good look at the large spring that is inside the selector mechanism,(where the neutral finder lever bolts on) if this has snapped then then it will not return properly and will not change up more than one gear.

Yes John,

The Large spring does look a little off.
Will investigate further.
Many Thanks,

John D

Back to the Drawing Board.
I checked the spring and she's OK.

Check that you can select all gears via the neutral finder to ensure that there is nothing preventing the change. You'll need to spin the back wheel to get it to change through the gears. If it will go through ok then it is definitely a selector issue. The selector comes apart very easily and has a centering spring inside the selector that may be the issue.

As Simon says try changing through the gears by pulling the neutral finder upwards. If you get all four you can discount a major catastrophe inside the box and concentrate on the selector mechanism.
Assuming you can get all four gears I would pull the selector ratchet mechanism apart, if you haven't already done so and have a close look at all the parts.

Hi John D. Don't be put off by the fact that the spring appears to be OK, fatigue can cause them to bend *just* enough to foul up the change. There should be no significant gap between the "halves" of the spring when looking at the split end (the smaller loop of the "figure of eight") with the spring taken off the box. If there is, bin it, it's on the way out and will probably snap very soon (ask me how I know!).

Cheers

TimG

PROBLEM SOLVED.

Gentlemen, thank you for all your helpful replies.

The problem as Simon mentioned was simply a selector spring inside the mechanism.

The gearbox did not need to be stripped and my friend who discovered the problem, also had a spare spring in his workshop.

So it was a good result and the jobs a good un.

This is just an update to let you know how I got on in the end.

Ride Safe all.

John D,

Ireland.