Mk3 850 ES - Gearbox removal - what's the secret?
Up to Commando
OK - the engine is now out and on the bench, leaving the gearbox in position. So I removed the chain, the neutral light switch, the levers, the rear brake assy and footpeg, the clutch cable and the two mounting nuts/bolts.
I have also removed the oil filter unit.
How do I get the gearbox/engine mounting plates to open up sufficiently for me to twist the gearbox and extract it to the right hand side of the bike? I have gashed me knuckles up and swore a bit, but that hasn't helped.
Any pearls of widom out there ?
Cheers.
You don't need to "open up" the engine plates. The gearbox should be twisted in the fore and aft plane until the lugs line up with the cutouts in the left hand engine plate and then it is drawn through to the left of the machine. The 750 cutouts are masked by the rear of the engine but the electric start model is not, making it even easier.
Dave Evans
Previously wrote:
You don't need to "open up" the engine plates. The gearbox should be twisted in the fore and aft plane until the lugs line up with the cutouts in the left hand engine plate and then it is drawn through to the left of the machine. The 750 cutouts are masked by the rear of the engine but the electric start model is not, making it even easier.
Dave Evans
Hi Dave,
Thanks for that, but I can't see any way that the gearbox will pass through the left hand engine plate, the gearbox is bigger than the hole. It must come through the right-hand side, where the aperture is much bigger, but it's something of a chinese puzzle.
I'll have another go tomorrow night after work.
Cheers.
Hi Peter.
I had mine out over the last winter, the procedure in the manual does work but you will lose yet more skin. It will suddenly come out and you will not be able to work out why, it will also be the same going back in.
Remove the rear three crankcase to engine plate bolts (or studs, depending on year), the rear wheel and on 1971 and later models, support the motorcycle by the lower frame rails on a strong box and remove the centre stand.
Remove completely the gearbox top and bottom mounting bolt and stud and remove the drawbolt assembly from the right hand side of the rear engine mounting and turn the gearbox anti-clockwise in the engine plates viewed from right side. Force the rear engine mounting rearwards until the cutaway part at the bottom right hand side is clear of the crankcase. The gearbox can then be turned further and withdrawn horizontally from the right hand side. Only in isolated cases will it be necessary to take out the front mounting main bolt to provide still further working space.
Regards
Tony
Previously wrote:perhaps we confuse right and left, right always being the timing side and left the driving side of the machine, right and left as viewed by the seated rider...
in this case it is in fact the right side but left of the engine as you withdraw the box from the right side... comes right out when rotated correctly.
Previously wrote:
You don't need to "open up" the engine plates. The gearbox should be twisted in the fore and aft plane until the lugs line up with the cutouts in the left hand engine plate and then it is drawn through to the left of the machine. The 750 cutouts are masked by the rear of the engine but the electric start model is not, making it even easier.
Dave Evans
Hi Dave,
Thanks for that, but I can't see any way that the gearbox will pass through the left hand engine plate, the gearbox is bigger than the hole. It must come through the right-hand side, where the aperture is much bigger, but it's something of a chinese puzzle.
I'll have another go tomorrow night after work.
Cheers.
