shift pawl return spring...

[Fred C. Dobbs]

During the course of my last couple of rides on the Ballabio I've been finding more than the occasional false neutral when downshifting, usually from 5th to 4th, or 4th to 3rd. This is unusual as I don't tend to miss shifts on this bike--maybe three or four over a season. I put the bike on the stand, started it, and ran thru the gears with my hand. It seems to shift up and down fine. I can't detect any weirdness in the way that the gears engage, up or down....just a nice smooth snic, snic, snic....as one would expect.

 

I know the vast majority of spring failures occur on the earler V11s, but when reviewing in the spring falure posts on this forum I see a coulple of Ballabios have experienced broken springs.

 

Is it possible for the shift pawl spring to break and the transmission to continue to function for a while before it locks in a particular gear? Is it possible for the spring to partially break, causing occasional shifting problems? Has anyone experienced a rash of false neutrals before thier spring gave out?

 

Thanks for the help....

[Guest ratchethack]

As far as diagnosing deteriorating shifting goes, following the "check the easy stuff first" principle, I've solved progressively missed upshifting symptoms on 2 of 2 V11's (including my own) that had the linkage bolt on the shift arm located immediately outside the gearbox start to back out. In both cases, crisp, accurate shifting returned after threadlocking them, and the prior symptoms did not reappear. The same principle applies for downshifts. You need to have the starter motor off for access. (No way around this.) I highly recommend the wisdom of disconnecting the battery ground first, and marking the shift arm on its shaft before taking it off to make sure the splines go back together in proper orientation.

 

As noted in a recent thread on this, the condition of the linkage can be easily checked in 10 seconds without tools with a quick look-see-feel under the starter motor.

 

Both the aforementioned V11's came from Mandello with ths shift lever joint dry as a bone, and both had begun to loosen up substantially and rust before I lubed them properly with boat trailer wheel bearing grease. The pivot shaft is a socket-head bolt that appears on the outside of the pork chop, and can be adjusted for end float at the self-locking nut on its inboard end to take up the slop so it doesn't rattle. Properly set up, the linkage is virtually slop-free, and will allow faultless shifting -- assuming the internal racheting pawls are adjusted correctly at the external acorn locknut adjuster, and that all is well inside the gearbox.

 

Hope this helps.

[Fred C. Dobbs]

Thanks for the reply. I had the shift linkage all apart last year when I replaced my starter. It went back together well-lubed. But you are correct: check the simple stuff first. I'll have abother look at the linkage and go from there.

[michaeljordan]

Thanks for the reply. I had the shift linkage all apart last year when I replaced my starter. It went back together well-lubed. But you are correct: check the simple stuff first. I'll have abother look at the linkage and go from there.

 

Worst case senario , There is a guy in Kentucky that makes them, with high quality metal, that I replaced mine with a few years ago, and havent had any problems. It cost me something like 15 dollars, Instead of the 50+ the dealership wanted.

 

His info is in this forum, if you search for Pawl Spring Replacements. Best of luck.

[Greg Field]

Current list price of the Guzzi spring is about $8.

[Tom M]

FWIW on my bike the stock spring lasted about 15k miles and the Cannon Racecraft spring about 7k. The spring boss on my pawl was oversized so I ground it down to the proper diameter before installing the Cannon spring. I have about 3k on the "improved" factory spring now.

 

Has anyone out there had the new Guzzi spring fail?

[Dan M]

FWIW on my bike the stock spring lasted about 15k miles and the Cannon Racecraft spring about 7k. The spring boss on my pawl was oversized so I ground it down to the proper diameter before installing the Cannon spring. I have about 3k on the "improved" factory spring now.

 

Has anyone out there had the new Guzzi spring fail?

 

I'm sure they vary some even from the same manufacturer. The issue is how tightly it is wound when working. Laying them side by side, I noticed the arm on the cannon spring had a slightly different angle. The more the spring has to wind up when shifting, the tighter it is on the pawl. I don't remember which direction, upshift or downshift winds it tighter (I'm thinking downshift if visualizing properly ) but it is stressed more in one direction. I found that if you bend the arm of the spring slightly to reduce the tension, it does not grab the pawl any longer during normal operation. All the spring does is locate the shift hooks against the mechanism. Without it the lever just falls away, hence the no shift condition with a broken spring. Carefully bend it enough so there is only light pressure on the arm / hook and it will be under much less stress which should increase life substantially.

[Fred C. Dobbs]

I had a closer look at the shift linkage--found the problem and easily put it right. After reading all the hand-wringing about broken springs on this forum, I assumed the worst. Still, I carry a spare spring in my tool kit, just because. Thanks for all the input.

 

Just returned from a three day 1200 mile romp through Eastern Oregon--some of the best twisty-road riding I've ever experenced. Light traffic, good pavement, lots of open sweeping turns and the occasional decreasing radius 25 mph Hail-Mary-Haripin to keep me honest. Great Guzzi Country!

[Dan M]

Just returned from a three day 1200 mile romp through Eastern Oregon--some of the best twisty-road riding I've ever experenced. Light traffic, good pavement, lots of open sweeping turns and the occasional decreasing radius 25 mph Hail-Mary-Haripin to keep me honest. Great Guzzi Country!

 

Sounds like a great ride. Very few bikes better on high speed sweepers than a V11.

[Tom M]

Carefully bend it enough so there is only light pressure on the arm / hook and it will be under much less stress which should increase life substantially.

 

Thanks for the great idea Dan. I'm hoping my new Guzzi spring never breaks, but if it does I'll give this a try.