New log hauler.

Yeah I got the impression over the years he knew his stuff on these machines,,,,,why do you think I posted this thread?

THese computers are becoming the bane of my existence. The truck just threw another code yesterday GRRRRR.

 

Glad to help, and glad to hear its working for you.
Is the shift lever loose on the splines? From your pic it appears to be installed correctly.
If its loose on the splines, slide it off and clean the splines up, then lube them up with some WD40 type oil, slide the lever on until the pinch bolt can slide through the narrow spot on the shift shaft, then tighten it down until shift lever clamps tight onto the shaft...if the pinch bolt is stripped you can put a longer one in with a nut on top.

 

She’s oiled up and not stripped. Shot it with oil a few times over the course of several days before I attempted to back that bolt out. I remember from my dirtbike days just what a pain they could be. It’s a new bolt in there now. I think the old one was ready to snap upon removal,,,,not worth the risk. It’s as tight as I dared make it which is usually a few lbs away from snapping,,,the universal shade tree mechanic torque setting

It’s a little wobbly on the shaft. Mostly wear in the shift lever not the shaft itself. Came wobbly and it’s still wobbly after I removed it, cleaned it up, checked it out and eventually reinstalled it as is. Had replaced the battery on the Polaris,,,was really hoping a weak battery or dirty connections was the culprit in the computer getting weird signals. No luck, threw the code again so it was back to the Honda el pronto.

If you look close you can see how much shaft is inside the lever,,,how much shaft is not utilized behind the lever. Obviously for clearances it needs to be that way with this particular lever. I’m not sure if it’s stock or was replaced somewhere along the line with a more generic one that will work but not 100% correct. It’s possible even Honda did it this way to have levers fit several different machines.

In reality if you could, you can’t but if you could, flop that lever backwards onto the shaft all the splines and pinch bolt would match and be utilized. Right now it contacts 50%.
I’ve come up with several ways to make that fix but not right now. I’ll also use a brand new lever to chop up and rework. One that has nice new splines inside.

 

That lever is very non Honda like in that the shaft is not in full contact with the lever. Most toys like this have a shaft that has a radius ground in the center of the splines to have a bolt go in, to aid in retention. The lever can't back off the shaft unless the bolt falls out

 

That is the stock Honda lever, I dunno why they did it that way, but they did.
And the shift shaft does have the notch in it for the pinch bolt, does it not jo191145 ?
Hopefully the shaft splines are not worn too bad and a new Honda lever will clamp tight on there...these are just like the splines on the rear axle/hubs, gotta keep 'em tight and not let them get loose/rusty...things wear quickly when that happens.

 

Yes it has the notch for the pinch bolt. Not sure why they did it either. I can understand moving the pinch bolt back away from the weld as it’s easier to pinch but they should have designed the shaft to fit the entirety of the lever.
There are other aftermarket levers built with the pinch bolt closer to the end (weld). But they also have less meat further inside so in effect it’s the same amount of contact you just don’t see that void. Judging by the online photos I’m hesitant to believe there’s enough clearance as that shifts the lever further into the bike.

I could modify one of these style levers by just using the female spline shaft section, welding some extra tabs on and drilling another one or two bolt holes. Possibly modify the notch bolt if needed to leave it incorporated. Then reweld another piece to come further out and accept the hand shifter. That hand shifter is another wonky design but I knew that when I bought it LOL. No reason I couldn’t modify that myself or start from scratch. There’s a whole lot of travel to it. By moving it closer to the shaft it should reduce a little of that travel.

All in all it is just a wood tractor after all. No need to get too fancy

I wonder if this lever came off the original 2wd model and when they made the 4wd model with transfer shaft in the way they just changed the shift shaft to protrude further and kept the original lever? Would be odd

 

Nice shifter Joe! Those auto clutches take some serious effort to move. I really like to have steel toe boots on (or back in the day, dedicated riding boots) to shift it. Even running full synthetic and the engine up to temp, it just takes a lot of effort. Probably because you’re not only shifting gears, but actuating the clutch pack as well. I’ve seen some posts on the internet/FB from guys who installed a secondary hand clutch to help with shifting. But that’s a lot of work.

 

Hmnn, mine is almost effortless to shift. Of course by foot I’m only downshifting and using the handle for that now too. To upshift I used to have to stop, reach down and upshift with my hand. I have noticed,,,or so it seems, you need to wait for the RPM’s to slow down before shifting. Not just let off the gas but wait for the engine to slow down quite a bit. Anyone trying to go fast may have different experiences, I could see that.

 

That sounds a little odd...on these auto clutch machines you actually have 2 clutches, 1 is centrifugal, and engaged solely by engine RPM, the other is a typical manual motorcycle clutch, but the foot shifter is what makes it disengage, when you perform the shift there is a cam that pushes on the clutch...that is part of the reason the shifter takes some effort, and has a longer throw than a manual clutch machine.
There is an adjustment for the clutch...it's over on the right side of the engine, there is a screw with a slot and a locknut on it...you loosen the locknut with a 14 mm wrench, turn the screw (counterclockwise IIRC) until you feel it lightly come against resistance, then turn it 1/4 turn back the other way, tighten the locknut while holding the screw in place, done.

 

Odd that it shifts easy? I was wondering what type of of magic goes on to make a semi auto bike. My last motorcycle was a 1978 YZ 400E and it just had a normal standard clutch. Fun bike tho. All sorts of torque but it’ll flip you on your butt anytime you ask it too
So would this clutch adjustment make the clutch grabbier potentially? Or maybe just smoother in the shift? I’ve noticed I can make the clutch slip in a too high gear on extreme obstacles. Drop into first and it’ll pull over stuff my Polaris may not go over,,,,tires, grabby tires and 200lbs less weight. But from a dead stop in 2nd or 3rd straddling a log or climbing a wall the clutch will slip. Tried it in third once by accident,,,,thought I shifted down to first but went the wrong way The engine will struggle and not rev high but the wheels will not spin either when in 4wd. I considered that normal for what it is.

 

No, but if too tight it could make it slip...too loose and it would make the shifting less smooth.

That is the centrifugal clutch slipping in that scenario...dont slip it too much, they can overheat and burn up the pads.
Like if you regularly give it a lot of throttle in third gear (or higher) from a dead stop, that's pretty hard on it.

 

No I won’t, most of these scenarios were me attempting to test the 4wd system. The third gear was an accident. All things considered it’s rather impressive for crawling over/up stuff. High speed racer it’s not. I’m too old for that type of abuse. I’ll use the Polaris when I want to outrun the deer flys. And those things can go pretty fast