shift shaft side to side play, am I missing something?

[JM317]

I just recently put my R top and bottom end's back together and everything went smooth. Tranny shifted fine and everything was smooth with no binding. I noticed that my shift shaft has some play now, it will move in and out about a 1/2 inch or so. I've gone through all the microfiches to make sure there wasn't something missing and all looks good, the shift shaft has the spring and clip/washer installed on it so I know it's good. I noticed that the inside of the clutch cover has what appears to be a spacer or stop for the shift shaft cast in into it. Is this play normal? I'm kind of baffled, I'd hate for the shift shaft arm to hit the backside of the clutch basket. Any ideas of what to look for or help would be appreciated.

[Aceman]

No worries, when the clutch cover goes on it will hold the shift shaft over. I went through the same thing until I realized that!

[JM317]

I put the clutch cover on to test fit it and still has a little play. Should the shaft not move at all?

[JM317]

Alright, I figured it out I guess...the stop on the inside of the clutch cover doesn't stick out far enough to stop the shift shaft from moving over and slipping off the front arm that actually clicks through the gears. I also noticed that the shift shaft and stop inside the clutch cover have a hole hollowed inside them. Is there a rod or spacer of any sort that I could be missing?

[C-LEIGH RACING]

I dont remember a hole ever being in the stop for the shift shaft ?? could be somebody has done that.
You didnt change clutch covers did you, because there is a difference in the old model & the new model.
Neil

[JM317]

I checked out the old shift shaft and it looks the same, the clutch cover is the same also (supposed to be an 86). I have a spare clutch push rod that fits in the hole prefectly on both the shaft and stop inside the cover. I thought about cutting this to fit inside both so the shaft can't move side to side. BTW, does anyone know if the 86 and 89 pushrods for the clutch are the same size? The honda microfiche has the same part numbers for them.

[Aceman]

The stop on my clutch cover is flat and not hollowed out. Sounds like you need a different clutch cover.

[C-LEIGH RACING]

If you were measuring, how much end play does the shift shaft have ?.
It dont take much in & out movement of the shift shaft arm behind the clutch basket for it to get out of aline with the pin on the shift drum & jump over it. Once it does that, you wont be able to shift gears.

You sure the clutch cover is tighting up aginst the case.

It could be somebody that had the engine before you machined something to go on the end of that stop, say something to act like a bearing & now has been lost.
Never seen a hole in one of those stops before.

Rather than go through all the trouble to fix the problem with the cover, you could go on the shift lever side & put a compression spring over the shaft with a shim washer to protect the seal & then once you put the shift lever back on it would hold the arm up aginst the shift drum, I've seen that done before.
Neil

[Rich250RRacer]

I had an '86 motor with a hole in the stop on the clutch cover. Never saw one like it before, but like Neil said, it could have been done by the previous owner.

[number5]

wouldnt it hit the clutch gear if it went any further?

[JM317]

I went ahead and cut a spare clutch pushrod I had to fit into the shaft and cover, it took a few small cuts (I used a small pipe cutter) to get it perfect but there should be zero freeplay. The pushrod fit's perfectly in each hole.