I've just used this video to step me through the rebuild of my '72 Twin (the same gearbox). It made all the steps very clear and helped me no end. Thankyou! ….now for a ride.
I'm working on a T160 gearbox rebuild at the moment for a buddy and he wanted to see the process for himself and so I discovered and then sent your video to him. Nice work! One little thing is that I always grease the camplate channels with a graphite based grease, also the selector fork pins; makes the shift super slick even before the oil has had a chance to circulate.
I vaguely remember working on my transmission 41 years ago when I first got my bike and remember friends trying to show me some method of taking all the gears out in one big assembly. I don’t remember if I ended up doing it that way but do remember that whatever the guys who were supposed to know how to work on them showed me I did better trying to figure it out for myself. The next year I took the entire engine apart ( 650 ) and did it all myself with just a couple of books. I watch videos now where they use an endless array of pullers and special tools and try to remember just how I did a lot of it as I didn’t have any of those special tools and don’t recall making any. I got it all apart without hurting anything and put it all back together with most of the original parts except rod bearings and rings. Now 40 years later I’m going there again mainly because 40 years ago I didn’t mess with the sludge trap and now it has been sitting a long time. I’m afraid to run it anymore without clearing that thing out. It’s going to be an adventure.
Michael really great to hear from you. Your friends were probably talking about a 4 speed gearbox which can come out in one cluster, but a 5 speed gearbox can't. And yes you can do most jobs on these old Trumpy's with basic tools. So long as you know what you're doing everything will be ok. There are a few traps that if you don't know what your doing definitely don't go there and especially not with a hammer!
@@ClassicTriumph I taught my young son about not hammering on the wrong thing and using a piece of aluminum or something in between. Then I made him a nice brass hammer at work
Sludge trap cleaning is a necessity, many tridents died because it was difficult to remove the grub screws, heat will kill loctite, spend a hour if your lucky, maybe 2
Odd question, but what is the red looking grease you used on the 5th gear selector? Does it matter what grease you use here? Also, what do you use on the casing gaskets - is that a grease too? Thanks, rest looks great and may encourage me to have a look at my T140 gearbox who knows what put in it by the previous owner (its only got 4 gears!).
Thank you. This is the video I've been looking for. I know it won't be as easy as you made it look (since it's my first time) but this video gives me hope that I can do it. My shifting is pretty smooth most of the time, but I occasionally go into neutral when shifting down from 2nd or 3rd gear. Getting neutral going down from 2nd makes sense, but I don't know why it would happen shifting down from 3rd. The first 1000 miles I put on the bike, this wasn't happening, so I don't think it's rider error. Shifting upwards is great, but every so often it feels like it wants to stick in neutral rather than go past it from 1st to 2nd. I'm hoping to find an obvious problem when I inspect all the parts, like a worn camplate. Any thoughts on what could be happening before I dig into it?
Hi Dave. Is this a T150 or T160? Not that it would make a lot of difference, but a T160 has a neutral light switch which can cause issues if not adjusted correctly, (although usually not false neutrals). Of course there is a neutral between every pair of gears. If you are getting false neutrals and it's not lazyness, then the first thing I would consider is the strength of the spring that pushes the plunger up against the camplate. That plunger is there to 'encourage' the camplate to complete the shift to the next gear and if it's not completing shifts, then maybe that spring has broken or is getting tired.
@@ClassicTriumph thanks for the reply. The bike I'm working on is a 1978 T140 Bonneville, so no neutral light switch. I replaced the spring in the indexing plunger last week, along with the 4 shifter springs on the outer gearbox cover. It didn't seem to help. When I first got the bike it would occasionally get stuck in neutral while shifting up from 1st to 2nd... it would happen one or two times a ride. I'd either have to force it into 2nd or go down and go back up again. I pulled off the inner gear box cover to replace a leaky gasket and when I put it back together that problem seemed to disappear. (I love when that happens.) After that, everything was great, the bike was shifting nicely....but after a hundred miles or so, I started getting the occasional neutral when downshifting from 3rd gear (and sometimes 2nd.) It's not stopping me from riding the bike for now, I just have to pay attention when down shifting into 2nd and double check that I'm in gear. A lot of guys would say just run it, but I'm a bit OCD when it comes to my motorcycles, so I'd like to get it shifting perfectly. My fear is I'll take the transmission apart and not find an obvious answer why it's happening.
@@daveco1270 Hi Dave. I think you might have to dismantle at least half of the gearbox and maybe all of it to find the problem. It's actually fairly easy to see rounded and worn parts in a gearbox. I'm now guessing you might have a worn selector camplate, a worn selector or rounded edges on the dogs that interlock to engage 3rd or 2nd gear. IF you need to get the camplate out you will need to remove the clutch to release the mainshaft, but for starters you can remove 1st, 2nd 3rd and 4th gears by removing the inner gearbox cover (and the outer obviously).
@@ClassicTriumph After watching your video and re-reading my manual, I'm actually looking forward to getting into the gear box and taking things apart, doing some detective work. I got my 78 T140 in a partial trade last fall. One of the reasons I took the bike was because I thought it would be a good bike to learn on. Mechanically speaking. I figured if I messed something up, it's an OIF that I got for $1400, not the end of the world. So far I haven't messed anything up, in fact I've got it leak free and running beautifully. Once I get this occasional 3rd to neutral problem sorted out, it's going to be an awesome bike.
I've just used this video to step me through the rebuild of my '72 Twin (the same gearbox). It made all the steps very clear and helped me no end. Thankyou! ….now for a ride.
I'm working on a T160 gearbox rebuild at the moment for a buddy and he wanted to see the process for himself and so I discovered and then sent your video to him. Nice work! One little thing is that I always grease the camplate channels with a graphite based grease, also the selector fork pins; makes the shift super slick even before the oil has had a chance to circulate.
I vaguely remember working on my transmission 41 years ago when I first got my bike and remember friends trying to show me some method of taking all the gears out in one big assembly. I don’t remember if I ended up doing it that way but do remember that whatever the guys who were supposed to know how to work on them showed me I did better trying to figure it out for myself.
The next year I took the entire engine apart ( 650 ) and did it all myself with just a couple of books. I watch videos now where they use an endless array of pullers and special tools and try to remember just how I did a lot of it as I didn’t have any of those special tools and don’t recall making any. I got it all apart without hurting anything and put it all back together with most of the original parts except rod bearings and rings.
Now 40 years later I’m going there again mainly because 40 years ago I didn’t mess with the sludge trap and now it has been sitting a long time. I’m afraid to run it anymore without clearing that thing out. It’s going to be an adventure.
Michael really great to hear from you. Your friends were probably talking about a 4 speed gearbox which can come out in one cluster, but a 5 speed gearbox can't. And yes you can do most jobs on these old Trumpy's with basic tools. So long as you know what you're doing everything will be ok. There are a few traps that if you don't know what your doing definitely don't go there and especially not with a hammer!
@@ClassicTriumph I taught my young son about not hammering on the wrong thing and using a piece of aluminum or something in between. Then I made him a nice brass hammer at work
Sludge trap cleaning is a necessity, many tridents died because it was difficult to remove the grub screws, heat will kill loctite, spend a hour if your lucky, maybe 2
Excellent, clear, easy to follow video. Made the job much easier (also on 73 twin). Thank you very much.
Excellent video. My T140J thanks you
Nice clear video, well done.
thanks for that really appreciate your work this will make it lot easier to refurb gearbox if i have another T150V
Odd question, but what is the red looking grease you used on the 5th gear selector? Does it matter what grease you use here? Also, what do you use on the casing gaskets - is that a grease too? Thanks, rest looks great and may encourage me to have a look at my T140 gearbox who knows what put in it by the previous owner (its only got 4 gears!).
Graham it's just bearing grease on the selector. The gasket sealant is Loctite 515 Flange sealant.
Very helpful
Could this instruction video also be used for a T140 gearbox assembly, or is the T160 different?
They are the same parts except that the T150/T160 mainshaft is longer, the assembly process is the same though.
@@mv4ago Thanks
T140 mainshaft is hollow ( for the clutch pushrod) and shorter but otherwise the gearboxes are identical.
The t160 gearbox is very strong, it was used in the rotary norton that has twice the HP tho low torque
Thank you. This is the video I've been looking for. I know it won't be as easy as you made it look (since it's my first time) but this video gives me hope that I can do it.
My shifting is pretty smooth most of the time, but I occasionally go into neutral when shifting down from 2nd or 3rd gear. Getting neutral going down from 2nd makes sense, but I don't know why it would happen shifting down from 3rd. The first 1000 miles I put on the bike, this wasn't happening, so I don't think it's rider error. Shifting upwards is great, but every so often it feels like it wants to stick in neutral rather than go past it from 1st to 2nd. I'm hoping to find an obvious problem when I inspect all the parts, like a worn camplate. Any thoughts on what could be happening before I dig into it?
Hi Dave. Is this a T150 or T160? Not that it would make a lot of difference, but a T160 has a neutral light switch which can cause issues if not adjusted correctly, (although usually not false neutrals). Of course there is a neutral between every pair of gears. If you are getting false neutrals and it's not lazyness, then the first thing I would consider is the strength of the spring that pushes the plunger up against the camplate. That plunger is there to 'encourage' the camplate to complete the shift to the next gear and if it's not completing shifts, then maybe that spring has broken or is getting tired.
@@ClassicTriumph thanks for the reply. The bike I'm working on is a 1978 T140 Bonneville, so no neutral light switch. I replaced the spring in the indexing plunger last week, along with the 4 shifter springs on the outer gearbox cover. It didn't seem to help.
When I first got the bike it would occasionally get stuck in neutral while shifting up from 1st to 2nd... it would happen one or two times a ride. I'd either have to force it into 2nd or go down and go back up again. I pulled off the inner gear box cover to replace a leaky gasket and when I put it back together that problem seemed to disappear. (I love when that happens.) After that, everything was great, the bike was shifting nicely....but after a hundred miles or so, I started getting the occasional neutral when downshifting from 3rd gear (and sometimes 2nd.) It's not stopping me from riding the bike for now, I just have to pay attention when down shifting into 2nd and double check that I'm in gear. A lot of guys would say just run it, but I'm a bit OCD when it comes to my motorcycles, so I'd like to get it shifting perfectly. My fear is I'll take the transmission apart and not find an obvious answer why it's happening.
@@daveco1270 Hi Dave. I think you might have to dismantle at least half of the gearbox and maybe all of it to find the problem. It's actually fairly easy to see rounded and worn parts in a gearbox. I'm now guessing you might have a worn selector camplate, a worn selector or rounded edges on the dogs that interlock to engage 3rd or 2nd gear.
IF you need to get the camplate out you will need to remove the clutch to release the mainshaft, but for starters you can remove 1st, 2nd 3rd and 4th gears by removing the inner gearbox cover (and the outer obviously).
@@ClassicTriumph After watching your video and re-reading my manual, I'm actually looking forward to getting into the gear box and taking things apart, doing some detective work. I got my 78 T140 in a partial trade last fall. One of the reasons I took the bike was because I thought it would be a good bike to learn on. Mechanically speaking. I figured if I messed something up, it's an OIF that I got for $1400, not the end of the world. So far I haven't messed anything up, in fact I've got it leak free and running beautifully. Once I get this occasional 3rd to neutral problem sorted out, it's going to be an awesome bike.
Woah....awesome...
Dosent get much more helpful or as clear as this, mines a 4 speed mind lol but still great video
Now do a unit 4 with bushings.
Good idea. I need to find one to rebuild first!
@@ClassicTriumph you could do mine...