88 auto is in the house :)

Big thanks to Cruisetopdown for the bike and his hard work to crate it up very well.

Special thanks Fabrice for helping me out and getting a bike.






A quick check over

aannnd, youve now officially lost it!
looks to be in real nice shape!

To me it was the missing link, my bikes are cool to me but i never had mother of all Enduro bikes.
I never rode an auto yet lol what kind of Husky guru am i then. Soon to be fixed.
I know it will be a kick A$$ machine when set up for me.
The ultimate conversion piece when you say "Have you ever ridden a serious bike that has no shifter". haha

Have you started it?

Even when I point to the neutral lever on the 82 and say the bikes missing something peoples first response is oh the clutch cable fell off

Now the fun begins.....love it or loathe it the Husky Auto's are brilliant in concept and the most frustrating bikes I have ever owned in over 40 years of riding dirt bikes.
Still have both my 1982 420's the first of which I purchased brand new and bought my 2nd one 6 months old when the owner lost patience with it. And there in lies the essence of Auto ownership, perseverance
You will absolutely love the way the bike rides, it will go up or around any obstacle you will ever come across and you will wonder why you've ridden bikes with gears for all these years, you will laugh, you will grin, you will tell all your riding friends how great this brilliant bike is.....then it will break down.
You fix it and you're back up there again...euphoria
Then it will break down again, usually miles from any where.
This will carry on until you are so frustrated that you will either;
a) Sell it!
b) Throw it in the back of the shed with a sheet over it so you don't have to look at it.
c) Rip the motor out and put a normal 6 speeder back in. (probably what happens to most of them)
or
d) You will PERSEVERE with this incredible bike because you have fallen in love with how it handles and for the sheer joy of riding it.
You will learn how to strip that gearbox in and out until you could do it in your sleep, you will learn how to replace a clutch spring on the trail and remember to carry one with you at all times whilst out riding. You will learn that you MUST change the gearbox oil after every ride and you will learn that it only likes the proper oil it was designed to run with, do NOT under any circumstances try to cheapskate on the gearbox oil.
I would also advise you to fit one of the first gear spring guards before you take it out for a run, if you cant buy one then make your own, Fabrice has posted details of these a few times in the past. My first 86 water cooled auto blew the whole of the water pump clean off the clutch cover because a spring broke, not clever as I was on the start line of a 2 day National Enduro at the time, my quickest DNF of my riding career!!!
To sum up....Auto ownership is a love/hate relationship, I love my Auto's and would never part with my original 2, I hate that I can't ride them all the time because I know it will be only a matter of time before it breaks again.
They are very high maintenance and costly to repair, finding parts is easier now with the internet and hopefully a few of the parts will be remade again. All Husky auto owners are hoarders, see something we might need and we buy it just in case.
Over the years I have owned every model made apart from the very first 360 and my personal favourite is still the 4 speed 420's. If you get suckered into Auto ownership then you will want one of these fine beauties in your stable as well.
I do hope you enjoy your latest acquisition, it does look a good example and I'm sure all of us Auto owners are looking forward to how you get on with it.
Best of luck!

Thanks for the info Autopilot.
I have this oil recommended by a few guys.

Hmm .... if it were me I wouldn't use that. As Nigel said " it only likes the proper oil it was designed to run with, do NOT under any circumstances try to cheapskate on the gearbox oil."

The recommended oil is reasonably cheap and easy to get. (well at least here in the UK).

Esso Univis J26 is the oil recommended by Husqvarna in 1982 for my bikes, I bought it in 50 litre drums back then. I now use the exact same oil but made by Mobil and is available over here in the UK in 50 litre drums fairly easy and not too expensive. If you google it you should be able to find an equivalent where you are.
The maxima is a good quality oil, I use the 2 stroke oil myself, but I would do some research on it before you use it. I know some folk have used Ohlin shock oil in the Auto's but I have never researched it to see if it's the same viscosity as Univis J26.
Heat in the gearbox is a killer for the Auto's so it is very important to use the correct stuff otherwise you will trash the gearbox internals.

I am not sure it was designed for any specific kind of oil. Sure they chose the most appropriate oil they could spec out. It is my understanding the Exxon univis J26 or whatever it has been re named and re labeled by now is an aircraft hydraulic fluid for the bulk users, bulk meaning the ones that buy it in larger than 55 gallon drums.

It is my understanding that in the auto being "new" time frame the univis was also used in shock rebuilds. I tried it in the forks, the 35mm ones and it seemed more sticky or gummy if that is possible for the stuff that got by the seals. Can not really comment on the fork feel from memory. Cartrige fork oil has been suggested in the past. It is kind of amusing as I have a quart of genuine husky packaged auto fluid and a 5 gallon pail of exxon univis J26 and the color and aroma are not exactly the same. There have been threads about the oil on here in years past. I think a 5 gallon pail was around $250 last I enquired. My auto is sort of similar to the sheet over it (b option) described in post #7. I switched to a more modern front end for an event and never have put another front end on it. I have some supermoto 2004 forks and clamps but would have to pirate a wheel and brake to finish the project.

univis j26 cSt @40c is 25.8
cSt @100c is 9.3

since this j26 stuff is a "26 weight" hydraulic oil, why cant another oil be used that is the same weight? i understand it will need to be good quality to handle heat mostly.
in automobile applications, its all about the correct weight when it comes to hydraulic oil. transmission fluids really dont have different friction characteristics.

Don't turn thus into an oil argument . There's one guy who has more autos than half of us put together and he runs some form of atf .

I hope you disinfected it thoroughly after being in "that" box?

only thing turning it into an argument is your arguing. trying to ask a legit question, seems like a lot of voodoo over what oil these like. is it some friction property or a weight thing?

Nothing wrong with discussion. We all learn from each other.

Nice motosplat ignition that's good. Crate looks great.

Is this good with bourbon or tequila???? Lol

I have 3 or more friends with a 430 that use that oil and swear by it, 2 of them race the autos.
Sure i want to do the right thing.

Got the plate coming from ebay and adding a thin steel plate on the inside of the cover, The back of the water pump.

Some angle cuts 2nd and 3rd gear shoes i hear is a good plan? Thoughts on that??

Back in the day I used b&m tranny oil in my built 400th in my truck. I was told it has a higher flash point. And it's the same as Ford type F. I believe this oil has microscopic grit in it so there is no slippage on the clutch plates. Some clutch plates are more aggressive with grit and others they put the grit in the oil. I had b&m clutch plates in my GM tranny.Ford). They were made for it.

http://www.procarcare.com/icarumba/...ar_resourcecenter_encyclopedia_autotrans3.asp

Friction compound in the oil grit.