• Husqvarna Motorcycles Made In Sweden - About 1988 and older

  • Hi everyone,

    As you all know, Coffee (Dean) passed away a couple of years ago. I am Dean's ex-wife's husband and happen to have spent my career in tech. Over the years, I occasionally helped Dean with various tech issues.

    When he passed, I worked with his kids to gather the necessary credentials to keep this site running. Since then (and for however long they worked with Coffee), Woodschick and Dirtdame have been maintaining the site and covering the costs. Without their hard work and financial support, CafeHusky would have been lost.

    Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working to migrate the site to a free cloud compute instance so that Woodschick and Dirtdame no longer have to fund it. At the same time, I’ve updated the site to a current version of XenForo (the discussion software it runs on). The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.

    Unfortunately, the new software version doesn’t support importing the old site’s styles, so for now, you’ll see the XenForo default style. This may change over time.

    Coffee didn’t document the work he did on the site, so I’ve been digging through the old setup to understand how everything was running. There may still be things I’ve missed. One known issue is that email functionality is not yet working on the new site, but I hope to resolve this over time.

    Thanks for your patience and support!

trans problems

That spring isn't right, but kind of hard to see how that would cause the progression of problems. I had shifting problems on an 88 430, I don't recall all the symptoms but it got progressively harder to shift and eventually (don't fix until you have to) I had to take the chain off to push it. The bearing at the sprocket had developed a crack at the groove essentially making two outer races instead of one, at least most of the way around.
 
My point is these bikes can have little problems that are easy to fix.

That spring crosses over itself on the knob. It returns the shifter to the center neutral position in both directions. It's unwound when it's not on the knob or stud correctly.

The rear section of the spring needs to wind up towards the front of the engine on the stud. This forms a slot where the pin on the clutch cover to go into.

Next turn the shifter drum till the tranny is in neutral. The claw plate should center itself when the spring is put on correctly. Without the spring in place the claw plate is floating around.

Make sure the claw plate is centered, the slot in the spring is vertical then the pin in the clutch cover will line up in the spring slot.
 
Fran, I can't see how it would be my problem either. But when I pulled the case off I heard the spring pop. I'm hoping it was partially off and somehow not letting the shifter move enough to change gears. I have the spring on correctly now. I'll have it back together this weekend. A report shall follow.
 
The spring was off the knob and bound up on the clutch cover stud. That's why it popped when you took off the clutch cover.
 
We all help. This tranny has Been bullet proof inside for me it's been the double claw or springs. The gears can get hot and crystallize and crack from no oil. So checking the tranny oil level and repairing any leaks is very important.
On the clutch cover with a new gasket I lightly silicone the gasket on the cover. This way it can be removed and put back on again.
 
My WR400 has the same issue, 20 minutes later all gears selecting well, gotta love the simplicity of these bikes!
 
This is one of the easiest tranny to work on and split. The Swedish engineers kept it simple. Today the tranny are similar to the Japanese bikes my 99 te610e was. The shifter pawl jammed up on the first outing. Disappointed I hated the bike after that then the oil pump went. The bike knew I hated it. I'm new bike shy now. I return to the left kickers every time.
 
I was happy to score a 1985 400WRX for $500 that was low hour but had a corrosion rotted clutch cover from being stored for 20 years with Prestone not certed for aluminum
 
I have a question I asked in my resurrection 86 400 Enduro thread...

?with the cover off, how easy is it to shift using the slotted end exposed there, to the right of the clutch that the shifter engages?

with the back wheel loose and rotating, and rotating the engine..nothing produces a shift.

The slotted end worked with vise grips will rotate forward/CCW about 30-40 degrees and nothing happens, a solid stop. It will not rotate back/CW at all.

Remember, the cover is off with the clutch exposed and the shift rod slotted end exposed.

Problem?
 
It's not easy if I remember right. Seems like I tried that too and it through me off also. Not certain why but I think it's a husky thing.
 
I would have thought it should shift BUT its not something I have tried to do. if others have tried and it wont shift then it could be ok. I would pm uptight or another reputable engine builder for an opinion.
 
Transmission sorted!

In my thread '86 400 Enduro Resurrection help needed' I did sort this out and was able to shift thru the gears while spinning the clutch driven shaft and the rear wheel...with the clutch removed I found that the y-piece that locks the shifter drum was very stuck, fortunately I was able to loosen it. Then the drum itself was pretty stuck and I was able to get it loose with steady careful pressures from a socket on the end of the drum. Then it was able to start to move and with several passes up and down thru the gears, using vice grips on the slotted shifter axle, I was able to loosen enough that it will indeed shift with the clutch case off.
I had the clutch off to see why nothing was working, and it does cover the two parts that were stuck. It should be able to shift with the clutch in place for functioning transmissions that have been used recently, aren't broken or rusted shut. Mine had sat under a ranch shed for ten years...fortunately with oil in the transmission.
Thanks...and while it's not easy it is doable, and if not shiftable...call for help or keep at it until it does shift.
http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/86...d-initial-evaluation.82367/page-2#post-558641
 
did you get the lever and shaft turning freely in the sidecase?
be careful trying to shift how you are describing...that piece is made to be "supported" by having the sidecase on. dont bitch it up. they dont really seize ever so im not sure what you are testing. most bikes dont really like shifting when they arent running, and things are dry from not being splash lubed.
 
Justin, the shift drum was stuck...seized slightly, or however, but the normal shifter wasn't moving it and neither was the mechanism when done by hand with the clutch off...and the Y-piece shown in the '86 400 Enduro resurrection thread pikkies
http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/86...d-initial-evaluation.82367/page-2#post-558641
was certainly stuck and took PB Blaster and a bunch of wiggling and a degree of force to loosen it up. Now it's very free but at it's bolt where I was pointing with the orange handled razor blade it was pretty stuck. So those essential bits were frozen and prevented shifting...now they are free and it pretty easily shifts..with the vice grips.

Life called today :banghead: so the shift lever is still sitting stuck and soaking with PB Blaster...tomorrow I hope, thanks for the warning.
You made me think a bit about it: ..the slot of the case bound shift lever axle only slots onto the shifter axle in the left side engine case...but while it is 'supported' as you say, it is only supported as far as the slot keeps it...a better 'support' for that would also have some cylinder/sleeve/bushing surrounding that joint...but I am guessing it works well enough because, after all:.......'2 million Husky owners can't be wrong'..to paraphrase somebody....

anyway...thanks.
 
With the cover off everything gets out of whack, the cover holds the slotted arm against the case keeping it square you should be able to turn the drum maybe one up or down but you will need a lever to do so.one thing to be careful of is how the slotted arm return spring is bent ( this is the spring that wraps around the slotted arm )in that the legs of the spring need to be parallel to each other at a slightly larger width than the locating pin on the clutch cover, too wider gap around the locating pin makes for a sloppy gear lever.
 
Well, you are right, the mechanism does get floppy when the case and the shift lever is not there holding it in..but the inside shifter axle is an axle based in the left engine case...it is not very deep and it does come out if pulled...but shifting with the vise grips on the slot tab I am pushing it against the case so it works as it is supposed to.
The two parts the Y-shaped piece and the shift drum were stuck from 10 years of non-use and were finally freed up and it shifted better...finally, easily, by hand with the cover off.

..................

The spring you mention did get loose for disonny, the original poster for this thread, their transmission/clutch picture is seen on page one comment #17 of this thread.
Helpful suggestions by the terrific members here with their shared wisdom and experience helped that person and probably a few others fix their transmissions. I learned from it, it helped me get mine working by studying that picture and the comments offered.

The picture in comment #17 does indeed show the spring in disonny's bike not properly hooked.

Here are two pictures I posted in my longer step by step postings in my '86 400 Enduro resurrection' thread.

The first picture shows the spring on mine properly (I hope, haha) installed.

PC066698.JPG

The Y-shaped piece is in between two pins of the end of the shift drum showing it is in (some) gear.

The second picture shows what you refer to, showing how easy it is for the slotted shift level axle to come out of the shallow hole the axle rides in in the left side engine case.

PC066703.JPG

The shifter axle easily goes back where it is supposed to, I pulled it out on purpose. To shift I am pushing against it while I rotate it and it stays in.

Do the springs look ok to you I hope??? You mentioned the angles and correct bend and such...this is the only spring I have or have ever seen so let me know? It seems to have enough tension to keep both legs onto the post. I suppose if it felt too sloppy one could wind the spring legs a bit tighter..but for know I will leave it as is.

Also important for me in the 'resurrection' thread is that this exposes the gear seen inside the axle hole, and no rust is seen on it..a reassuring thing as part of my evaluation of this new-to-me bike.

I have yet to get the shift lever axle out of the outer case..maybe tomorrow. Maybe the o-rings have crumbled..that seems to describe the progression from sloppy to tight to tighter to now stuck and frozen over a week period.

Thanks for the input,

Bodger
 
Springs look good, make sure the washer on the end of the drum partially covers the holes that the pins go into as the pins can make their way out.seems to cover them all but just double check.the plastic roller bearing can also be upgraded to a stronger design using a metal body go on the hva site they have some.i believe that you can also replace the bearing with two shorter items but i do not have the part numbers, should be info somewhere on this site.
 
dont forget the pin thats in the clutch cover "splits" the spring...this is all that returns the shifter when up or down shifting.
 
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