Hello there,
while not strictly Vincent I thought I let you share my experiences with the reverse camplate installation in a Commando gearbox, as I think quite a few people think about using a Norton box on their specials.
First of all, if you are not using rear sets, you can stop reading here, everything is ok with the box as is.
in case you are using rear sets, you can by a reverse campmate for the box from Norvilmotorcycles in Cannock.
This way you can just turn your gear lever pointing backward and it does the trick keeping the traditional shift pattern. I prefer this on my bike as I do not need all the remote linkages involved with rear sets and I have big feet and the rear sets in such a position that a reversed gear pedal is ideal.
However you are likely to meet the same difficulties as I did, so I thought I share how to overcome them.
The fault lies in the item itself and I checked against quite a few cam plates I had lying around. the cam plate is splined in the centre and a pivot pin with gear is press fitted in the plate. this gear is rotated by the toothed end of the quadrant in use, thus turning the camplate. the toggle end of the quadrant goes through a window in the inner gearbox shell. Now the little snag, the splines in the campmate are not centered with the centerline of the plate!
thus reversing the plate ( a reverse plate us actually a standard plate with new notches ground into the other side circumference of the plate) means that the movement of the gear change mechanism can become marginal.
A typical sign is that you cannot engage first OR fourth gear at all, or the box jumping out of gear under load.
To overcome this problem there are four places to check for selection problems.
First you have to open the window in the inner cover slightly by chamfering the outside edges. on a trial assembly of the box without outer cover you should be able to select all the gears without the quadrant touching the inner cover. If not you have to file a little more.
Second the camplate in the outer cover in which the gear change pawl engages can hit the outer cover at the extreme end. there is already a small indentation in the plate to clear the cover bolts surroundings which needs to be enlarged by grinding a little more in my case about 1,5 mm.
third. just using the gear selector arm from the outer cover and putting it in its proper location watch carefully if the pin in the toggle touches the gear change quadrant cutout in first or fourth gear. if the is the case, mark careful and ease the inner corner of the cutout in the right places after removing the toggle.
fourth. the positive stop mechanism in the outer cover also consists of a metal stamping bridge plate which locates the ends of the two gearbox springs. in my case this was the last bit that stopped the selection successfully. The underside of the selector arm was hitting the metal plate at the extreme ends of gear selection and again I had to use a swiss file and ease off about 1 mm.
after all those little adjustments first gear selects positive and beautifully and the box is a joy to use.
Hope that helps with my mediocre English
Bernd
while not strictly Vincent I thought I let you share my experiences with the reverse camplate installation in a Commando gearbox, as I think quite a few people think about using a Norton box on their specials.
First of all, if you are not using rear sets, you can stop reading here, everything is ok with the box as is.
in case you are using rear sets, you can by a reverse campmate for the box from Norvilmotorcycles in Cannock.
This way you can just turn your gear lever pointing backward and it does the trick keeping the traditional shift pattern. I prefer this on my bike as I do not need all the remote linkages involved with rear sets and I have big feet and the rear sets in such a position that a reversed gear pedal is ideal.
However you are likely to meet the same difficulties as I did, so I thought I share how to overcome them.
The fault lies in the item itself and I checked against quite a few cam plates I had lying around. the cam plate is splined in the centre and a pivot pin with gear is press fitted in the plate. this gear is rotated by the toothed end of the quadrant in use, thus turning the camplate. the toggle end of the quadrant goes through a window in the inner gearbox shell. Now the little snag, the splines in the campmate are not centered with the centerline of the plate!
thus reversing the plate ( a reverse plate us actually a standard plate with new notches ground into the other side circumference of the plate) means that the movement of the gear change mechanism can become marginal.
A typical sign is that you cannot engage first OR fourth gear at all, or the box jumping out of gear under load.
To overcome this problem there are four places to check for selection problems.
First you have to open the window in the inner cover slightly by chamfering the outside edges. on a trial assembly of the box without outer cover you should be able to select all the gears without the quadrant touching the inner cover. If not you have to file a little more.
Second the camplate in the outer cover in which the gear change pawl engages can hit the outer cover at the extreme end. there is already a small indentation in the plate to clear the cover bolts surroundings which needs to be enlarged by grinding a little more in my case about 1,5 mm.
third. just using the gear selector arm from the outer cover and putting it in its proper location watch carefully if the pin in the toggle touches the gear change quadrant cutout in first or fourth gear. if the is the case, mark careful and ease the inner corner of the cutout in the right places after removing the toggle.
fourth. the positive stop mechanism in the outer cover also consists of a metal stamping bridge plate which locates the ends of the two gearbox springs. in my case this was the last bit that stopped the selection successfully. The underside of the selector arm was hitting the metal plate at the extreme ends of gear selection and again I had to use a swiss file and ease off about 1 mm.
after all those little adjustments first gear selects positive and beautifully and the box is a joy to use.
Hope that helps with my mediocre English
Bernd