James...great article on the repair of the shift lever. I have converted quite
a
few Mustang levers to the early short shifter version and I found it easier to
buy a
replace the cable than try to use the old one. Any good bike shop has a
collection
of hand brake replacement cables and the extra length give you a better grip
when
brazing the assembly together.
keith ballard
James Barrett wrote:
> Tiger Folks,
> Tonight I found out a lot about the stock Tiger gear shift lever.
> I had broken the reverse finger grip with my knee when I was under the dash
> last year. I had another longer shift lever from a Mustang with a good
> finger grip. So I decided to swap the grips .
>
> First remove the shift lever by removing two bolts with a 1/2" socket. Remove
> the two spring loaded buttons from the sides of the lever. They are only
>secured
> with dirt and grease.
>
> I made a tool to remove the knobs. 1/4" plate with a 1/2" slotted
> hole and two small bolts located 3/4" apart on the centerline of the 1/2'
>hole.
> The bolts were ground down to 1/16" for 3/8". I promply twisted off two
> sets of screws in the attempts to loosen the round chromed jam nut from the
> black plastic knob. Apparently I needed tough tool steel for the pins which
> I don't have.
> I then wrapped one layer of 120 grit wet/dry paper around the plastic
> knob and clamped it as tight as I could with a SS worm gear hose clamp. A
>pair
> of channel locks were then used to unscrew the knobs with no damage.
> There was a coil spring in the hole under the knob on the Mustang
> lever, but none on the Tiger II shifter. The Tiger II lever is fairly
> streight while the Mustang lever is longer with two big bends in the lever.
>
> I clamped the reverse lockout peg with vice grips and used a torch to melt
> the brass securing the cable to the lockout peg. The things flew apart when
> the cable came loose. There was another coil spring 2" long by 9/16" under
>the
> lockout peg. There was also a 3/8" od, 1/8" id washer on the top side of the
> spring to keep the spring from sliding up the inside of the gear shift lever.
>
> The "cable" is a solid pull wire. .042 for the Tiger and .052 on the Mustang.
> There is a 1/2" long cylinder with a taper on the down side that is brased
> to the wire above the finger grip. The wire passes through the finger grip.
> You have to remove the wire via the knob end to be able to remove the
> finger grip.
>
> To reassemble, slide the finger grip through the lever and pass the wire
> through the hole in the finger grip. ( only takes 10 or 12 tries).
> Place a 1/4" rod about 4 inches long vertically in a vice and support
> the shift lever upside down on the rod. This holds the pull wire in
> temporally. Thread the 3/8" washer over the wire from the bottom of the
> lever. Drop in the
> spring on the washer and thread the end of the wire through the reverse
> lockout pin. Clamp a scrap steel piece with vice grips to the flat area of
> the shift lever mounting ears overlapping the end of the lockout lever,
> but not covering the area needing to be brased. This is to hold the
> lockout lever with the spring compressed. Do not try to wire the lockout down
> like I tried at first. The torch instantly melted the retaining wire and I
> had hot parts flying out the door into the grass. Missed me!
>
> Brase the pull wire into the lockout lever by heating the lockout. The pull
> wire is small and could melt if you try to heat it first. Add a dab of
>fluxed
> brass and then cool everything in water. Shake the water out and flood with
> WD-40 to remove any water from inside the shift lever.
>
> Now screw the jam nut and shift knob on the end and after you figure out how
>to
> lock the jam nut you can install the shift lever back on the shifter. If
> you lost
> the two spring loaded buttons when you first removed the shift lever then
> spend a few hours finding them. They are needed.
>
>
>
> James Barrett Tiger II 351C and others
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