The Hodaka Club Forum

I’m scratching my head trying to assemble shifter mechanism. I think I’m close but...
Is there a manual that walks you thru assembly? Mine doesn’t give me much.
Or is there someone out there with enough patience to walk me thru it?
Ie. Plunger position? Also mine has 3 plunger spring seats. Not sure why.

Brian

You have an Ace shifter case there (or Super Rat?). Here’s an exploded view of the pieces.

One thing the images and manuals don’t tell you is to mount the spring, #31 onto the shifter ratchet assembly. The ends of the Spring gets spread open and grabs a hold of the foot change shaft key, #27. There’s a small square block on it and that’s where spring #31 latches on.

The foot change ratchet plunger, #35, should have the spring tension released while inserting the ratchet assembly into the case. Remove the grease zerk and push the plunger into the hole. Then, with the shim & snap ring holding the shift shaft in place on the out side of the case you’ll lock the shaft in place.

Before attaching the shim & snap ring, securing everything you have to center the tab on the shifter tab, #17, with the notch in the back of the foot change ratchet, #30. This is coupling is what rotates the foot change ratchet to change the gears.

I usually align the foot change ratchet so the ratchet plunger catches it at the neural position. Then I re-install the grease zerk which puts pressure back on the plunger spring, #36. This locks everything in place and allows you to shift through the gear positions once you install the shift lever.

Thank you,
I decided to order new plunger and spring. Should be here by the end of the week, so I’ll get it back together then. Bike is taking longer then I’d like due to being extremely busy with work. Not complaining, but the bike is more fun then work.
Brian

“The bike is more fun than work.” I can appreciate that!

People have told me “You should open up a shop and work on bikes for other people!” My response has always been, “This is a hobby, something I LIKE to do! If I do it for other people, then it will become work!” I’m retired. I don’t want to work any more! I just want to enjoy myself with my hobby!

Waiting for parts is always that both excited can’t wait feeling and the hatred of no being able to move forward because you’re ‘waiting for parts!’ Fortunately, I’m only a day exit from Terry via Priority mail! Victor

I was curious about the three seat washers under your detent plunger spring. My 92B+ has always been stiffer to shift than I recall as normal, despite being reasonably clean and serviced. When I took the grease fitting off I found two seats in there so I took the extra one out. It shifts normally now; always a bit more effort from first to second, but that involves going through neutral, but much less so now. I think one is all you need, especially with a new spring.

Right next door is the grease fitting for the shifter shaft which I have never been able to get a grease gun on. It's like it's not the standard dimension. Is there a trick or fix for this? I've tried other cases and different gun fittings and still no go. I'm expecting to feel humiliated by some simple thing I've overlooked, but I've never had a problem with any other fittings.

It seems strange that a fitting won't fit anything. What am I doing wrong?

JPark wrote: ↑Wed Sep 02, 2020 5:59 pm I was curious about the three seat washers under your detent plunger spring. My 92B+ has always been stiffer to shift than I recall as normal, despite being reasonably clean and serviced. When I took the grease fitting off I found two seats in there so I took the extra one out. It shifts normally now; always a bit more effort from first to second, but that involves going through neutral, but much less so now. I think one is all you need, especially with a new spring.

Right next door is the grease fitting for the shifter shaft which I have never been able to get a grease gun on. It's like it's not the standard dimension. Is there a trick or fix for this? I've tried other cases and different gun fittings and still no go. I'm expecting to feel humiliated by some simple thing I've overlooked, but I've never had a problem with any other fittings.

It seems strange that a fitting won't fit anything. What am I doing wrong?

I always grease mine with the shift cover removed and use a small male tip on the grease gun.

The spring (#31) that returns the shift lever can break where it rubs on the case and becomes thin. Plenty of grease and a grease soaked patch of felt can prevent this by reducing wear.

Hey, along these lines, I have trouble getting the grease gun off the zerk. Are the zerks that come as standard on Hodies slightly larger than the usual? I actually fractured a zerk just trying to remove the grease gun.

matt glascock wrote: ↑Thu Sep 03, 2020 7:49 am Hey, along these lines, I have trouble getting the grease gun off the zerk. Are the zerks that come as standard on Hodies slightly larger than the usual? I actually fractured a zerk just trying to remove the grease gun.

I just solved my problem by grinding down the top of the fitting on a 45 degree angle so that it more closely resembles the brass one. Presto, the gun goes on. I have yet to remove it.....

I'm afraid that the ridge where the jaws clamp may be 90 degrees to the axis and may need to be filed back at more like 60 to make it easily removable. So far I have had no trouble with the brass one, but this is the first time I've managed to 'mount' the 14mm one. Back down the the shop; here's hoping I've avoided trading one dilemma for another.

No, the ridge looks good and the gun came off easily. Maybe if the gun was super tight fitting it might be hard to remove. You could probably just file the top of the fitting to round it off; I just used a bench grinder because it was handy.