Topic: cb350 shifting questions

[Gchatley]

Hello all!

Just joined the site as I just recently bought my first bike which happens to be a '73 cb350f. I've heard many say not to get a project bike for your first so I went ahead and did that exact thing, hoping me and my dad can work on it and enjoy the process of getting it going again.

 I've done a few things so far but here is a problem I figured would be best to let my betters answer: we were working on the bike yesterday and pulling off the clutch, as it wouldn't disengage. The plates are stuck and a little rusty but I'm not worried about that, the problem came when we had shifted through the gears with the clutch plates off. Went through all of them fine but wouldn't quite go into fifth. Rolled the bike around and messed around shifting through the gears, and soon it barely went through any of the gears. Current situation is that it (normally) goes into first well, neutral just fine, then into second and third but not beyond that. I figured I would ask as I still have the clutch cover off and hope to resolve the issue.

Hope to continue working on it and eventually get it road worthy, thanks ahead of time for any advice (or rebuke) given!

[Bodi]

May be no problem, the gears don't shift well without moving (moving more than rolling slowly) and/or the motor running. With the clutch taken off the input shaft is spinning free - that probably won't allow the gear dogs to engage.

[Gchatley]

That's what I was hoping for, I'll put the clutch back in soon and see where that gets me

[BomberMann650]

The transmissions need lots of good oil to work too!

Welcome to the sohc4 garage

[b52bombardier1]

By "good oil", he means something "JASO MA rated". That is the certification for wet clutches. You are asking for trouble running an automobile oil because many brands have friction modifiers that are too slippery for our clutch packs.

I'm a Shell Rotella T believer and you will find the JASO MA rating in the fine print on the back of the jug. Widely available and relatively inexpensive.  Rotella is also available in synthetic.

Rick

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

[BomberMann650]

I didn't (Honda) mean to (GN4) start an (20-50) oil thread

[RAFster122s]

Then, one must consider the lack of sufficient additives (ZDDP) needed by these vintage MCs is not universal amongst the MC oils and steer clear of VTwin oils as they contain lots of stuff that makes them illsuited for our bikes.  Most all oils outside of good MC specific are missing many key ingredients these bikes were built assuming were there.   So, don't presume they are all good. Aircooled bikes depend upon their oil far more than a water cooled bike.

Yes, your clutch is likely to be problematic to shift by hand through the range and back rolling about or on its centerstand rolling the back wheel.  Clean and sand the steel plates lightly  on the clutch pack/stack. Install new square cut clutch discs (as opposed to bevel on start of a clutch face lining) and soak them in oil overnight before assembly.
Adjust the cable per factory manual procedure upon reassembly lubing interior clutch cover as recommended by the factory manual.  Never hurts to trace the gasket in case you need to make another by hand in a pinch or photocopy it to capture it with a few registration marks to assemble the sheets for a fulls sized pattern.  Strip of tape above gasket can help realign the copies  (several places on gasket so, you can check that copies are undistorted as well.
Ask questions to make it clear if it is not.

[BomberMann650]

I just used permatex ultra grey for the gasket 

[RAFster122s]

There is a fellow restoring/redoing a british bike on the forums who found the previous owner or two ago had assembled the motor using Hondabond between the crankcase/transmission halves and it leaked like a British bike/sieve to the point there was no oil inside the cases when he cracked it open...it had all leaked out.

Permatex may work OK BUT if you get a glob of it inside the case and it breaks free it can clog an oil passage causing oil starvation and motor death/catastrophic failure.

Just my opinion/$0.05 on the subject...

Tracing the gasket pattern allows you to fabricate another from gasket material purchased from a local Napa or auto parts store that carries "bulk" cut your own gasket sheets...

David