Inspecting A 1975 Harley-Davidson - Four-Speed Inspection

15. The oil seal sleeve was rubbed on the fine side of a stone using plenty of oil to remove any burrs. The outside of the sleeve surface was cleaned and smoothed with a fine grade of 3-M pad.

16. Our gasket and seal kit from V-Twin contained a rubber gasket instead of cork for sealing the back of the oil seal, so it went in first and fit flush against the back wall of the case.

17. Next was the oil seal. We smeared a generous portion of white grease on the rubber part and a light brushing of Permatex gasket sealer around the outside. The seal sleeve was slipped inside the seal and fitted over Fourth gear, up close to the case.

18. For proper sealing and general oil tightness, the seal should be pressed into the case square so that it is not distorted. We bought a JIMS seal installation and remover tool. Here we are threading the extension of the tool onto the main shaft.

19. We slid the seal driver over the extension and main shaft until it just touched the seal.

20. With the driver on the main shaft, we placed the washer and nut onto the threaded part of the extension and turned the nut-this in turn pressed the seal into the case straight and square. When the driver touched the case, the seal was installed. We shared the cost of these special tools with a couple of friends; that way each of us has the ability to keep our transmissions dry.

21. Probably the hardest seal to install while the transmission is assembled is the Fourth gear main shaft seal. However, JIMS Machine has developed this slick sleeve arrangement to install the trickily little seal with a couple taps of a mallet or hammer. We simply slid the inner sleeve on the end of the main shaft, greased the inner rubber surface of the seal, slid it over the inner sleeve, and then slid the outer sleeve over the inner and pushed the seal over the main shaft. Then we gently tapped it into the end of Fourth gear.

22. OK, the seals were done on the sprocket side; we wouldn't install the sprocket until we swapped out the counter shaft thrust washer. We turned our attention to the kicker cover and removed it from the transmission case. Kicker covers, specifically the kick-starter shaft, are a good source for an oil leak when the bushings and the O-ring in the cover wear out. Here we have removed the cover to find the e-clip and washer from the clutch release lever laying in the case.

23. Using a shop towel and some brake cleaner, we thoroughly cleaned any residual metal "dust" that settled on the floor of the case. We then cleaned the case's gasket surface of old gasket material, removed any burrs, and cleaned the threads of the kicker cover-mounting studs.

24. The kicker cover had some issues: the kick arm was stuck on the shaft and the shaft itself was bent. We clamped the kicker arm in the bench vise and focused on the kicker gear, which was loose on the shaft-the ear on the locking tab was the only thing holding the gear and nut on the shaft.

25. With the gear removed we saw the gap between the kick-starter shaft and the bushings in the cover. Another problem was the square shoulder of the shaft was slightly below the surface of the bushing. This probably explains why the gear was left "loose" on the shaft. If the gear was tightened to specs, the shaft would lock up in the cover, so the easy fix was to leave it loose.

26. Next we removed the kicker shaft from the cover, cleaned the gasket surface of old gasket material and burrs, and moved over to our hydraulic press to push out the old kicker shaft bushings. Both bushings were pushed out in the same direction. Note: You can remove the bushings using a bushing driver and hammer on a couple pieces of 2x4 on the bench. Just keep the 2x4s close to the shaft hole for support.