Lowering gear shift lever (adjust push rod)

[pozo]

Hey all,

I finally have bought my bike ;D Will post a picture or two in another part of the forums. It's a 1994 Honda NTV model P. The previous owner was quite a bit shorter than me, so therefore the gear shift lever/pedal is too high for me. I really have to 'force' my foot to get it 'on top of' the lever to shift down.

I know I should be able to adjust this by adjusting the push rod that connects the lever to the gear change mechanism (the photo below, by Outlaw, shows the part I'm talking about). However this will be my first time working on anything like this, so although I know what I want to achieve I'm not entirely sure on how to proceed.

Perhaps one of you has some experience with it and can recommend a certain procedure? Do you recommend leaving the rod on the bike while adjusting or should I take it off?

On some online tutorial for another bike the rod is equipped with two nuts on either side: one to adjust it and one to lock it. This doesn't seem to be the case with 'our' bike right?

Thanks for any suggestions!

[outlaw]

Hi, and welcome to the site, the photo that you posted is my mod to lower the footrests by fitting the set off the deauville,
Right what you do is take the bit that goes on to the gear shaft off, and put the gear lever close to where you want it, the bar that you are talking about on one side it has a right hand thread, BUT ON THE OTHER SIDE IT IS LEFT HAND THREAD, it helps you to move the gear lever up or down, any more q' please ask and i will try and answer them for you.
outlaw

[Jake]

Aug 20, 2011 9:53:15 GMT -5 pozo said:

The previous owner was quite a bit shorter than me, so therefore the gear shift lever/pedal is too high for me. I really have to 'force' my foot to get it 'on top of' the lever to shift down.

I know I should be able to adjust this by adjusting the push rod that connects the lever to the gear change mechanism

Perhaps one of you has some experience with it and can recommend a certain procedure? Do you recommend leaving the rod on the bike while adjusting or should I take it off?

Hi Pozo,

I personally would be wary about lowering the gear lever
by messing with the adjusting the rod (see link below).

www.rebel250.com/rebelforum/viewtopic.php?t=6450

The simplest way to lower it is by moving it around the
splines. This is what I did when I lowered my footrests....

growell.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=1309&page=1

But the normal position of the lever is indicated by
two punch marks so check that the previous owner hasn't
already moved the lever himself (i.e. moved it from its
standard position).

Using the adjusting rod may enable you to lower it by
smaller increments. But be careful.....I'd try moving it
around the splines first.

P.S

I'm not disagreeing with Outlaw. He knows what he's
doing. I'm just saying try the simpler method first....

[outlaw]

I'm just saying try the simpler method first.... jake

i am all for that but i never take the easy way,

like the speed triple i have why buy a grill for the rad at £56 when i made the stuff and it only cost me £15
outlaw

[cyril]

Hi Pozo.

providing it is an OE linkage, Outlaw is correct, and the opposing ends of the link are left and right handed.
Honda went to the expense of a left hand thread so that we can adjust the rod in sitiu,
by backing off the nuts from the ends, turning the rod to either lengthen, or shorten as required, then tighten the nuts again..
That said it is worth checking that the Punch marks align on both the shaft and input lever first.

If you cannot get enough adjustment using the link, i would try moving one spline increment only, then fine tune the position using the adjustable rod.

I would not recommend adjusting more than one spline from the default manufacturers set up, or you could end up creating a geometric lock.

If you look closely at the Yanks cruiser set up, a few more splines adjustment, and the input link will align with the rod.
It will then be in a geometric lock position, not wanting to rotate in either direction.
you could force the rod, but would not know which direction the link would travel (up or down).

the best Neutral angle between rod, and link at both ends is 90 degrees
That way the correlation of motion at both ends will be the same.
.
Try Mr Honda's setting first.

Best of luck Chris

.

[pozo]

Thanks for the quick replies Outlaw & Jake!

My first option was actually just doing what Jake is suggesting, but the Haynes manual which I bought seemed to be very specific about aligning the dots (although that then probably is to make sure you return it to how it was when it left the factory). In the youtube video I saw about this, the general message was that you should adjust the length of the pushrod.

As the rod is mounted with full rotation possible on both ends, the issue in the link that Jake provided should actually not be that much of an issue in real life. It would be an issue if the gear lever rotates 360 degrees (as with a steam engine, where the other forum post is referring to) but fir this limited movement not that much.

I'll take outlaws suggestion for lengthening the push rod, and I'll post an update when I'm done for future reference

[outlaw]

Hi, if you know any one that has a 650 deauville 1998 on( but not the 700 one) they are braking, or will let you borrow the rod to try as it is longer than the ntv one, as that is what is fitted to mine,along with the gear lever/mounting plates it moves it lower and more forward,

[pozo]

Hey there, I just finished adjusting the rod and luckily it had plenty of thread 'to spare', so getting it down was easy and shifting is just fine now

For future reference, this is what I did (pretty simple of course):

1) OPTIONAL: Remove the gearchange linkage bolt and slide the linkage off the shaft. Had to use a small amount of penetrating oil to get it moving, but then it slid off fine. Removing this part makes step 2 easier.
2) 'Unlock' the locking nuts.
3) If you removed it, put the linkage back on the shaft and put the bolt back in. Be sure to line up the alignment marks. According to the Haynes manual the bolt should be tightened to 12 Nm - I didn't have a torque wrench so I just put it back on 'not too tight'.
4) The push rod should be able to rotate freely & easily now. As Outlaw has stated above, one side has left handed thread and the other side right handed. This means that turning the rod in one direction 'lengthens' the connection, and in the other direction it gets shorter.
5) When you're satisfied, lock the lock-nuts in place and you're finished!

Here's some pictures showing clearly what parts we're dealing with, and a comparison between the possible extremes.

[Jake]

Thanks for this, Pozo.....
It’s a clear explanation and the pictures are excellent.

You’re right.... the safest way to lower the gear shift is
by using the adjuster rod.

I’m probably a bit lazy about these things. As I say, I
lowered my footpegs by 50mm and lowered the gear
pedal by moving the linkage around the splines. So far,
I’ve not had any problems with ‘geometric lock’ and
changing gears has been easy.

But now that you’ve explained it, using the adjuster
rod is the better method....