Shifter Pawl Adjustment: Tips and Techniques

Hi, I'm Bob LaRosa. Welcome to Fix My Hog. I like to take a moment and discuss a problem that's very common. Finding neutral. Lotta people claim it's difficult to find neutral, whether the engine's running or the engine's stationary or the motorcycle's stationary. The engine's in a static position. A quick adjustment that you can make, and this adjustment can be classified as the first adjustment to make, or the last, depending upon what you think the primary cause of the false or hard neutral may be. This adjustments known as shifter pawl centering, or shifter pawl adjustment. This is the shifter arm. This arm leads directly through the transmission case to the shift drum mechanism itself. On the end of this arm is a hook and that hook needs to be centered in the pin. The arm I'm speaking of is the pawl arm. The pin is what centers the arm. If that adjustment is too far forward or too far back, your pawl centering adjustment is not correct. In order to check pawl adjustment, you wanna put the motorcycle on the lift. Make sure it's secured. Get the back wheel just off the ground. Put the motorcycle in third gear. Once the motorcycle's in third gear, you can gently pull on the shift arm. You should have an equal distance back and forward from center. If that distance is not equal, that may be the cause of your false or hard-to-find neutral. You'll wanna take a moment, refer to your service manual about correct adjustment procedures. I wanna take a moment and show you a specialty tool. This tool is 11/16ths, which is the size of the locknut on the pawl adjusting mechanism. And the other adjustment tool is quarter inch. That is the size of the post that comes out and that you can make fine adjustments to the pawl arm with these tools. It's a fact of sliding the tool in there, getting it over the 11/16ths nut and loosening the nut. Once the nut is loose, you can then install the quarter-inch specialty tool. Put it over the quarter-inch posts and then make small incremental turns to adjust the position of the shifter arm. Now there's many causes for hard-to-find or false neutral. Could be a poorly-adjusted clutch. Whether it be internal or on the cable. It could be an extremely worn clutch pack. It could be inadequate amount of clutch fluid or primary fluid. Too much clutch fluid or primary fluid. Or old, worn clutch or primary fluid. The problems that compound and make people believe they need a pawl adjustment are many. A lotta times, a good service adjustment, inside and out, fresh fluid and neutral, again, is easy to find. The best thing to do is to ask the person who's having difficulty finding neutral as many questions as you can. Is it predominantly difficult to find when it's hot? When it's cold? When the motorcycle's off? When you're running? Are you trying to find neutral as you come to a stop? Are you're trying to find neutral when you're sitting at a light or at a standstill and you've got the clutch in and you just can't seem to pop it into neutral and let go of the clutch and relax? There's a number of reasons why neutral can be difficult to find. One of them that I've seen in the past is directly related to the clutch pack design. They have what's known as a spring plate in the center of the pack. And if that spring plate works itself loose and spreads open, it makes the clutch pack thicker and keeps the clutch from becoming disengaged and neutral becomes very difficult to find. If you're able to narrow down all the avenues and all the roads lead towards a misaligned pawl adjustment, remember, always the motorcycle in third. Then do a good thorough visual. Push forward and push back. The spring pressure should be split evenly. The amount of, let's call it free play, in the shift arm should be split evenly between center. From there again, you loosen the 11/16ths locknut, make minor adjustments to the quarter-inch stem that sticks out of the locknut. Make a small adjustment in the direction needed. Tighten the locknut. Test it. Don't just go spin that adjuster half a turn and think all your problems are gonna go away. And once you make a pawl adjustment, lock that locknut. It shouldn't change. So if you do a correct, thorough pawl adjustment, whether it's with a specialty tool or a modified 11/16ths inch wrench and a quarter-inch wrench, you do a good, thorough pawl adjustment in third gear and you find neutral still impossible to find. I'd highly recommend reviewing the service manual. Ask around. Get as much input as you can, and then pursue other avenues. Whether it's clutch adjustment, fluid replacement, or clutch pack inspection.