My very first Douglas

[Sir Rick]

Three or four weeks ago, I purchased my first Douglas motorcycle.

She's a 1947 T35.

Still needs a wee bit of work prior to taking her for a decent ride.
3rd gear is not going far enough beck into the dogs to drive it properly, but 4th gear goes completely all the way in. Both on same fork, 3rd backwards, and 4th forwards,

Anyway, my first post in here, and I will try and attach a photo of how she looks.
Cheers.

[eddie]

Very nice machine, but beware of that front mudguard - it is mounted too low, and the wheel will probably jam into it on hitting large bumps. Originally, Mk1 and 3 machines had fixed valanced mudguards, mounted high. A lot of owners didn't like that arrangement, so Mk4&5 machines had the mudguard moving with the wheel ( but the mountings were prone to premature wear).

  Regards,
                Eddie.

[Sir Rick]

Hello eddie.

Front guard is way higher when on centre-stand and front wheel not on the ground.
Doesn't seem to get together with the tyre.

From what I see on the T35 parts list, my gear shifters seem to have the original-type gear selectors with spring and ball inside them, and I assume the ball drops into a recess in the selector shaft when selecting gear.
I have removed motor, and taken off the gearbox.
The selector shaft screws into back end of box and has a locknut on front end to lock the spindle in the correct position.
Previous owner built this bike up from a bunch of parts lying under a bench in an old couple's garage; the owner of which is long, long deceased.
I'm not even sure if he did anything to the box, but I found that the selector shaft was locked in place a few mm out from being right in. Prior to removal, I was able to see what was happening through the removed side cover where the selectors are easily visible. When 3rd gear was selected, I noticed that the spring/ball system was pushing the selector fork out of gear slightly, and the gear dogs were barely rubbing past the layshaft dogs.
So I undid the locknut and screwed the shaft right in.
3rd gear then went happily all the way in, but then 2nd gear was doing what 3rd gear had been doing, and barely contacting the dogs on the layshaft.
So, then I set it half way between right in and where it was before, and now both 2nd and 3rd gears dogs are going equal distance onto the layshaft dogs.
I'm believing it should be Good to go once all back together.

If there is anything I might have missed, that you know about,

[Sir Rick]

Finally managed to get my power plant back into the frame, and then spent the next day rebuilding all I had to remove to get the engine-box unit out.
Filled gearbox and motor with good oil, tickled the carbs and she fired up on the first kick.

Took her for a short run to the both ends of my street and back.
Gearbox working perfectly now.

Just need to sort a small missfire on applying more throttle, not certain if ignition or fuel is the culprit.
However, once underway, going up through and back down the gears, she runs fairly well.

A longer run next time out may sort her out.

Absolutely stoked with the gearbox tinker.
Cheers

[Sir Rick]

Of course, reason for the long time getting her back together, we've just come out of the coldest and frostiest winter we've had over here for a couple of decades.
Finally been able to get her out into the driveway to work on. very limited space in the garage.

[eddie]

Rick,
       Be aware that the carb settings in the handbook were for the poorer quality fuel that was around just post WW2. With our modern fuels, quite a few owners have found their bikes run better with slightly smaller slide cutaways and main jets that are 5 or 10 bigger. The smaller cutaway improves the pick up, and the larger main jet helps the engine to run a little cooler at higher speeds.

Regards,
              Eddie.