Douglas Aero 1937

[FN]

Dear contributors on this thread. I am Gerd from Germany and I own a Douglas Aero 500. I bought the bike 2 years ago in running condition. Unfortunately the failures became larger and I stopped working on it. Reading these pages encouraged me using the Corona time for doing a new start. Many thanks to all contributors. It is nice conversation on Douglas Aero. Especially the questions from Eric were very useful in combination with the answers. They showed a wide range of problems, which I detected also. Don't be surprised, when I am coming with with new questions. I am stuck with the gear box now.
Best reagards
Gerd

[Doug]

Gerd,

There was a 4-1/4 page write-up in the Jan/Feb 2021 issue of the New ConRod magazine on the evolutionary changes of the 1936-38 Aero Douglas heavyweight models. I will be re-printing that here once I gather some additional supporting photos.

-Doug

[FN]

I have a simple question on the four speed gearbox. This one has a constant mesh kickstarter. The ratchet is fixed to the main shaft and receives the full torque from the kickstart lever. Is the ratchet screwed to the mainshaft?
It looks like for me.  But I was not able to unlock it for getting the main shaft out of the box. There were three holes in the ratchet, which I used (are those original?). The small tool  (picture) was put on an impact driver. The ratchet was heated until oil was flowing out of the crevice and then the impact driver put on. It did not work. Has somebody a better method?
Regards
Gerd

[Doug]

Gerd,

Yes, it is threaded on. The three holes are factory, and the means for installation and removal. It helps a lot to have the face of the pin driver cut back to match the face of the ratchet closely. This reduces the cantilever of the pins. It is surprising that the small amount of deflection bridging the gap significantly diminishes the effectiveness of the impact driver in jarring it loose.

Remember it has had years of heavy boots stomping on it to tighten the thread!

-Doug

[FN]

Doug,
thanks for the information. One night I thought the heavy load from kicking should not be put on a thread. I will redo the tool and do a next try. The holes in the ratchet are so demaged, that I believe my preowners did not succeed.
Gerd

[FN]

Doug, I am very interested on the report from the LDMCC. Unfortunately I am not a member of the club anymore. Chris told me once, that the club gets loss due to foreign members. I will show road tests of Douglas Aero in comparison to BMW R5. The Motor Cycle Magazine did it in one issue.
Thanks
Gerd

[FN]

Doug,
I have redone the tool for removing the ratchet. It is much stiffer and worked well.
Gerd

[Eric S]

Hi Gerd
I am glad my miserable adventures are benefiting others enthusisats.
I haven't touched the engine since august as I am kind of disgusted because it tooks me months to close the engine just to discover when almost finished that I have to open it again to replace a small washer that was not made correctly. I am asking a lot of (stupid) questions just to find that on one of the rare parts I didn't asked, there is a mistake.
I see you are working on the gear box, I still have to investigate in this area as the kick was slipping back in the old days when I was riding the bike. Hopefully it's just a matter of replacing the spring and I won't have to open the whole box to replace it.

[FN]

Hi Eric,
I used the Corona time for working on the Douglas. I think next summer we are riding again. I opened a post on the four speed gear box. You have perhaps seen it.The lower big nut on the outside of the kickstart cover is for dailing the clearance of the ratchet. When I inspected my kickstart mechanism, this nut was screwed fully home. It should be set, that the ratchet wheels are just not touching during normal running. The picture is showing what is inside the cover.
Happy tinkering
Gerd

[eddie]

Gerd,
          I think you are mistaken in your reasoning regarding the operation of the kickstart.  Whilst you may be correct in thinking that the ratchet needs adjustment - this shouldn't be achieved by backing off the securing nut. That adjustment should be achieved by selecting a suitable thickness facing washer for the bendix assembly, so that the nut can be fully tightened. Leaving the assembly loose will result in the fitted length of the spring being too large - thus reducing it's operating pressure. It is this pressure which persuades the gear to ride up the bendix (instead of the sleeve turning with the gear). Later postwar gearboxes have the same arrangement, and they suffer with the kickstart not engaging when the spring gets tired.

  Hope this helps,
                            Regards,
                                           Eddie.

[FN]

Eddie,
Thanks . That makes sence to me. I will open the kickstart cover again and and will add a washer.  A rough guess of the thickness may be received from current position. 
Gerd

[Eric S]

Thank you for pointing out your gear box thread. I usually go to "Show unread posts since last visit." to see what's new and this gear box thread never appeared there !

[Dave]

Eric,

After clicking "Show unread posts since last visit", if you look in the bottom right corner of that page, there should be a button marked "ALL UNREAD POSTS" or "ALL UNREAD TOPICS". That will bring up a full list of everything you haven't read.

Or try this link and then bookmark it - All Unread Posts - Douglasmotorcycles.net
This is what I use to check for all unread posts each day.

Dave

[Eric S]

Thank you Dave.
Now I have 55 PAGES of unread Topics !
But in any case this gear box topics probably appeared earlier on the unread post since last visit and I probably missed it...

[Dave]

Eric,
 
.... Look for a button that says "MARK ALL MESSAGES AS READ" or similar and they won't appear again. Or you can select a few then press "MARK SELECTED READ" to mark a few as read.

Dave