Hi Richard,
Can you explain what happens during your tussle ? Are you just losing the spring and ball bearing ? If so, just another pair of hands is the special tool, to keep the bell-crank arm pushed hard up to the indent plate whilst you insert the long pivot bolt and get the washer and nut in place. Alternatively, a few turns of string around the whole gearbox should do the trick. By the way, once you have got the bell-crank in place, put the selector drum into the second gear position, NOT NEUTRAL, before installing the short connecting link between the positive-stop mechanism and the bell-crank. The spring-loaded ball bearing should also be in the second gear indentation on the external plate. Then adjust the length of the connecting link to suit the fixing hole centres, before installing the link. This will automatically ensure that the other gears and neutral will register in their correct positions inside the box AND on the external indent plate. Indexing problems only occur if there is a lot of wear inside the positive-stop mechanism. Please see my articles “A beginner’s guide to the Scott gearbox” in Technicalities for further guidance.
For owners of handchange machines reading this, the set-up procedure is similar, with the selector drum in the second gear position, and the gate in the second gear position, before adjusting the length of the long connecting rod to suit. Over many thousands of miles the slots in the gate can wear badly, upsetting the correct indexing of the other gears and neutral. The remedy is to build up the worn areas with weld, and then file them back to original dimensions.
Brian
