So, if I've understood right, that washer #11 doesn not affect the distance between 1st and 4th. The shaft, like previously written, should be locked axially by the snapring of the front sprocket. However, a snapring is not as rigid as a nut and maybe, under load, it can flex and let the shaft move a little to the right. I'm a little confused because in the sentence in bold you talk about the possibility that 2nd doesn't engage while you also wrote that you were stuck in 2nd, so that would have been the opposite problem. When we shift from 2nd to 3rd, two things should happen: •gear #6 should move to the right letting #3(=2nd) free to spin without transmitting power: 2nd is now disengaged •then the fork on the primary shaft should move #20 to the left engaging #18(=3rd). If you were stuck in 2nd, I think that the first step, i.e. 2nd gear deisengagement, could not happen (the second step happens on the primary gear, that we consider fine). Why was gear #6 unable to move, disengaging 2nd? Its motion is limited by the fork which holds it and by the two snaprings #5. Considering this, a shaft which moves to the right seems more likely to prevent 2nd from engaging, rather than keeping it engaged, like you wrote in the sentence in bold. I have to say that, since I can't see the components with my eyes, maybe I'm misunderstanding something... Tinken was a memeber and a partner of Cafe Husky, like Motosportz. Maybe he's still a member.
When I was "stuck" in 2nd I actually had 1-N-2, it happened to the previous owner as well, but she is no longer with us so I can't ask exact circumstance. When it happened to me it was first on a long stretch of road, maybe 100 miles in top gear, we pulled over because hotel sign was misleading and when we took off again, for a minute I could not get past 2nd, but then it worked again. We finally got a campground for the night and the next morning is when the problem became obvious. We found NAPA and I pulled the clutch off along with shifting mechanism, that's when I noticed that shift drum does not fully rotate to engage 2nd gear, it gets stuck right before detent spot. So what happens next is that the ratchet can't reach the next step and shift lever just moves free unable to get 3d gear. I rode few miles like that stuck in 2nd, first to the ferry then to NAPA in Blanc-Sablon QC hoping it would resolve itself when motor warmed up, but it didn't. Tried everything, pulled both side covers, ended up fishing out a piece of plastic thinking something brooke apart because it looked like a bearing cage, (splitting cases I never found a source of that part) we were getting desperate, talking about contingency plan and still furiously trying everything, that's wen it suddenly turned and engaged 2nd gear. We did not question WHY, just put everything back together and hit the road, still had over 400 km (250 miles) of gravel to go and it was getting late... Now with motor on the bench I'm looking at everything and anything, it seems that if the shaft #9 drifts to the right it would limit the movement of the gear #6, when bench testing the transmission in the left side case, shift drum does tend to get stuck and wants to move right to engages 2nd gear but with both case halves and motor upright it shifts smoothly now. I know that snap-ring will keep the shaft in place in relation to the countershaft bearing I'm wondering if the bearing may have moved inside the case because the washer wasn't present? I also distinctly remember moving the countershaft axially (left towards the chain) when we took it apart in Blanc-Sablon, but it should be impossible with snap-ring doing it's job?
