MOPED ARMY

You can try riding it. Do you remember if any plastic like chunks came out in your tranny fluid change? If so those are the deteriorating pucks. They are only for dampening the shifting of the gears. It will run without them but may shift hard and what can cause wear on your gears. Plan to get those replaced. Even if you pull out fully in tact pucks they will be ready to crumble if they are original. They will probably crumble in your hand if you give them a squeeze.

While you are in there you can also flip the second gear which gives you a little more time in your first gear.

Yeah, you can test ride it. Just don’t neglect changing the pucks too long or you risk shearing gear teeth. That’s bad.

Nope nothing else should be addressed until needed. If you keep it stock you will probably never need to replace the other bits. As soon as you start changing internal pieces it will need to get re-shimmed which is a whole thing on it's own. The pucks and flipping the second speed clutch does not alter the engine spacing so that is ok.

I think it's a pretty safe assumption that nobody has replaced the pucks on that. When you replace the pucks you can check the condition of your transmission case bearings and the big ol middle case bearing for the counter shaft

While getting into the tranny seems daunting it is pretty simple once you get in there. It would be better for the preventive maintenance on this because the cost of waiting can be bad. There is a person on here looking for new za50 gears right now. I'm gonna bet is from not replacing the shift pucks.

Super tough to destroy these engines unless you just ignore the basic stuff.

For the very near term, I'll continue to focus on getting it running. Tank cleaned up beautifully with Evaporust. New petcock/fuel line/filter is on the way from Lucky II strokes. The old petcock was trashed and completely plugged with dirt...so I'm assuming that's what I'll find in the carb.

Next question...when I tear apart the carb, is there a possibility I can just clean it up and reassemble without a kit...or should I just get a kit ordered and on the way to replace the gaskets and stuff while I'm in there? I'm sort of trying to keep costs down and not buy stuff I don't really need, but I also want to do the right thing.

I second the float needle, but I doubt you will need to get a kit to rebuild the carb. If any of the gaskets seem worn or broken you can make them work until you order a kit. I have had broken gaskets on carbs for a lot longer than I should admit.

And honestly I have never had to use an impact drill on my za50's. Just tap my socket wrench with a hammer a few times until it loosens the nut.

Don’t put off the shift pucks until something feels or sounds different. That’s often too late. Often the first sign of a problem is catastrophic failure. They’re ok for a test ride or two, but anything more is a roll of the dice. Mine only had 1100 miles when I changed them, and they crumbled in my hand like wet chalk. I’ve seen other people neglect them, and it’s bad.

IMO, those would be more for heavy hitting builds, like Gila or Polini. The red ones are fine, even for mild performance mods. It’s a good habit to blip shift also, once you’re familiar with the shift point. Another tip- Ditch the ATF and run 0w-20 or 5w-20 motor oil in the tranny. Preferably 0w-20. Better shifting.

Yes you are correct. Check the wiki here about disassembling a za50. And read the words and pics. You can see how the second gear looks.

I have use the info a few times reminding myself of the process.

No, I hadn't seen those. Very helpful...I understand the basics better now.

I'm glad you mentioned the end float thing. I need to wrap my head around that better to understand exactly what we're talking about and how to get it right.

I'm interpreting that it pertains to the height of all this stuff stacked together to ensure its within the required tolerance -- not too short to not engage with the bearings, nor too tall to not fit or create friction?

I'll study that second one in more detail...

Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks for the note, I feel a bit better with each exchange here. I'll just pick and place each part out as I go on a long table to keep it in order and try not to over think it.

Worst case scenario if I F it all up, I'll toss all the jumbled pieces in a box and drop it off at Detroit Moped Works to reassemble :) for $90 -- not a bad deal really.

^^This, what Mike says. It’s so quick to check it and be sure.

Side note, try not to damage the original gasket. Replacements are not always the same thickness as original, throwing end float off. It’s pretty critical. So is properly torqued everything. Either of these not correct, And you’ll end up with a bearing punching right through your tranny cover.

Isn't that^ the purpose ?

Thanks for your thoughts Kevin, much appreciated. Seems like more folks vote for flipping than not flipping? With zero experience, I may go with the consensus.

Either way, I've got some time to decide. I'm getting the petcock and some other parts today. This weekend I'll go through the carb and if all goes well I'll be up and running. I didn't order a carb kit, so if I need any parts that will be another delay.

After all that I'll hit the transmission.

As for the float measurements, I'm up for doing it as I can see the value in it. I just need to understand what to do. As it relates to Mike Boyd's descriptive note, I think I understand the step 1. Step 2 sort of has me baffled at the moment. Will need to figure out how to do that one. I'll keep studying!