| Author | Message | ||
     Bobpaul |
It takes a lot of force to change gears. I've discovered that it gets worse when the bike heats up after stop and go traffic or after riding for several hours. Shifting into Neutral is equally tough, same thing easy when cold difficult when hot. A year ago I checked the shift drum cam and pins and they are fine. I pulled the transmission out and found some burrs on the shifting drum along the edges of the grooves. These are caused by the pins on each shift fork. So, I carefully ground down the burrs with a dremel tool, cleaned up the inside of the shift forks and put it all back together. It was improved, but not what I'd call great. What could be causing the shifting to get stiffer when it heats up? Also can I do anything to the shift drum to reduce the friction? Maybe polish the drum? Maybe grind a bevel on the edges of the shift drum grooves? ??? BTW- bike is 2000 M2 w/ 20k miles. Mostly stock. It's got the upgraded tensioner and the primary chain and is at loose end of the spec, but not as loose as Lafayette recommends. I can hear the chain rubbing on the inside of the case on the overrun, so don't want to allow it to get any looser. | ||
| Blake |
Bob, If the chain is really rubbing the inside of the primary case/cover and you can hear it doing so, it is way too loose or something is likely very wrong. As to the shifting difficulty, please check/verify proper clutch adjustment, proper (not too high) level of transmission lubricant (even just a bit too high will make shifting difficult; if you add an entire quart when replacing the tranny lube, the level could easily be too high), even verify that your clutch cable is properly lubricated and adjusted. It is very important to check the primary chain at its loosest position, meaning it needs to be checked at multiple spots throughout its entire range of travel around the sprockets. Set the tension according to spec, or a little looser even, at the chain's tightest position. If there is a huge difference in free play between the tightest and loosest positions, you may need a new chain, have excessive shaft runout, or unevenly worn sprocket(s). What do you mean by an "upgraded primary chain"? | ||
| Hogs |
Blake correct me IF I`m wrong but should one not adjust the chain at the tightest position... Checking at the loosest position wd. not be a good idication of whats going on,only I guess IF ya adjust at the tighest position and the freeplay in the loosest postion wd. be way to loose then perhaps thats what ya mean ,then the chain wd. have to be replaced? | ||
| Bobpaul |
upgraded tensioner, the one that came out in late 00. I know the cable is well lubed, and I'm pretty sure it's adjusted OK and free-play is to spec, but I could change the adjustment, under the derby cover, to move engagement out on the lever.... so that when the lever is pulled in there is more disengagement range (gap between the plates) in the clutch. That might help. Blake, maybe you are on to something with the lube. When it heats up the lube expands and is higher on the clutch. Maybe that's why shifting is more difficult when it's hot? The last time I changed the lube I only put in about 28 oz instead of the whole bottle, but maybe that's too much still. I can only hear the chain (sounds like the chain at least) when I take the engine to redline and backoff to make the shift. That's when the slack in the chain reverts to the opposite side of the sprockets (top run). I experimented with the chain tension and found that shifting is improved with a tighter chain, but all the discussions on this board scared me into setting it to the loose end of the spec. That is, loosest spec at the tightest point in the chain. So it's looser than spec at the sloppy part of the chain. About 1/8-3/16 difference between the loosest and tightest. |
