| Author | Message | ||
     Yttikcat |
Hi everyone - starting yesterday I thought I was going insane because I would go to move the clutch shifter with my foot and I could not find it. Finally I would wiggle the end of my boots under it and lift it up. Tonight while leaving the parking garage, it was so low that my foot could not go under it at all. I moved the bike back and forth and manually lifted it up with my hand. Then I drove home in 4th gear - started from lights and stopsigns - you name it I did it in 4th gear. There is somekind of black fluid coming out of the front top of the shifter where it is round and maybe a screw or something goes there. Help! I have a landrover and this Buell Blast and the Buell has spent more time in the shop than the landrover.  | ||
| Jackbequick |
The gear shift lever fits on a splined shaft and and has matching internal splines where it slides over the shaft. The part that slides over the shaft has a cut across it and a bolt goes through from the top to applies a clamping force that keeps the lever in place on the shaft. There is also a circular groove around the splined shaft where the shifter sets and the bolt passes through that groove. That keeps the shifter from sliding off of the shaft if the bolt loosens. It sounds like your bolt fell out some time ago and the continued use of the shifter have rounded or stripped the splines. The shifter is turning on the shaft and not gripping it tight enough to turn it. It would have taken some time and a lot of shifting to get the splines that worn, you must not have noticed the slowly and steadily increasing play there and extra travel needed to shift gears. You'll probably have to replace the shifter and/or the shaft too depending on where the splines are worn off at. The leaking fluid is probably oil from the primary, the seal where the shaft passes through the primary cover may have slipped out of place of fallen out. Are you any kind of a mechanic? The happiest Buell owners are usually the folks that would have spotted something like that before it got that bad and taken care of it themselves. Replacing the shifter and shaft is easily enough done by a home mechanic, you'll need a service manual and some tools of course. But you'll save enough to pay for the manual if you do your own work. Jack | ||
| Rotzaruck |
Yt Jack's right,( he has a habit of that) get a book (it's got lots of pictures) and start working on that thing yourself. No use letting somebody else have all that fun, not to mention your money!! You can always fall back on the shop if you can't get it done, then ask what they did to fix it. Or just get in the Thump section and ask for advice, or search the knowledge vault. Don't be afraid to ask dumb questions, and if the answers are too technical, just say so, tell them to explain the explanation. I ask all kinds of stupie stuff, and I've been working on all kinds of things all my life;and yet so much to learn. The more grease you have under your fingernails, the smarter you are!! You can order a service manual from our sponsors, or get one at the dealer, or they can be found pretty regularly on ebay. Check around, do some searches, or ask in the Thumper section and see if you can find some BadWeBers in your area that may be willing to stop by and give you some pointers and free advise. Or ALMOST free, they'll usually be hungry or thirsty. Sometimes things are not nearly as bad as they seem and you may never know that if someone else fixes it. Rotzaruck!!! | ||
| Dhalen32 |
Yttikat: Jack described how the shifters attach on the XBs but the Blast is a little different and the fix is usually pretty simple. This problem happens all of the time on my Rider's Edge training fleet. The Blast shift levers are infinitely adjustable since we need to adjust them for a wide range of users nearly every week. There is a very large hole in the shift lever that is split and has a pinch bolt just as Jack described. Loosen the pinch bolt and slide the shifter off of the large aluminum bushing that is splined to the shift shaft. Leave the bushing in place. I have yet to see it's internal splines fail as Jack described with the other shifter design yet it is possible this could be your problem. Be sure to look for that kind of damage. If it is the more common problem of the shifter being loose on that bushing take some very coarse sandpaper or crocus cloth and lightly rough up the outside of the bushing and the inside of the hole in the shifter. These surfaces become glazed and slippery when you move them relative to one another. This light sanding should provide enough friction after you reassemble to prevent that relative movement. It doesn't hurt to leave the grit from the abrasive there either. Make sure the pinch bolt is not too long that it will not close the hole in the shifter either. I have seen mechanics use the wrong bolt or accumulated thread locking compound prevent it from sufficiently tightening the shifter around the bushing. If necessary, you can add a washer under the bolt head. I hope that solves your problem without a trip to the dealer. Dave | ||
| Bluzm2 |
I had the same problem with my daughters Blast. I had to make the slot a bit wider and add a washer to the bolt to make it pinch harder. If memory serves, I used a hacksaw to make enlarge the slot after clamping it in a vice. That was 3 years ago, no problems since. Brad | ||
| Jackbequick |
And I'm older and smarter now too. The BadWeb can do that for any of us at times. I didn't realize the Blast shifter was made differently. Sounds like a good design, maybe even better. Thanks for the nice description of it Dave. Jack |
