| Author | Message | ||
     Elmono |
Last few times riding, after about thirty minutes I can't shift the gears. No kidding, I know that I'll break the shift lever before I shift the gears. Neither up or down. So I pull over and then I can shift. Then it shifts fine until I get back up to speed, then no shifts. When it does shift it sounds like metal grinding. Also, when I do downshift at speed it throws the tranny back into the gear I came from. I'm thinking clutch not disengaging. The clutch lever feels like it's not right. Any ideas? Thanks, Chad. | ||
| Djkaplan |
"Any ideas? " Take the primary cover off and investigate. It takes less than an hour and it reaveals so much. | ||
| Elmono |
Man, I wouldn't know if it was exactly as it was supposed to be or if there was a major problem. But this is indeed an internal problem then? Nothing external? | ||
| Sloppy |
Your detent plate on the shift drum has likely suffered a retaining clip fracture. A common problem for any XL bike with more than 10,000 miles. You'll need to do as DJ mentions, but if you don't have the tools to do it, then take it to a shop. The service manual details what you need to do and, indeed, it only takes about an hour (oh, how I like cassette transmissions!) Then you can confirm if you have a tranny failure or a clutch pack failure. But since you're already inside the tranny, why not upgrade while you're there. You should upgrade to a "Baker Shift Drum Kit" for ~ $200 or go full bore and convert it to a six speed for ~$4000. Both will prevent this type of failure. Another option is to send the tranny out to be blueprinted and upgraded with a Baker drum. Good luck, just in time for winter... (Message edited by sloppy on September 15, 2006) | ||
| Sparky |
I had a similar problem with my 96 S1. The symptom was alternating intermittent hard/ normal shifting due to clutch drag, and clutch lever play alternating from no play to normal play. It would drag enough to make the bike creep forward at a stop, sometimes. I changed out the engine and trans oil with the usual Syn3. While doing that, I noticed the oil level was up to the flat part of the clutch spring. Also took out the ramp & ball mechanism looking for wear. It looked OK but noticed that the back of the ramp plate had shiny witness marks where it was touching the back of the primary cover -- don't know what that means. Perhaps clutch plates worn too thin after 90k miles? Other bearings that I could see with the ball & ramp parts out looked OK. After filling the primary to just below the spring, it seems fine now. No more alternating lever play, no more clutch drag. I guess the root cause of my problem was too much oil in the primary. | ||
| Djkaplan |
"oh, how I like cassette transmissions! It's not a true GP bike type cassette, but it's close enough. Splitting cases to get to a tranny is a real pain. I wouldn't say it was 'fun' taking my transmission out for the first time, but it certainly wasn't hard at all. | ||
| Elmono |
Clutch adjustment and cable adjustment seems to have made things better. Thanks. |
