Great ride w/ mechanical issues

Hey all, yesterday I took a short little 563 mile trip(7:30am - 10:30pm w/ stops of course) from my home in NW central WI to Door County(the penninsula or thumb of WI). It was a great ride w/ a few boring stretches through Green Bay, we went up the North side & came back on the south side thru Manitawoc. My ol' 86' 700 which has alway done me well gave me some fits on the way back. I would intermittently lose 1st, neutral & 2nd gears this starter out when we made a stop @ a small park I was parked on a hill so I turned the bike around & rolled down the hill started the bike on the way down popped it into 1st & headed off. About a 1/8th mile down the road I heard a loud gear clunk I ran thru the gears all seemed ok. We came to a stop sign about 5 miles from there & I could'nt down shift beyond 3rd after 50 or 60 miles of living with this I stopped checked the oil, no silver cast or metal flake in the oil; played around w/ the shifter & got it to shift down into 1st. It worked fine for a while then acted up again; about another 100 miles I heard the loud gear clunk again & its worked fine ever since. Obviously something is worn, my question for anyone whose been inside the gear box of a 86-87 what am I in for or what should I expect to find?

 

:bump2: Just a gratuitous bump to keep it up on the current list as I'd like to know how concerned my wallet should be.

 

It's most common to lose 2nd and OD. I'm surprised you lost 1st.

It might be expensive. If so you could either start looking for a good used engine, or send the one you've got off to have the gears undercut. Cost would be similar either way. How many miles on the current engine, what kind of shape is it in other than this?

If I were you, before I tried the expensive stuff I'd look at the cheaper and simpler things that could hurt your shifting. I have had troubles like this, and thought for sure I was in for expensive repairs, then had small things totally fix it. I also know a guy who replaced his whole engine only to find that his transmission problem was something cheap and simple that had nothing to do with the engine. So I would try the easy stuff just in case it does the trick.

1. When you pull in the clutch lever, it actuates the clutch by pushing in a little plunger. The clutch lever pivots on a bolt that has a nut on the bottom side. This nut can fall off and the bolt will then work its way upward until the clutch won't pull in properly. Check this.

2. The clutch lever pushes a plunger into the master cylinder. The clutch lever end of the plunger goes into a little barrel shaped brass thing. This thing can wear out to the point where it doesn't pivot properly, and the moving parts here can fill with grit. Check this, clean all this stuff out and grease it, and replace the little barrel shaped thing if you need to. Cost is only maybe $5 or $6, and a new round thingy there, and some good clean grease, will improve the clutch action.

3. The clutch may be low on hydraulic fluid, or the fluid may be old and full of moisture which could boil and make the clutch stop working when the bike is hotter. Bleed the clutch and make sure it's full up. There's a fluid inspection window on the master cylinder that is probably no longer remotely transparent, and which may even be cracked and leaking at this point in the bike's lifespan. It's a round white circle about the size of a nickel. If it's leaking, you can epoxy a nickel over it to block the leak, or you can preserve the usefulness of the inspection window by dremeling out the inspection window and epoxying a watch glass in its place.

4. The shifter lever has moving parts that need to be kept clean and greased. If the shifter action is crunchy it makes it hard to shift gears.

I would only start looking at expensive things in the motor, after I was sure everything was right with the clutch and the shifter.

 

I don't know what to tell you but I am tagging the message to follow along.

Sounds like a great run though.

 

The clutch has been working fine; just comes to a dead stop @ third. I can get it to shift down by playing w/ rpm & clutching while attempting to down shift. Or I can get it to shift w/ the engine off just have to play around w/ the shifter a bit. I guess my biggest problem is I cannot visualize how the shift mechanism works . If I could I could come up w/ a good idea based on the problems. If it where the big heavy duty transmissions I normally get to tear into I'd say it it was a shift fork or shift rail problem. Time to buy that service manual I guess; one upside of the day was I finally got rid of all evidence of chicken strips on my rear tire

Oh' 36K on the engine & since the second gear clunk noise I can't get it to screw up no matter what I try its work near perfectly, maybe a little on the notchy side or that may be because I'm paying closer attn to it??

 

There is a shifter spring that breaks and you are then stuck in 3rd gear. Fish out the broken spring with a hemostat and replace it with one ordered from the dealer. Shouldn't be too hard to do.

 

Many thanks my friend, I'll have to do some research to fully understand whats required but it doesn't sound like something thats going to break the bank:smile:

 

Take a look @ this schematic & let me know which spring you are referring too. Thanks

http://www.bikebandit.com/partsbandit/showschematic.asp?dept_id=213691

 

I have just read about this repair. However, I believe the spring I referred to is the shifter spindle return spring.

Researching it further, I found these pics . . .

You can see it in this picture: http://img103.imageshack.us/my.php?image=spindledk1.jpg

You can see it missing in this picture: http://img123.imageshack.us/my.php?image=shifterspring8nf.jpg

You'll also need a clutch cover gasket if yours gets torn upon removal. Get OEM. Since a sprocket dowel rides in the cover, it requires a specific thickness.