new to the fourm, transmission troubles from the start

[Howard]

Hello all, new here 👋 I just bought my first Yamaha xs11 special, 1981. 31k miles.
Runs and drives like a top except first gear which slips so bad I don't dare even move it in that gear. I have a 1982 with a good transmission that I would like swap first gear with. Is that something that can be done in the frame or do I need to pull the engine out? Thanks

[cajun31]

Howard,
Check out the maintenance repair tips. There is a sticky post there that walks you through the entire process of repairing the transmission. It can be done without removing the engine from the frame. There are also some videos out on YouTube that address the issue. Specifically go there and search for Andy's Motorcycle obsession. He has several videos he made where he makes repairs. The difference from his approach is that he does the repair from underneath the bike versus flipping the bike upside down. I am assuming from your post the 1982 is a parts bike. If it is that is nice if you need parts.

First video from Andy's. Doing the gearbox as he relates to the transmission. Good video. Yamaha XS1100 Cafe Racer Project - Ep 09 - 2nd Gear Fix
His later video doing the job from underneath the bike. Yamaha XS1100 Cafe Racer Project - Episode 41 - Gearbox Surgery

[Radioguylogs]

From members here on the forum:

https://xs11.club/forum/repairs/tran...part-1-2-and-3

https://xs11.club/forum/repairs/tran...ear-tranny-fix

I had the same experience as you. I bought my bike non-running with 15k miles on it. When I got it running, I was disappointed to find first gear slipped horribly. I was to fix it using the information in these posts. I found a new first gear, and a new 5th gear, but I had hire a machine shop to grind the dogs on 4th gear ($40).