Pull motor to change 2nd gear???

[DavesXS]

Should a mechanic be trying to charge me to pull out the motor in order to change 2nd gear?
I have read nothing about this but he insists on pulling it and charging accordingly. FTW?

[trbig]

Most people don't realize that there is a way to do it without pulling the engine. I think that would be the standard practice to do this fix.

My question is... why are you paying someone else to do this when it can be accomplished by yourself in a weekend easily? The repairs are going to cost more than the bike is worth for them to do it.


Tod

[DavesXS]

Looks like I'll be doing it my self.
But its worth it to me to pay some one 200-300 to do the labor. I don't want to mess anything up in there.

The quote was 250 motor out and 400 motor in. extra 150 to remove the motor. That makes it not worth it. 300 is the limmit I'd pay.

I am just worried about getting it all back together ok once its apart. I want minimal down time as this is supposed to be my daily driver.

[trbig]

Just read up on it. There may be members in your area willing to help. You can buy a lot of friends with $300 worth of steak and beer. Then you'll know how to do it and can pass the knowledge along to someone else maybe. Also, it sounds corny, but knowing you did the work on it really does make it much more fulfilling.

It can and has been done many times without pulling the motor, I just find it easier to yank the motor out. By the time most can figure out and devise a way to flip the bikes over and such, I can have the motor out. BUT... that just happens to be my preference. You can pull the motor complete, split the cases and fix the tranny with a Dremmel, check the bearings, then slap it back together and never take the head off or have to worry about bending valves or anything.

If you find someone to help you, (Read BRIBE here..) two people should be able to fix this in a day. And some it may take two...even when you bring them the pre-ground gears. (Dale_1)

Tod

[DavesXS]

I have new gears and gasket in hand. If any one reads this and is close by c-mon I'm buying!
beer, food, cash in your pocket or what ever

I posted in the south east forum few days ago, I'd drive 100 miles to some one.

[DavesXS]

I am going to rant a little here...

TRBIG this is in no way directed at you.




This guy offers to "help". Tells me 250/400 prices. If he had told me he could remove the motor in the time it takes a normal Joe to prep for flip, then I'd have been ok with it. But he said he needed an extra 2-3 days for removal. Thats when I was thinking "whooh wait a min." I completely explained removal was not nessasary. Explained how to prep, flip, and access gears.(because I have read the full DIY 5 times now )
I offered to bring him the bike fully preped. All he had to do was drain the fluids, flip, remove necessary covers and do the gears. After the bike was upright again I'd put back all the accessories, and bring my own fluids. He still insisted on charging for and removing the motor.
I own a refinishing shop. If any one here said they want there tank sprayed and offered to prep it for me, Id gladly charge less to complete it. And I'd charge less just cause there a fellow member.
He came and offered "help" Not my definition of help.
I was gonna drive 90 min. to help a fellow jeep forum members friend get out of the woods. Some one closer beat me to it.
The point is this.... No point just a rant.
Any one else feel like that some times?

I'm sure I'll ahve a thread titled, "how to put humpty back togeather again"

[Bigfoot]

I have done this fix twice with the bike on the center stand. Twice because I apparently didn't get the bevel right on the first attempt so a year later I was at it again. It was sorta a pain but it can be done by yourself if you don't mind laying on your back under the bike for awhile. Also got hit in the forehead a couple times with falling shift forks but I think that just builds character. It may be easier to flip the bike or pull the engine but I was at it by myself so just tore into it that way. Worst that can happen is you have to put it back together and call in someone for help or take it somewhere, which is exactly where you are right now. If I was closer to you, I would help and would only charge a couple beers. But that is just me. Hope it works out for you.

[Bigfoot]

P.S. for me everything came apart just fine but I did have a heck of a time getting the shaft and gears back in. Took about an hour of cussing and working at it. Don't know if this is a common experience but they eventually will go back in.

[Jerry]

It is easier to do the repair with the motor out of the bike and upside-down on a bench. Shift forks in particular are easier to install or remove. Having said that, both times I've worked on my XJ's transmission I did it with the bike on the center stand.

A variation is to lift the frot end of the bike with a pull or hoist, essentially putting the bike up on the rear tire. have not tired this approach.

I removed the oil pump, and because the XJ has no kick starter, this gives the maximum amount of working room in the tranny.

Worth repeating: Make sure the tranny is in 4th gear when you start the job.

Last time I found an easier way to reinstall the shift forks: If you are lucky enough to pick up the tranny parts on eBay, you may get a 2nd shift fork shaft. I was able to slide the spare shaft in from the engine's left side into forks #2 and #3, install the gear cluster, then slide the fork shaft in from the right side of the engine, pushing the spare shaft out. First shift fork goes in easier and does not need a shaft to hold it in place. If you do not have a spare shaft I suspect a dowl or other rod would work equally well.

Once I tried this I was able to get the main gear cluster installed in about 10 minutes. Biggest probem for me, working below the bike, was getting the shift forks in place. They kept falling on my face until I tried useing the spare shift rod to hold them in place.

I also found it helped to rotate the shift drum forward (counter-clockwise as viewed from the engine's left side) a few degrees to get the heel of the shift forks to drop into their correct slots. Not enough to shift gears, but enough to be a major help getting the forks in that last 2 - 3 mm.

If you can get some help that woudl be great; one learns quite a bit the first time this is tried, but the learning curve does slow down the process a bit. Once you have done the job you can pass on pointers to others who are looking at solving the same problem. Besides, no one should become a Guru unless they have done a tranny fix...

[dpotter58]

I did mine upside down. It took me a couple days but I'm an idiot. Don't pay anyone; check the thread TC posted and print it out so you have the pictures by the bike. They show every step. Just go on and do it...

[DavesXS]

Thanks Jerry, I am sure thats going to be a big help. I'll make sure to find a dowl rod.

I have to remove the rear fender, cut the rear frame, install a new dyna diamond back solo seat, then match the fender to meet the rear of the seat. Also have new turn signals and mirrors and guages to go on. So since I have to remove all that stuff any how I'm going to flip the bike. I think thats the easiest. Its cradled in its own stand sorta speak. I have the pages printed out and been studying them for a couple days now. By next week I'll have it memorized (I wish I was that good)

And your right, once I do it I'll be as good as an expert. I been working on cars 20 years. And had 2 other bikes Just never a tranny.

[JACKHAMMER01]

This guy offers to "help". Tells me 250/400 prices. If he had told me he could remove the motor in the time it takes a normal Joe to prep for flip, then I'd have been ok with it. But he said he needed an extra 2-3 days for removal. Thats when I was thinking "whooh wait a min." I completely explained removal was not nessasary. Explained how to prep, flip, and access gears.(because I have read the full DIY 5 times now )

Since I'm the "guy" who offered to help, I'm gonna respond here.

The initial post I read was about looking for a "mechanic" to work on his (DaveXS) bike. I sent a reply that my shop was in Myrtle Beach, sent him a PM on rates to do the work, as requested, and gave him 2 prices, motor in and motor out. The rates, based on my shop labor rate of $60 per hour, I feel was very reasonable. Never did I say I needed 2-3 days for removal of engine. As a matter of fact, I can (and have) removed the XS1100 engine from the frame of a complete bike in 3 hours, average time. Reinstallation (complete) takes almost the same amount of time! His offer to prep the bike was after quotes were given for the job.

Just for the sake of fairness, here is what I am willing to do for you, Dave.

You prep the bike to flip it, bring it down here, along with everything you remove, assist me in flipping the bike onto a lift and safely secure it, and then I will replace the gears, and you can assist me each step of that. Assist in flipping the bike back over, and together we will reinstall everything. I will perform these services for the measly charge of $200.00, and when the work is finished, (which should be around 2:30-3pm, provided you arrive here by 10am, and we work at a leisurely pace), we can go ride for a couple of hours together with some of my friends here at the beach. Will it take all 4-5 hours to do the work? Probably not, but it does take time to make friends!

We can even do this on a Sunday, if you like. Or on a Saturday. Or any other given day of the week, to me it doesn't matter. What does matter is that you get your XS running like it is supposed to.

As we ride together afterwards, my wife will join us on her 1980 XS1100, I'll ride my 1979F, and there will also be a couple of Goldwings, and Harley's riding with us. But none of those are capable of keeping up with the XS. We just let them come along for fun!

It's beautiful this time of year anyway, and we have some GREAT country roads, perfect for stretching the legs on an XS1100.

What can be more fair than that? You tell me, and I'll see what I can do.

[Guy_b_g]

I'm thinking this is a good offer...working with an experienced mechanic would give you insights and tips well worth $200 in my view, plus a chance to take a situation that was dicey, and turn it into a chance to make few friends. Remember, this isn't a hobby for this guy...even mechanics have to eat & pay bills.

Just my humble opinion...

[JACKHAMMER01]

Thanks, Guy. At least someone sees the light!

[Ken Talbot]

Originally posted by JACKHAMMER01
The rates, based on my shop labor rate of $60 per hour, I feel was very reasonable.

I'll second that, Jackhammer. I can't remember the last time I was able to have work done by any sort of a tradesman for that kind of money. The last tech I called in to work on a wide bed copier at my office came in at $175/hour from the time he left his shop 2 1/2 hours away until the time he was back home.

This is a "gift horse", Dave...