Transmission woes.

[Yard Dogg]

I was pondering some great methods last night of how to grind my dogs and slots when I get to it. I'm going to look for a diamond infused side cutting bit with about a 10-15 degree angle to it. If I mount that on a drill press it should take some of the guess work out of it. The star washer probably is causing a lot of this by the feel of things. When I try to shift to 5th, it's like it doesn't exist. Oh well, too cold to ride now anyway.

[SFerinTEXAS]

When I did my XJ last year I plotted,schemed,dreamed on how best to grind. Destroyed a test gear with those ideas. Ended up useing a chainsaw sharpening bit in the dremel for the whole set and it worked good. Just takes a small angle cut to work well. I do suspect your gonna find significant fork wear as well from my experience as you described your symtoms earlier

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Dogg,

Others have covered the Dremel fix well, and you don't need that extreme of an undercut angle...15 degrees!

Now for the downshifting, you didn't say that you had trouble with the other gears ie. 4th to 3rd, etc., but when folks have downshifting problems, it is commonly the shift lever RETURN spring. It gets weak, and won't return the shift lever fully UPward to reset the ratchet mechanism on the shift pawl, and so it can't grab the pin on the drum to downshift. Gently lifting the shift lever a little can let it reset and then pushing back downward will usually allow the downshift. IF this works, then the spring is sprung!!

But it could also be that the shift drum is out of alignment/position so the pin doesn't sit at the right location for the pawl to be able to grab it. There's an alignment procedure in the manual.

Some folks have said that they have just rebent the star washer back down over the 5th pin hole, but that star washer metal is not very strong and once bent it's weakened considerably, and could get bent again. YMMV

Depending on the PO, the shift fork may be bent or badly worn from the PO possibly HOLDING The shift lever UP to keep pressure against the 2nd gear to keep it IN GEAR. The Shift forks are aluminum vs. the spinning hardened gears, and so you can figure out what's going to wear first.

T.C.

[BA80]

Hey Dogg,

The Shift forks are aluminum vs. the spinning hardened gears, and so you can figure out what's going to wear first.

T.C.

The forks will bend and wear but they ARE NOT aluminum. They are hardened steel also.

[trbig]

LOL.. I couldn't figure out your pic.. but doubted the forks were made of steel, so I went out and checked with a magnet. THEN I figured out wth your pic was.. lol.

[TopCatGr58]

Looks like I "forked" up!

Hey Greg,

Thanks for that clarification. It's been over 12 years since I had mine apart, and those forks sure felt rather light weight! I didn't test them with a magnet, the fork ends looked like machined forged aluminum to me, and I have read that others on here have stated that they were aluminum also, made sense to me so I didn't have any reason to question their statement!

Like Tod, I can now see your magnet attached to the end of the fork. Tod stated that he thought they were rather lightweight also. Will the magnet stick to the entire fork section, or just the contact end? Wondering if Yamaha might have put steel on the tips to reduce chances for wear, but the rest still made of aluminum??

Like they say, learn something new every day!

T.C.

[Yard Dogg]

They could be chrome alloy. That stuff is pretty light.

[BA80]

They are forged steel with the fingers at the ends hardened. That's why the ends are a silvery color I would guess.

A metallurgy expert like jmnjrpa cold tell you for sure.

[BA80]

They could be chrome alloy. That stuff is pretty light.

Is chrome magnetic?

[Yard Dogg]

How hard is it to reassemble the gears without flipping the motor over? I have a pretty good idea of what needs to be done now and have read all the tech tips several times, just wondering how much finesse is required? Do I need to have 3 hands?

I think I could do just the 2nd gear mod and be okay. I'm sure the 5th gear problem is a missing pin.

[BA80]

You need 5 hands and a bunch of new cuss words but it's worth it when you get done.

This is how I did mine a couple months ago......




I hung the bike from the rafters in my garage.

[DGXSER]

Over the years I have doen the dremel fix about five times, always on the centerstand. Getting the gears back in and the shift forks back in place is a task no matter how you do it.

Honestly, if I had three or four friends around to help out, I would probably put the bike on its back to do the work. Being able to easily look at what your doing would make it simpler I am sure. Since I have me and a wife with bad arthritis, I do it on the centerstand.

[Yard Dogg]

I was thinking of doing the same with my cherry picker. I'm about ready to get started on this. I want it to shift right and stay in gear. Kind of sucks only having 1st 3rd and 4th.

Oh, and come to think of it, I don't think chrome is magnetic.

[Yard Dogg]

Seems to me that holding the forks in place and sliding the gears in would be a 2 beer patience overhaul, then it might go good.

[DGXSER]

What I have found to work the best, is to get the short middle fork in place. doing it on the centerstand, gravity helps it stay where it goes.

Then I put the right side shift fork on 4th gear in proper rotation and hold it on while sliding the shaft fo gears into place. After I get the shaft close to in place, I put the shift fork shaft through the first two forks. Then manauver the gear shaft to final position.

Now it is fairly simple to get the last shift fork up in the engine but out of the way before sliding 5th gear in place and letting the final shift fork down into place.

That is how I make it happen anyway.