Pharks gear lever...

[chalkhills]

Degrease!

Degrease!

A common cause of this splined shaft problem is oil/grease on the splines - the heat-cooling cycles cause expansion and contraction of trapped lubricant causing eventual distortion and loosening. Before fitting degrease shaft and intenal splines of actator arm with IPA or acetone solvent before fitting and tightening pinch bolt. If wear is is already excessive use a flexible gap filling agent such as curing silicone to stop ingress of oil into the joint.

 

[Rocketman]

Warning!!! Do not buy the gearshift lever from these guys on EBAY!!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/SUZU...00QQihZ012QQitemZ220036834106QQrdZ1QQtcZphoto

Their ad said it fit a GS850. I just got one and returned it. They're very nice people and took it back with no problem, but don't waste your time. It is upside down and backwards from my OEM gear shift lever, and the interior splines are much more fine than the coarse splines on the shifter output shaft. And if you could make it fit, the locking bolt would go from bottom up, instead of top down. Don't know what the heck this thing fits, but its not my bike, that's for sure. I did (fortunately) place a simultaneous order for the same OEM NOS gear shift lever from Flat Out Motorcycles, which arrived today, and fits like a glove. Straight from the Suzuki mecca of parts in Mechanicsburg, PA. (Wouldn't I just love to back up an empty semi in that warehouse! Oh mannnnnn!)

 

[terry]

Yeah mate, and I know that "The Old Bike Barn" have a pretty bad name too.

Recently they started advertising Keihin CR carbs at a good price, so I contacted them to see if they had some 31mm CR's, they said yeah, no problem.

I'd almost Paypalled them 700-odd bucks when a guy I knew in the US told me that Sudco (US distributor) had done a check and there were no stocks of 31mm CR carbs in the US at that time, and they hadn't supplied ANY CR carbs to The Old Bike Barn? Hmmmnnnn.........

I contacted them again, and they admitted that they would have to order them in. I sent 'em another email suggesting that they'd been slightly dishonest with me, and they got all "precious" in their reply, you know the old mantra "We've been in business 25 years" blah blah blah, so I sent them a link to the "Deadbeat Alert" forum on this site, and on my other favourite site, (sohc4.com) and they went mysteriously quiet, ha ha! Cheers, Terry.

 

[txironhead]

gr8 that you guyz in the know reply to these lil probs as well as the more techincal stuff...

Granted it's not a piston detonating at 10k rpm, but I've had a shift lever fall off, in the middle of nowhere, at night. It was NOT a lil problem then! Two hours of trying to find the #$#$$ lever, then finding a non-critical bolt to take off of my bike that would fit the lever, and doing all of this with the factory (read: cheap stamped metal S**T) toolkit by the light of my Zippo (add burned fingers to the list and thanking God I'd repaired the gas leak a month earlier) with my Shadow gave me a new respect for Loctite. After that I replaced the toolkit with about $20 worth of "Wal-Mart brand" tools (GREAT investment) and tossed in a handful of common size bolts. And a mini MagLight......

But I still carry my Zippo!:-D

Heartfelt thanks to all the great people here that take the time to answer questions so that we can spend less time fixing and more time riding.

 

[Pharkmeh]

still holding strong for meh


and I been kickin it half to death l8ly with a lil .. erm "spirited" riding ..:shock:


thx agin

Phark

 

[earlfor]

I had a 71 CB350 Honda long about 1973 that had a loose shifter and I gave it the beer can shim treatment. I had to appropriate another beer every year or so, but it stayed tight and it was that way when I sold it 5-6 years later.

Earl

still holding strong for meh


and I been kickin it half to death l8ly with a lil .. erm "spirited" riding ..:shock:


thx agin

Phark

 

[Jethro]

I've been downstairs trying like hell to loosen up that damn shifter lever, but it's fitted on there perfectly. If you guys need shims, let me know and I'll get to work on these Fosters I have in the fridge.

 

[80GS1000]

Warning!!! Do not buy the gearshift lever from these guys on EBAY!!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/SUZU...00QQihZ012QQitemZ220036834106QQrdZ1QQtcZphoto

Their ad said it fit a GS850. I just got one and returned it. They're very nice people and took it back with no problem, but don't waste your time. It is upside down and backwards from my OEM gear shift lever, and the interior splines are much more fine than the coarse splines on the shifter output shaft. And if you could make it fit, the locking bolt would go from bottom up, instead of top down. Don't know what the heck this thing fits, but its not my bike, that's for sure. I did (fortunately) place a simultaneous order for the same OEM NOS gear shift lever from Flat Out Motorcycles, which arrived today, and fits like a glove. Straight from the Suzuki mecca of parts in Mechanicsburg, PA. (Wouldn't I just love to back up an empty semi in that warehouse! Oh mannnnnn!)

Phark: Glad everything worked out for you.

Rocketman: Thanks for the link for Flat Out Motorcycles. SOOOOO many genuine NOS Suzuki parts - it's unbelievable!

 

[Rocketman]

I am so psyched that I can still find most of the trim pieces, screws, nuts & bolts around to finish up my 24 year old bike. I have this fear that someday these parts will all disappear, so I'm tempted to buy two of everything. But to be practical, it would cost a fortune to buy, and a pain to store. My wife owns a '57 Chevy, and there are probably more NOS and OEM aftermarket parts for her car than there are for our GS bikes. She gets catalogs ervy month from classic Chevy parts guys with enough parts to almost build a car brand new from scratch. I hope over time, our classic Suzuki's don't become so obsolete that parts are either prohibitively expensive or obsolete. Let's hope for the best as time goes by.