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shifting issues

  • Thread starter Thread starter geol
  • Start date Start date
G

geol

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Had an 80 GS1000GL. Shifted smoothly. Easy to poke into neutral from 1st. 20K+ odd miles. Got a 80 GS1000G (due to the bike being a whole lot purdier). 20K+ miles. Clutch adjusted properly and it works easily BUT neutral can be a bear to find. Shift from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd sometimes notchy. 4th/5th fine. It shifts OK but just kind of rough and I do use the clutch properly. Only thing I did was remove both the cover over the bevel gear for clean up and the clutch cover which means the clutch arm.

Any ideas why this bike has a notchy shifter where the other one was very smooth. Why this one is hard to get into neutral where the other was not?
 
The shift lever could have had the crap kicked out of it by some stupid PO. Could have been run low on oil or way too hot. Could be a lot of different things, hard to tell without looking inside, but putting a bigger spring in the neutral stopper might help with the finding neutral part.
 
My 400 is also a bit clunky so I'll be interested in the solution too

Maybe you could try winding the clutch in a bit (as in over-adjusted) just to see if that improves it...to help to cross the clutch off the list as a possible...The stronger neutral spring idea has it's uses but it seems to lock (my 400) bike up in neutral sometimes at a light which is not so nice....(possibly this symptom of using the extra spring is related to the clunkiness and not to the idea of finding the detente easier...)

Maybe also it's the oil we are using? (anything to avoid a tear down right now :) )I have changed brands last time... still 15w-40 though. The Rotella full synthetic didn't seem good for me either ....
 
That is a pretty stout spring but I guess it isn't a big deal to change it out next oil change. I guess you have to pull the shift shaft through the engine? Don't understand the shift lever getting "the crap kicked out of it" or the oil comment. Hopefully someone else can come up with some ideas... bike is perfectly ride-able right now but I would like to smooth out the shifting and neutral finding issue.
 
Gorminrider said:
My 400 is also a bit clunky so I'll be interested in the solution too

Maybe you could try winding the clutch in a bit (as in over-adjusted) just to see if that improves it...to help to cross the clutch off the list as a possible...The stronger neutral spring idea has it's uses but it seems to lock (my 400) bike up in neutral sometimes at a light which is not so nice....(possibly this symptom of using the extra spring is related to the clunkiness and not to the idea of finding the detente easier...)

Maybe also it's the oil we are using? (anything to avoid a tear down right now :) )I have changed brands last time... still 15w-40 though. The Rotella full synthetic didn't seem good for me either ....
Click to expand...

I am not sure what stronger or extra spring you are talking about. The spring on a 1000 has four windings and comes out in two arms that catch the neutral stop pin. A stronger spring would be a new spring to my mind... and oil? I doubt oil makes a lot of difference for this type issue. The clutch comment made some sense; may try to get some more clutch plate separation and perhaps a new clutch cable if the one on the bike is a tad stretched. Clutch feels right but who knows?
 
A lot of riders stomp on the shifter with their heel to put it in first gear, sometimes the other gears. Bent shift forks or worse can result. I see it all the time. Running too low on oil can possibly cook the tips of the shift forks, change the temper of the metal, might cook some oil onto the little tracks the forks run on, maybe do other things in there as well. Just guessing at this point, but you can bet it was silky smooth like any other Suzuki transmission when it left the factory, so something must have happened.

The spring I'm talking about is a little coil spring which pushes a pin into the neutral detent on the shift drum. Can't remember if it's on top or underneath the engine on a 1000, too lazy to go look. Suzuki did it both on top and underneath on the different engines. It has nothing to do with the shift shaft.
 
shift.jpg

#20? Looks to be inside cases? Guessing you meant #21... I can't find even a reference to the neutral detent stuff in the Factory Service Manual.
 
Last edited:
geol said:
View attachment 46683

#20? Looks to be inside cases? Guessing you meant #21... I can't find even a reference to the neutral detent stuff in the Factory Service Manual.
Click to expand...


Yes, that's the detent spring he's talking about. It's inside the cases -- you reach it by removing the oil pan. And the bent/cooked shift forks Nessism mentioned are a common consequence of abuse. You don't know who rode that engine or what they did to it. Bent shift forks can be honestly very hard to detect without disassembly and close comparison.


Since it's a lot more difficult to get to the detent spring or extract the shift forks, I would be more inclined to first pursue the angle of your issues being caused by increased clutch drag. This is most often caused by heavy-duty clutch springs (install new OEM, not the aftermarket junk), shonky aftermarket clutch plates (especially one of those stupid Barnett extra plate kits), failing cable, or misadjusted cable/lever.

You can also cause all sorts of problems with an aftermarket clutch cover gasket that's too thin -- it can cause the cover to bind against the shift shaft.
 
I have a cable on order as the one on the bike could well be stretched a bit. Will keep the other info in mind as the problem isn't bad enough to yank the engine for shift fork swapping. The bike runs great otherwise. Thanks.
 
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