Transmission noise in 5th gear only.

[tcwesp]

I have an '82 motor/tranny in an '83 GS1100GL. It ran fine for a couple thousand miles but something happen on a trip this summer while on the highway. I don't know how to describe the noise other than a metal on metal "clanging" noise that only presents itself in 5th gear and under load. As soon as I close the throttle the noise goes away. I put it up on the center stand and took it through the gears. When in 5th and under load, I can feel the "clanging" when I grab the front of the drive shaft. I don't know transmissions so I don't know what is unique to 5th gear, other than the driven gear itself.

Any thoughts/ideas would be greatly appreciated. I know of an independent mechanic who would work on it for $25/hr, but I want to know what I might be getting into first.

Thank you. Tim

[tkent02]

Any thoughts/ideas would be greatly appreciated. I know of an independent mechanic who would work on it for $25/hr, but I want to know what I might be getting into first.

Thank you. Tim

At $25/hr it would be a lot of money to find out. It's not that hard to open up the engine cases yourself and take a look. Or you could just replace it, 1100 engines are really cheap becaue they almost never break. The third option wiould be to run it as is, I bet it lasts a long time anyway. But if something siezes up don't blame me.

Don't have a clue what might be wrong in there. What were you doing when the noise started? Out of oil? Miss a shift in a funny way or something?

[tcwesp]

As far as I remember, I was just cruising. It may have started after leaving a rest stop. At first I thought something had come loose and was just flapping in the wind because the sound was being reflected off the wind screen.

[tkent02]

Plenty of oil in all three places at the time?

[tcwesp]

Yes. The bike is tight - no leaks. Burns a quart of oil maybe every 2k miles which is typical. I check the primary and final drive levels each year. BUT, I will verify this week (bike is not stored at my home).

[Agemax]

sounds like you may have lost a tooth or two on the 5th gear cogs. drain the oil and take the sump off, look for any tell tale signs of metal in the oil or chunks of metal laying in the sump.
you should get a fairly good view of the transmission with the sump off, if you lay underneath and have a look with a torch

[SqDancerLynn1]

It's a shaft, I would check the secondary gear set first

[tkent02]

Why would the secondary make noise in 5th gear only?

[Agemax]

It's a shaft, I would check the secondary gear set first

it still has gears in the transmission, and is only noisy in 5th.....