Who would have thought two washers.........

[Brendan W]

......could make such a difference. The two washers in question live either side of the starter idler gear and were missing from my machine. Got them from Suzuki and everything is so much quieter and smoother especially downshifting for some reason.The clack on shutdown has reduced a lot as well. I had been hearing a knock under load at lowish revs but unlike anything I could recognise.
Question. Should the clutch ring gear have 3-4mm of axial float with the idler out? It grips evenly and feels good.

[tom203]

" 3 to 4 mm axial float".
Have you got all the washers in there???

http://www.alpha-sports.com/spst/1981%20GS850G/06.htm?q=suzuki-parts

My starter idler gear only had one washer- and I don't see how this effects downshifting, but clutch problems clearly would!

[Brendan W]

" 3 to 4 mm axial float".
Have you got all the washers in there???

http://www.alpha-sports.com/spst/1981%20GS850G/06.htm?q=suzuki-parts

My starter idler gear only had one washer- and I don't see how this effects downshifting, but clutch problems clearly would!

Sorry Tom, I should have said starter clutch ring gear.

[tom203]

Oh, OK. But that sure seems like a lot of play to me for such a narrow gear face.

[Brendan W]

Seems a lot to me as well and right now I'm paranoid about what else has been left out when previous work was done. I can't see behind the gear hence the question should there be that much float when the idler is out of position.

[Sci85]

How hard is it to get to? When I discover something like this, I too am paranoid so I go ahead and strip it down and check it all. If they missed something as easy as this to remember, then who knows what else could be jacked up and most important, could it be a safety issue?

[tom203]

The other gear on idler " traps" the clutch ring gear,so maybe this is normal play.After all ,once bikes starts,neither gear revolves,so this play is meaningless.
Want more optimism? The rotor magnets probably pull ring gear towards it and away from idler.

[Brendan W]

How hard is it to get to? When I discover something like this, I too am paranoid so I go ahead and strip it down and check it all. If they missed something as easy as this to remember, then who knows what else could be jacked up and most important, could it be a safety issue?

Piece of cake - only have to pull the starter clutch and that isn't going to happen if I can resolve this by talking to folks with a friendly ear.

The other gear on idler " traps" the clutch ring gear,so maybe this is normal play.After all ,once bikes starts,neither gear revolves,so this play is meaningless.
Want more optimism? The rotor magnets probably pull ring gear towards it and away from idler.

Listening brief I think , for the moment anyway. Everything is real quiet down there now and the ring gear feels peachy.

Thank you both for taking the time out to reply.