Very Hard Shifting!!!

[Anonymous]

I have a 1982 GS850 GL, and I practically have to arch my back and throw my weight into to kick it up or down a gear. I think I'm on the verge of breaking my toe. Any suggestions on what to do to fix this problem. The Haynes manual isn't much help in this area.
Thanks!

[earlfor]

Re: Very Hard Shifting!!!

Assuming you have you clutch cable adjusted correctly, one cause of very hard shifting I have experienced is weeping carb float bowls. Gas gets into the crankcase oil and the lubricating qualities of the oil go to hell. I have been almost unable to shift when a lot of gas has leaked into the crankcase.
I would check/change the oil to eliminate this possibility. I also noticed a big difference in shifting smoothness when I changed oil type from Castrol 20W-50 to the Mobil 1 15W-50. Mobil 1 is slicker.

If you clutch is adjusted correctly, you should be able to put the bike on the centerstand, start it up, put it in 1st gear, pull in the clutch lever, put your right toe on the rear tire and be able to easily hold the tire with light foot pressure while reving up the engine.

About the only other reason I can think of for hard shifting is bent shift forks. Unfortunately, its a teardown to fix it if that is the problem.

Earl

I have a 1982 GS850 GL, and I practically have to arch my back and throw my weight into to kick it up or down a gear. I think I'm on the verge of breaking my toe. Any suggestions on what to do to fix this problem. The Haynes manual isn't much help in this area.
Thanks!

[SqDancerLynn1]

:? :? :? :? :? :? The 850 is a shaftie and the gear oil is seperate from the engine oil So check/ change the oil

[Anonymous]

:? :? :? :? :? :? The 850 is a shaftie and the gear oil is seperate from the engine oil So check/ change the oil

No, crankcase and gearbox share the same oil as normal. Not sure about something changing as bad as described here - sounds like something is bent, but a good synthetic oil did improve my otherwise mechanically ok box.

Front shaft gear oil is separate. A kind of civilised front sprocket :twisted: It won't cause stiff shifting.

[saaz]

Check to see if the clutch disengages properly. Even without the clutch it should shift easily, oil degradation and all. The shift mechanism may have a mechanical fault. How does it shift whne chnaging up and down on the centrestand?

[Anonymous]

IF gas in the oil is the problem I will have that fixed soon, the carbs were leaking but I just rebuilt them yesterday and the floats were off by nearly 3mm. I have the oil to change it and I did notice that the oil in the crancase ws a little on the high side, actually porbably a lot on the high side. So I'll change the oil today now that I have the rebuilt carbs back on and see how it runs after that.
Thanks for all the help.

[Anonymous]

I just got done with the test drive after putting on the new carbs and putting in a new filter and motor oil. It ran great, A little rough, but that will go away once I get hold of a sychronizer. The shifter was much better but I did use a much cheaper oil until I know everything is fix, Don't want to put Mobil 1 in there and then have to empty because more gas got in.
Thanks everyone for there help.

[SqDancerLynn1]

I was thinking of the secondary gears they are seperate. I stand corrected transmission uses engine oil