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Main Area => General GS500 Discussion => Topic started by: jtolentino637 on September 09, 2008, 11:56:06 AM

Title: 5th gear feels like it's slipping
Post by: jtolentino637 on September 09, 2008, 11:56:06 AM
Hey all
I have a concern. I have a 2007 GS500F. When shifting into 5th gear and letting go of clutch it goes into gear. But when I twist the throttle to gain speed my rpms go high but the bike doesn't accelerate as fast. I have less then 3k on the bike. So 2 Questions? 1: What can be the problem? 2: Do you think it will be covered under the bike warrenty? Please any reponse will help.
Title: Re: 5th gear feels like it's slipping
Post by: The Buddha on September 09, 2008, 12:03:24 PM
OK it does it only in 5th ... not 4th or 6th ...
You aren't slipping ... you're I think suffering from a poor assembly job ... slipping transmissions will jump out of gear under load. Good transmissions lock under load and wont shift unless you unload them.
Cool.
Buddha.
Title: Re: 5th gear feels like it's slipping
Post by: Skeets on September 09, 2008, 12:32:56 PM
Warranty it. When my bike started rattling I took it and they fixed it.
Title: Re: 5th gear feels like it's slipping
Post by: jtolentino637 on September 09, 2008, 01:06:25 PM
Quote from: The Buddha on September 09, 2008, 12:03:24 PM
OK it does it only in 5th ... not 4th or 6th ...
You aren't slipping ... you're I think suffering from a poor assembly job ... slipping transmissions will jump out of gear under load. Good transmissions lock under load and wont shift unless you unload them.
Cool.
Buddha.
Posted on: Today at 12:32:56 PMPosted by: Skeets 
Insert Quote
Warranty it. When my bike started rattling 

Thanks for the info. I'm going to drop the bike off after work today.  :thumb:
Title: Re: 5th gear feels like it's slipping
Post by: ohgood on September 09, 2008, 03:24:53 PM
Quote from: jtolentino637 on September 09, 2008, 11:56:06 AM
Hey all
I have a concern. I have a 2007 GS500F. When shifting into 5th gear and letting go of clutch it goes into gear. But when I twist the throttle to gain speed my rpms go high but the bike doesn't accelerate as fast. I have less then 3k on the bike. So 2 Questions? 1: What can be the problem? 2: Do you think it will be covered under the bike warrenty? Please any reponse will help.

check your clutch cable. it may be full of rust from storage, or some yahoo put WD-40 in it.

or the wrong type oil (10w40 WITHOUT FRICTION INHIBITORS!)

or it's just adjusted wrong

don't let them charge you a dime, no matter what it is!
Title: Re: 5th gear feels like it's slipping
Post by: jtolentino637 on September 09, 2008, 03:53:39 PM
Quote from: ohgood on September 09, 2008, 03:24:53 PM
Quote from: jtolentino637 on September 09, 2008, 11:56:06 AM
Hey all
I have a concern. I have a 2007 GS500F. When shifting into 5th gear and letting go of clutch it goes into gear. But when I twist the throttle to gain speed my rpms go high but the bike doesn't accelerate as fast. I have less then 3k on the bike. So 2 Questions? 1: What can be the problem? 2: Do you think it will be covered under the bike warrenty? Please any reponse will help.

check your clutch cable. it may be full of rust from storage, or some yahoo put WD-40 in it.

or the wrong type oil (10w40 WITHOUT FRICTION INHIBITORS!)

or it's just adjusted wrong

don't let them charge you a dime, no matter what it is!
I don't plan on paying anything concidering that this is under 3k. Thanks for the info. I generally run the bike daily. I don't use wd-40 and all the other gears work fine. It's only 5th gear that it does it.
Title: Re: 5th gear feels like it's slipping
Post by: commuterdude on September 09, 2008, 05:20:15 PM
First time I took a passenger the tranny jumped out of sixth.   I was bungling the shifts pretty badly.  Ok real bad.   Scared me no end.   Hasn't done it since, but my back up plan is to ride the fool out of it, if it breaks, sell for parts, and buy a Triumph Thruxton.   It is important to have a back up plan when you don't have a warranty. 
Title: Re: 5th gear feels like it's slipping
Post by: jtolentino637 on September 09, 2008, 08:38:11 PM
Quote from: commuterdude on September 09, 2008, 05:20:15 PM
First time I took a passenger the tranny jumped out of sixth.   I was bungling the shifts pretty badly.  Ok real bad.   Scared me no end.   Hasn't done it since, but my back up plan is to ride the fool out of it, if it breaks, sell for parts, and buy a Triumph Thruxton.   It is important to have a back up plan when you don't have a warranty. 
Thanks. That is an idea.
Title: Re: 5th gear feels like it's slipping
Post by: ohgood on September 10, 2008, 03:13:37 AM
Quote from: jtolentino637 on September 09, 2008, 03:53:39 PM
Quote from: ohgood on September 09, 2008, 03:24:53 PM
Quote from: jtolentino637 on September 09, 2008, 11:56:06 AM
Hey all
I have a concern. I have a 2007 GS500F. When shifting into 5th gear and letting go of clutch it goes into gear. But when I twist the throttle to gain speed my rpms go high but the bike doesn't accelerate as fast. I have less then 3k on the bike. So 2 Questions? 1: What can be the problem? 2: Do you think it will be covered under the bike warrenty? Please any reponse will help.

check your clutch cable. it may be full of rust from storage, or some yahoo put WD-40 in it.

or the wrong type oil (10w40 WITHOUT FRICTION INHIBITORS!)

or it's just adjusted wrong

don't let them charge you a dime, no matter what it is!
I don't plan on paying anything concidering that this is under 3k. Thanks for the info. I generally run the bike daily. I don't use wd-40 and all the other gears work fine. It's only 5th gear that it does it.

hmm, slipping, but only in 5th. not 6th. hmm. that's really odd. if it jumped out of 5th i'd say it's a transmission problem. as is, no idea. warrantee.
Title: Re: 5th gear feels like it's slipping
Post by: sledge on September 10, 2008, 05:15:26 AM
Very strange fault..... Anything slipping in the gearbox is going to mean a loss of interference between certain parts and possibly worn/damaged splines and/or dogs. This in turn is going to mean lots of nasty grinding noises and vibration when in use and this wouldn't be confined to just 5th gear owing to the fact that internal parts are shared between the various ratios.
If this slipping you are experiencing is smooth and gradual without any noise or harshness I would suspect the clutch before anything else.
Title: Re: 5th gear feels like it's slipping
Post by: jtolentino637 on September 11, 2008, 08:45:16 PM
Quote from: sledge on September 10, 2008, 05:15:26 AM
Very strange fault..... Anything slipping in the gearbox is going to mean a loss of interference between certain parts and possibly worn/damaged splines and/or dogs. This in turn is going to mean lots of nasty grinding noises and vibration when in use and this wouldn't be confined to just 5th gear owing to the fact that internal parts are shared between the various ratios.
If this slipping you are experiencing is smooth and gradual without any noise or harshness I would suspect the clutch before anything else.
You were right. I was told that it my secondary clutch adjustment was out. Of coarse, I called Suzuki Corp and they told me that adjustments are not covered. I'm pissed. What good is a warrenty if everything is not covered. :mad:
Title: Re: 5th gear feels like it's slipping
Post by: The Buddha on September 11, 2008, 09:02:09 PM
Oh yea ... the secondary clutch ... yea, right next to the third eye and in between the 2 brake fluid overbore gaskets. I changed mine last week, on my truck, man it took 41 hours.
Sorry, I'm calling BS on this one.
Cool.
Buddha.
Title: Re: 5th gear feels like it's slipping
Post by: The Buddha on September 11, 2008, 09:10:44 PM
Oh you mean clutch clutch ... the one and only hand operated clutch ... why will it slip in 5th and not in 6th ... but yea let out some cable at the handle bar and see what that does.
It be bad in 6th too I would think. But you have no other noises ... maybe its clutch.
Cool.
Buddha.
Title: Re: 5th gear feels like it's slipping
Post by: bobthebiker on September 11, 2008, 09:15:13 PM
I"m thinking if the clutch were at fault, wouldnt the bike have this issue in ALL gears?    does it actually slip and rpms rise without a speed gain? or does it just accelerate really slowly and just feel like a slug?
Title: Re: 5th gear feels like it's slipping
Post by: The Buddha on September 11, 2008, 09:22:50 PM
Clutches will slip under load. In fact everything in the bike has to be caliberated under load. A carb that is not tuned right will run great in 1-4 and crap out in 5 and 6.
So I'd expect it to act up in 6th before 5th.
One thing may be at work here, the bike reaches top speed in 5th not 6th, there may be a case here that the motor is revving up faster in 5th ... just that shade faster that it can get away from the clutch. In 4th, its load is less and the load can keep up (as in it accelerates with the motor), in 6th, the load is so high the motor cannot haul itself loose from the load especially if you're in a lower rpm. 5th may be the sweet spot where rpm is just high enough, and the load is just a shade low enough that the thing can accelerate and as it spins it makes more and more power (power is not linear remember, but load in the literal sense - not counting internal losses and air drag losses is constant) and it breaks free, and once it does it just spins away. Just a theory, I never have felt it on any bike.
Cool.
Buddha.
Title: Re: 5th gear feels like it's slipping
Post by: bobthebiker on September 11, 2008, 11:56:49 PM
Buddha, your theory interests me.  considering how logical it is, I believe it too.   I never even begin to notice it on my 600, but then again it IS an I4 and much more torque, plus I spend much time in 4th gear or below around town.
Title: Re: 5th gear feels like it's slipping
Post by: The Buddha on September 12, 2008, 12:58:14 PM
Its never happened to me, its just a theory really.
Let me paraphrase it, cos most people who would know prolly aren't going to read the looooong ass ramayan I wrote.

In 5th gear, it can rev up just fast enough and get into a point where it makes more and more power with incremental rpm that it can break free of the load.

In 6th the load is greater and the rpm gain isn't fast enough to over power the clutch.

In 4th, the load is just low enough that the load keeps pace with the revving engine and doesn't let the clutch slip.

Sheesh ... it may happen, but sounds like its awfully close to conjecture to me.
Similar to a low side type crash where the leaned over bike puts a smaller diameter of contact with the pavement, and that is like dropping a gear, and if you do it on WFO, that extra bit of power will break the tire free and you'll low side, and you shut the throttle and you highside. Too many factors have to be just right, but can happen.

Now you go set your clutch cable right and report back here jtolentino.
Cool.
Buddha.
Title: Re: 5th gear feels like it's slipping
Post by: ohgood on September 12, 2008, 05:54:57 PM
Quote from: The Buddha on September 12, 2008, 12:58:14 PM
Its never happened to me, its just a theory really.
Let me paraphrase it, cos most people who would know prolly aren't going to read the looooong ass ramayan I wrote.

In 5th gear, it can rev up just fast enough and get into a point where it makes more and more power with incremental rpm that it can break free of the load.

In 6th the load is greater and the rpm gain isn't fast enough to over power the clutch.

In 4th, the load is just low enough that the load keeps pace with the revving engine and doesn't let the clutch slip.

Sheesh ... it may happen, but sounds like its awfully close to conjecture to me.
Similar to a low side type crash where the leaned over bike puts a smaller diameter of contact with the pavement, and that is like dropping a gear, and if you do it on WFO, that extra bit of power will break the tire free and you'll low side, and you shut the throttle and you highside. Too many factors have to be just right, but can happen.

Now you go set your clutch cable right and report back here jtolentino.
Cool.
Buddha.


back when my clutch CABLE was worn, and dragging (not fully engaging the clutch) i -thought- i had clutch issues.

it would rev in 4th, 5th, and 6th (or any gear if I PINNED it) but if I gradually opened the throttle the clutch would hold. since this issue is only 5th gear, i think it's a combination of poor clutch cable adjustment, and wrong oil type COMBINED with riding style.

maybe you open the throttle faster in 5th than 4th or 6th with your riding style. got me.

want the acid test ?

put your front wheel against a wall/tree/car and shift up to 5th. rev a little (3000 rpm) and slowly release the clutch. it should:

spin the tire or die.

do the same in 6th. it should:

spin the tire or die.

if it revs without loading up and dying (or spinning the tire) it's most definintly an adjustment OR OIL TYPE problem. either is fixed easily.

I don't believe it's possible for the clutch to only slip in 5th gear, and no others.

DO THIS CAREFULLY, YOU COULD LOOP YOUR BIKE OR DIE !