So my bike was clearly leaking oil from my gear lever. I went and bought a new seal from my local dealership. Drained the oil, then took the shifter and sprocket cover off. It took me a really long time to get the old gasket out. I ended up buying some dentist like tools from Sears to pick it out. I took my time and got the inner section out that wraps around the rod, but the outer section, which I guess acts to makes a double seal is giving me a really hard time because it is so damn thin. I ground some tools down to fit in there but it goes about a quarter inch deep and I just can't get the rest out. This picture may make it clearer.
http://imageshack.us/f/713/gaskete.jpg

I ended up doing the best I could then tried to slip the new one on. Coated it in oil then banged it in evenly with a socket. It wouldn't fit, not even a little bit, and I started to damage the new gasket. I went back to the dealership and the parts guy showed me on my gasket that the outer layer has a metal ring inside for rigidity and I must have not gotten that out from the old one. He suggested banging a flat head in there to open a little more space and pulling more out. I tired that but not only could I not find a metal ring inside, my tools couldn't go much deeper, and I started bending the interior walls. I feel like this is a newer version of the gasket and the outside part has much thicker walls. I can't find much info online besides a few people saying it's simple and common. The parts guy said this is the only version of the gasket and none of the parts websites have pictures of their actual products besides a numbered parts diagram.

I see a few websites say "09285-12002 Superseded by part #09285-12006." the 06 is the gasket I got. Maybe the older 02 is the one I need? Help?


I went back out and scraped away some more and still couldn't find the piece of metal. The Suzuki parts guy cut into the back of mine with a razor and showed me a circular flat piece of metal. I decided to cut into the front and realized that it was flared out. Then it dawned on me that the inner ring of metal on the bike was that metal part of the gasket. I thought it was part of the engine block. I originally thought I was doing damage by bending it with the flat head. Once I realized I needed to get that entire piece out I bent it some more with the flat head and yanked the entire thing out with some needle nose pliers. I guess I wasted a ton of time with those scarpers. Maybe these pics can help someone else doing this:

The original picture: between the thin black outer circle and the shiny gray interior is a gnarled piece of curved metal. Thats what I pryed out.


What it looks like with the entire gasket removed:


The one on the left is the one we cut with some knives to see what the metal underneath looks like. Compare to the one one the right I scraped with some tools and then removed....now it makes sense.


See it next to the hole it came from:


Higher res pics here:
http://imgur.com/a/ahcn7#0

New gasket arrives on Friday. Still bummed I can't ride for all this nice weather

...never mind. In the hour since I posted the question, I figured it out. I'll edit the original post with my error so maybe someone else can learn from it.

Quote from: bicball on April 30, 2013, 05:08:44 PM
...never mind. In the hour since I posted the question, I figured it out. I'll edit the original post with my error so maybe someone else can learn from it.

Thanks for updating your post! Will help others searching for similer problem

  thanks for posting pics of it.

Workshop manuals are great,but they only go so far.......nothing beats a members practical experience.

Del