My rebuilt engine now has ~40 miles on it as of last night. My problem is related to shifting. It seems to be getting a little better the more that I ride, and I've heard that on the GS you have to "break in" the tranny, but something doesn't seem right to me.

So at first, I couldn't get the bike to shift to gears higher than 2. Now I've been able to get through the full run of gears, but not without some work. I have to heavily preload the shifter and sometimes double clutch to get it to go up. Down shifting doesn't seem to be nearly as difficult.

When I'm in say 3rd and I get my RPMS up and preload the shifter, I pull in the clutch and pivot my foot and nothing moves. The shifter stays exactly where it was when I preloaded it. I can then try double clutch but that doesn't always work. So last night I had to double clutch, then down shift and upshift twice then release the clutch get into higher gears... This, however, is not exaclty repeatable. at one point last night I was able to get though all the gears w/o any funny business (although did require heavier preloading than I had to use before the rebuild)  so this makes me believe that it is possible for the tranny to operate correctly.. :dunno:

My guess is the problem lies with the shift rod. The push pull lever thing that roll the gear hub feels like its reaching the end of its travel w/o engaging the next gear.  Maybe this is why it sometimes works for me to downshift then upshift again... Can this be a clutch related problem??

Thanks for any advice. I really hope another rebuild is not in my immediate future. :x

Sounds 100% like a clutch problem to me.  If the gears still have pressure on them from the engine then its gonna be hard as hell to shift IMO.




Stephen

With the motor off and the bike on the centerstand, try shifting through the gears. Just move the rear wheel by hand as you shift. (rock it back and forth)
If it gets through all the gears, then it's clutch related.
Re-adjust the cable to release the clutch more (less slack).
If none of this works. Lean the bike against something and pull the side case.
Make sure everything is assembled correctly. Including the clutch plate sequence.

Ok well I don't think its clutch related.  I think the problem is related to the spring on the shifter rod. Something isn't working properly because the lever isn't always bouncing back. If I have the bike off and sit on it and rock it back and forth (no centerstand) I can get through all the gears ONLY if I ensure that the shift lever springs back after clicking. If it doesn't, it stays locked in the up position and I cant upshift again until I free it up.  Sometimes it does spring back, and when it does I can shift no problems.... So could it be that I just assembled it wrong?? seems weird since it works part of the time.  There is a big spring sitting over the rod and the two tabs of the spring sit over the tab on the engine (if I remember all this correctly).  I think the two tabs on the spring were facing towards the motor. (anybody have a pic of this??)
Could it be that something is bent? The bike was downed before I got it at low speed and it also got knocked over by a car while parked once, but when I pulled the shift rod it came out w/ no too much resistance... maybe something happend to the spring? Has anyone ever encountered such a problem??
Thanks for your advice.

Sounds a bit like a bent shifter shaft to me. That would explain why the spring sometimes can move it back to neutral and sometimes can't.

The ugly thing is, you could have chaecked and repaced this easily while it was open, now it's a major chore.

If that is the problem, though, you can expect some break-in, and the problem should get less with wear.

Hehehe. Not as major as a complete rebuild to get at the tranny...    But according to the manual, when I was disassembling, if it was difficult to remove then it was probably bent... and it wasn't tough to remove, and wasnt tough to get back in... and seemed to sit in the shift hub correctly after rebuild... hmm... so you think this will "wear in" then? true that the shifting has gotten slightly better in the first 100 miles of riding w/ the rebuilt engine... but I more inclined to just fix it rather than ride like this....

I don't remember, can you get that shaft out without tearing everything down? Then I'd definitely consider taking it out and checkign straightness. I also don't remember if you can just roll this shaft on a glass plate to check (with the keyed end protruding over the edge), or if you have to take it on prisms.

Having said all that, my GS is a PITA to shift too, and increasingly so. I have taken to clutchless upshifting when taking off, since I experienced so many times that it just would not shift up with the clutch pulled when cold.

yeah I dont remember exactly either even though its only been a few weeks... probably just side cover and clutch need to be removed I think? and then shift lever off and pull it through....  can anybody jog my memory??

When I rebuilt my motor, I didnt have a new gasket to put on the clutch cover so I used high temp. gasket sealer on the motor, and the cover, then slapped it on. After i attached my shifter I noticed it was shifting hard. I had to push the lever to shift and then pull it back to get it to return.  Turns out there is a nub on the inside of the clutch cover that lines up with the end of the shift rod so it can't back out. Well with out the gasket being installed, the nub was right up against the shift rod which made it hard to shift. I took thwe cover off and buzzed the nub down a litttle with an angle grinder. The easier solution would have been to put a gasket back in, which would have given me the .015"-.020" clearance back that it was supposed to have. Maybe the gasket you used during your rebuild is not as thick as what came out? Or when you installed your shift rod, it wasn't in all the way. Pop the clutch cover off (or just loosen all the bolts) and see if it shifts properly, if it does, then the nub is rubbing on the end of your shift rod.

I know, it sounds goofy, but if you take your cover completely off, you'll see what I mean.

When you pull the shift shaft out, The spring will pop off the post.
If you just stick it back on the shaft and install it without spreading the spring it will not shift poperly.
You take the spring and put it on the shaft. Spread the 2 ends of the spring to fit around the posts on the shaft. These 2 spring ends should be facing straight up like a football goalpost.
If you didn't spread the spring it will be in a Y configuration.
With the spring spread onto the shift shaft, the post on the case will fit between the spring when the shaft is installed.

You have to remove the clutch basket to fix this.
Take the shift lever off. Then the clutch side case. And pull the clutch basket.
You'll have to drain the oil. If you just lean the bike it will leak out the shift shaft hole. To replace the clutch only you can get away with leaning the bike and not draining the oil.

I bet thats it then Bob. I just put the spring back on and slid it so that the two ends sat over the tab on the engine... but I didnt compress the spring at all, just put it on. I remember thinking that was funny and tried to squeeze the spring, but the tension was too great for me to try any further... I think my spring is in the y configuration, but getting it into the goalpost configuration seemed impossible. How do you do it?? OK well I need to change the oil in another 200 miles or less anyway so I'll just get to that point as quick as possible, then I can do the change and fix the shift rod spring at the same time.
thanks again bob!!!