Stubborn shifter

[redzap]

Hi guys...my '83 R 65 seems to be a bit stubborn in its desire to shift sometimes, even when warm.  Mostly it is when downshifting from fourth to third but sometimes it happens in other gears going through the regular shifting sequence. I have to press on the shifter two or three times to get it to shift.   I'm hoping it is nothing more serious than the shifter neeeding some lube but I thought I'd run this problem by you.  Thanks...Chris

[thrang]

Ah do, Chris.

R65 gear boxes are pretty reliable other than a couple of oil seals I've only ever had to get the Bimbo's mechanically rebuilt twice in almost 500k miles but I'm kind of anal when it comes to changing my oil and keeping the water out. I've a sneeking suspician you may have got water in your gear box and turned the oil in to mayonaise, but I always think that coz a live in a place that gets 13 plus feet of rain a year. (I'm three miles from the wettist place in England)

Its kind of hard to diagnose a fault with out looking so....

When was the gear box oil last chaged and what sort of state is the boot on the drive cable into the gear box?

Is there any play on the gear box selector shaft?

Have you any oil leaks in or around the clutch housing, rear cover plate, or the shaft connection.

Are you getting any odd sounds or unsusal clunks as it engages/disengages the gears?

How old is the clutch, and is it the same if you try a clutchless shift?

But as a starter I'd say you should change the oil, and see what its like. If its gloopy and looks like muck brown mayo then you've got water in there, probably becasue the the speedo cable boots rotted. So long as the gear box has not been running mayo for a while replacing with a light transmission fluid and then running carefully for a half hour before dumping that oil and replacing with a gearbox flushing oil should solve the stiffness once you flushed the crap out. The problem comes if the waters been in there long enough to do some damage in which case its re-bulid time.

Hope this helps
Tony

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

You might need to lubricate the input shaft splines.  Do you know when this maintenance was last done?  That can make a world of difference.
To do the job right, you need to pull the transmission; slightly involved, but every airhead owner should know how to do it.
You can LOOK at the splines by removing the fasteners and just slide the tranny back as far as it will go.

This link has a pretty good description of just sliding the tranny back, but I prefer to remove the transmission completely.  http://www.webbikeworld.com/t2/spline/


Also, the input shaft may have too much lateral play, in which case the transmission pretty much needs an overhaul.  You can only check this by removing the transmission.

We also need to know how many miles are on the bike and related parts.

[redzap]

Thanks for the feedback.  I was wondering about the splines...the bike has 16K miles on it and has been garaged and in a dry climate (Montana).  Perhaps age rather than mileage will affect the splines and dry them out.  I will also check the tranny for oil/water mixed together.  I'll let you know how it goes...Chris  

[Bob_Roller]

You are rapidly approaching the end of the riding season up there in 'God's Country', so it looks like you have some work ahead of you this winter. Something quick you can check, is the proper adjustment to the clutch cable free-play. You should have about 2-3 mm at the handlebar lever.
  If the bike is 'new' to you, I would strongly recommend that you perform the transmission spline lube as mentioned above, if you have no proof that it's been done recently. Replace the speedometer cable rubber boot, rubber boot between the transmission and swing arm, and while you've got the transmission out, replace the neutral switch, as it's a real pain to do with the transmission installed. Refill the transmission with a good grade of gear oil, and if the oil that came out was pretty ugly looking, a quick run on the bike and change it again like Thrang mentioned, if weather permits.
  I had my transmission overhauled, and the splines were either plastic media or glass bead blasted, as well as the mating splines on the clutch, after lubricating the splines with Honda Moly 60 grease, the effort to move the clutch lever, is almost non-existent. It's amazing what removing rust from the splines can do, to improve the clutch operation.