I am the only owner of my Strada, it's currently at around 24,000 miles, and I would say 1,000 miles ago I started getting rough shifting problems. Upshifting through 1,2,3 would miss 2nd gears sometimes. Pretty common on any bike, could be lazy shifter throw, shifter adjustment etc. But the problem got worse, where it would fall into neutral out of 2nd, and scary, because this would be under accelerating through a corner. I did all of the adjustments, double checked the clutch cable, moved the shifter down a tooth or 2, checked the chain tension (seated and loaded - not tight), but the problem was still there. Then 2nd started disappearing in my downshifts. Now I am at the point where I have trouble finding 2nd gear at all when slowing down to a light, and sometimes have to rev and slip the clutch from 3rd gear when accelerating from a stoplight. I found that stomping on the shifter and letting out the clutch clunks it into second almost every time. My theory is that it's a bent or worn shift fork, because it's only 2nd gear that is affected, in both directions (upshift and down), and the problem got worse over time? Or could it be worn clutch plates or plate springs, because i can almost always shift it into 2nd without a clutch? I am now due for an oil change, and would like to investigate myself. Do I have to split open the crankcase to get to the shift forks? I know that it's not a major deal to get to the clutch plates, but the shift forks might require a trip to the repair shop if it's too much for a DIYer? I have access to the repair manual but wanted some opinions from people that might have done transmission work themselves.
bummer. I havent done the box in a TR. You would probably want to split to have a good look anyway. A damaged fork can often take out the shift drum. Just past experience with other thumpers
I would be checking the neutral switch before splitting cases, a bent or damaged switch is known to cause Ist to 2nd gear change problems
the switch runs on a shift drum. If it puts too much pressure on the drum shifting can get difficult (can be fixed by adding a thin washer). The switch can bend and it has a small cap at the end that can come loose and cause all sorts of issues. https://www.f650gs.crossroadz.com.au/GearboxRepair.html
I checked the neutral switch, it wasnt it. So I decided to drop the motor and attempt the bottom end rebuild myself. This website had so much awesome information to help me drop the motor. The problem is with spliting the cases. I removed the entire top end, and the piston, but got scared of splitting the cases myself. I called some shops around, and most wouldn't do the job. I took it to a shop, and they can't do the job, because it's an older Husky "red" engine, and they say that they don't own the tools to split the cases. Anyone know of a shop in the Los Angeles area that could do this job? I found Zip Ty racing on here, but they are pretty far from me, and I am trying to keep costs down, on a bike that I will sell once this rebuild is done.
it's a BMW G650GS engine with a modified top end so i'd say any BMW shop should be able to take care of it.
Bottom end is different as well. Different crank and flywheel. Different gearbox ratio as well, I believe. But that shouldn't affect the method or tools required to split the cases.
I finally managed to split the cases myself. A lot of online research and a lot of cursing, but I managed it. The problematic task that the mechanic couldn't do was remove the flywheel. I learned that a BMW spec flywheel puller needed to be purchased from Motion Pro, but a weekend of trying every trick in the book I still couldnt get it off. So I went online again and found the special crankshaft top dead center locking screw. Then I used a meat thermometer probe to heat the crankshaft with a propane blowtorch to 100 degrees Celcius, and the fucker finally came off. I have links for the parts if anyone is interested. Once all of the case bolts were removed, the cases split open with a few taps of a rubber mallet, no special case puller needed. So I got to the transmission and could use some advice. The gears seem to look good, and the shift selector drum looks good too. However this is my first transmission job so i dont really know what tolerances in wear I am looking for. I pulled out the shift forks, and there is definitely wear on them, but all of the gears shifted fine except for 2nd gear (I will sort out which fork is for 2nd later I believe that it's the center one in the pics). But again, I have no baseline on what a good shift fork looks like, so I need advice on whether these look within spec or not. My engine is at 27,000 miles. Here is a link to the pictures: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tzolaj0if6lajrz/AADFxH2zB_3QKQUCxQM8Ld9sa?dl=0
