250-500cc Uh oh...I can't get my "11 WR300 out of 1st gear

Thanks Motorhead. Just so I understand you correctly, the arm goes in behind the flat surface of the "cup" (i.e. the surface facing the engine, not the cupped side facing outward) that houses the two balls? That's what I thought, so what's the trick to get it there when reinstalling the left side cover? I know the lever that holds the black plastic control rod must be pointing inward (see photo taken when pv cover was initially removed), so I know how's it's supposed to look when the cover is on.

That leads me to a follow up question: does the angle of the gear need to be at a particular angle before reattaching the plastic control rod? I've heard it doesn't because the valve angle is already set when the gearing is installed, and that all you have to do is reconnec the control rod.

Thanks again.

Yeah, it needs to be on the inside or crank side of the cup. I was thinking there was a groove on the back side that it rode in, but I could be wrong or thinking of another brand.

If you twist the top of the rod clockwise so the follower or finger is all the way back you should be able to get it over the cup and get the cover on. If there is a groove, just get it in there and it should stay as the cover goes on.

I think I now know the "grove" your talking about. I think it's the grove provided by the spacer between the two bearings of the valve drive regulator assembly (part #5). Is that groove the same one you're thinking of? The end of the counter shaft (the follower, part #6) extends nearly to the centerline of the regulator assembly and is aligned along that axis such that the follower seems to line up in that groove, so it makes sense to me that the end of the follower would go in there. Glad I took it off to have a look-see. I'll give it the ol' college try now and see if I can't get the friggin' thing on now.

Dirtdame, this valve drive regulator assembly did not come out when I originally removed the cover. It was still in place. I'll try removing the gear and try to slip everything in the way you described...

and my saga continues...thanks again everyone

Yeah, that groove, in the top picture. That's where it goes. Now you're cooking with gas.

All done! I was able to pull the gear from the case, reassemble the valve drive regulator (see first photo), place it in the cover (see second photo), and then the cover slid on so easily. I'll fire it up tomorrow evening to make sure I can officially get out of 1st gear.

Thanks again!

So I fired up the wr300 last night to make sure my fix was legit. It was. I'm good to go now. Bring on the Golden Spike HS on 6/2/12 in Packwood, WA! Thanks for your help everyone!

Quick update: My intial repair failed after about 4 hrs of riding. I pulled it all apart again and found the same friggin' problem as before; a loose screw that fastens the shifting drum to the gearbox forks shaft. No sign of the blue threadlocker that I judiciously applied either. I even went a little heavy on the recommended torque spec. Perhaps I didn't give the thread locker enough curing time??? So this time I used red thread locker and increased the torqe by 3-4 times. I gave the thread locker about 2 hrs to set before uprighting the bike and submerging the clutch and shifting assembly in oil. It only took me about an hour this time around. I've got about 8 hrs on it since the second repair including a 1.5 hr race and have not had any issues...yet. Hopefully this time it sticks...

I hope it holds, but it is possible that there was some thread damage when the screw loosened up or that there was a thread problem since day one.
You are cleaning the treads real good with brake cleaner or other strong solvent first? It only takes a trace of oil to effect the locktite effectiveness.
Keep your fingers crossed....

I'll bet there was some oil still in the threads when assembled it the first time. I used red loctite on mine.

I was having issues today getting into second while riding in the woods. I kept hitting neutral and thought I was just being a flounder. Well it's stuck in first now. Luckily I was only about 5 miles from the car, but it took a while riding in first. Hopefully, I'll have time to work on it tomorrow and it is the same problem as in this post.

My last ride I had a bunch of missed shifts from 1st to 2nd gear and seems like it popped out of gear to neutral once. I'm going in to see if I've got a problem. This forum is great for info, but I wanted to post some pictures to see if I've got my facts sorted.

Is the A arrow the location of the loosening hex screw?




And lastly is this the power valve actuator groove?



Thanks,

Yup.

Yes to both ?s.

Thanks guys. Any issues with side cover and power valve gaskets? Are these reusable or are they fragile and will need replacing?

As careful as I could be, I still tore the PV gasket and clutch cover gasket. You might get lucky though.

Good job getting in there and tearing s!@t apart! I love to read about someones adventure into the "unknown". My 12 wr 300 did the same thing after about 20 miles. Apparently the shift drum star installer guy at the factory is slacking. Next thing you know youll be splitting cases in your sleep.

After looking thru the excellent five language manual I didn't see which way the nut unthreads. I did find the clutch section and it shows a nifty picture of how to use the tools, just not the loosening direction. If this nut is standard then its lefty loosey righty tighty. Is this nut standard or reverse threaded?