klr shifter failure

[Ian Francisco]

This time of year I work a second job as musical director for a high school theater production. So, I was on my way over there and had just gotten off the freeway and was in heavy traffic. Got through a couple of lights when I found myself unable to shift out of third gear. The shift lever is going through its normal range of motion and is springing back to center like usual but is not engaging the shift drum. Something broken in the ratchet mechanism is my guess. 3rd gear is probably about the best gear to get stuck in. Not too difficult to take off from a dead start with a little clutch slip and still capable of 60-65 mph. So, I continued on, did the rehearsal and took surface streets home. Arrived safe and sound. Along the way I was wondering what might happen if whatever pieces were broken were to find their way into the gears or crankshaft and had the clutch covered and ready to grab in case something locked up the rear wheel. Anyway, it's time to study the fiche and when I find some time, to tear the side covers off and see what I can see. I guess I probably have to pull the clutch off to fix this. I will take pictures and post them for the curious. The KLR is 100 miles shy of turning over 41k. I just put on new tires and chain and sprockets so the bike would be a reliable commuter and now this. At least I've got a couple more bikes that still run. Anybody ever had this happen? -- ian http://www.scarletfuries.com http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Scarlet-Furies/121218125931 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Ian Francisco]

ronayers.com has a good fiche for our KLRs using Kawasaki part numbers. Here's a link to the gear change mechanism (mine broke tonight, hence the interest): http://www.ronayers.com/Fiche/TypeID/26/Type/Motorcycle/MakeID/3/Make/Kawasaki/YearID/41/Year/2000/ModelID/3493/Model/KLR650/GroupID/99467/Group/Gear_Change_Mechanism or here: http://tinyurl.com/6yslfbq It looks like there's only about two parts that could be causing my problem. Probably that little spring: 92081 Spring, change lever, or 13165 Pawl I copied and pasted off their webpage. Interesting how the price goes up with later revisions of that spring. So which one should I get? 92081 92081-1493 http://www.ronayers.com/ProductDetails/N/687/SKU/1094043> SPRING,CHANGE LEVER 1 $2.86 92081A 92081-1496 http://www.ronayers.com/ProductDetails/N/687/SKU/1094046> SPRING 1 $3.51 92081B 92081-1750 http://www.ronayers.com/ProductDetails/N/687/SKU/1094212> SPRING,CHANGE PEDAL RETURN 1 $4.53 Should probably inspect the doo and spring and even upgrade the spring while I'm getting dirty. -- ian http://www.scarletfuries.com http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Scarlet-Furies/121218125931 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[spike55_bmw]

Ian: If any of the springs broke or got miss-aligned on the shifting pawl / roller lever / star wheel area, you'll only need to work on the right-side of the motor. Although you can reuse the exhaust header crush gasket be aware that the header comes off so you can remove the clutch cable. Drain the oil. You'll need the water pump gasket and right sidecase gasket too. Because the water pump is coming off, you should take off the seat & gas tank so you can get to the radiator / overflow tanks afterward to refill with fresh / new antifreeze. Maybe plan on getting a new crush washer for the water pump drain plug - mine leaked after a re-use even with proper torque. Take your foot brake lever off. Before you take the water pump cover off, get yourself a 1' x 1' sheet of old cardboard and draw a silhouette of the right sidecase and water pump cover. Take a knife and punch small holes through it in a rough pattern the matches your bolt layout. As you pull these out, stick them in the holes in the carboard. You'll notice that you'll have maybe three different lengths of bolts - reason for knowing which hole they go back in to. Buy the water pump and sidecase gaskets since these are ripped apart on disassembly. I don't know if this will work or not but prior to reassmbling mine, I coated those new gaskets with YamaBond4 and let it dry for a couple of days. I was trying to acheive the same coating arrangement that the left sidecase gaskets have from the factory. This coating peels off when pulling apart the left side but you have a 90% chance that the gaskets are reuseable. First, I'm hoping I never have to pull the right sidecases off again, and secondly if I do, the gaskets will be reuseable. Carefully remove the water pump impeller and be especially careful when you put it back together using the proper torque level. Protect this spindly shaft from any dropped tools that could bend / break if off. If you damage it, then you're going to learn a whole bunch more about the KLR engine. After the water pump and side case are off, you can remove 6 bolts / springs on the clutch basket cover and pull out the individual clutch / pressurer plates. This is a good time to measure the clutch discs to determine if they are within spec but if the angular grooves are visible, you're probably still good. Once that is all out of the way, use an impact wrench to remove the clutch basket nut (hold the basket with a rag so it doesn't hurt you hand). There are washers / spacers fore & aft of the clutch basket / shaft, so keep track which goes where. You'll need a tool to hold the clutch basket when you retorque that nut back on - approx 120 ft-lbs, so impossible to do without the tool. Maybe a mc shop with let you borrow / rent. Now that the clutch is out of the way you can inspect the gear shifting mechanism. Might find that a spring has slipped. Have someone on the other side of the bike move the lever as if they are up / down shifting. You should be able to see what part of the linkage isn't working properly. Then you can experience all of that fun of re-assembly. Best of luck, take your time, keep track of the order on how things go back together, and ask for help if you need it. See, you have plenty to do already with tearing into the left side too. The doohickey can wait for now. One thing at a time, then you'll know where to look if there is a small glitch. Don R100, A6F

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, Ian Francisco wrote: > > ronayers.com has a good fiche for our KLRs using Kawasaki part numbers. > Here's a link to the gear change mechanism (mine broke tonight, hence the > interest): > > http://www.ronayers.com/Fiche/TypeID/26/Type/Motorcycle/MakeID/3/Make/Kawasaki/YearID/41/Year/2000/ModelID/3493/Model/KLR650/GroupID/99467/Group/Gear_Change_Mechanism > > or here: http://tinyurl.com/6yslfbq > > It looks like there's only about two parts that could be causing my problem. > Probably that little spring: > > 92081 Spring, change lever, or > > 13165 Pawl > > I copied and pasted off their webpage. Interesting how the price goes up > with later revisions of that spring. So which one should I get? > > 92081 > 92081-1493 http://www.ronayers.com/ProductDetails/N/687/SKU/1094043> > SPRING,CHANGE LEVER > 1 > > > $2.86 > 92081A > 92081-1496 http://www.ronayers.com/ProductDetails/N/687/SKU/1094046> > SPRING > 1 > > > $3.51 > 92081B > 92081-1750 http://www.ronayers.com/ProductDetails/N/687/SKU/1094212> > SPRING,CHANGE PEDAL RETURN > 1 > > > $4.53 > > Should probably inspect the doo and spring and even upgrade the spring while > I'm getting dirty. > -- > ian > http://www.scarletfuries.com > http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Scarlet-Furies/121218125931 > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] >