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gear trouble?

M

mtrana

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gear trouble? SOLVED! (See last post)

Hi, I'm excited to be joining as a new owner. This summer I purchased a beautiful '95 K75rta. It rode great and over the first 3 weeks I began falling in love with many of the attributes. For the past 22 years I've ridden only Japanese and Italian bikes, but I was ready for a better commute and occasional trip bike.

I was looking forward to joining the MOA when unfortunatelly on my ride to work, just shy of my first 1000 miles on the new k75, the shifter began traveling farther with each gear shift. I pulled into a parking lot and checked, only to find that my gear shifter now swung 360 degrees without any catch. Saddened I hauled the bike in to the shop and soon after parked it unfixed in my garage.

My local shop here in Minneapolis wants more than I can afford just to look at the problem, presumably an issue with the drive shaft or gearing. Unfortunately I don't have the know-how to work on it myself.

Now I'm a bit lost for what to do next...

After talking with a local rider he suggested that I go ahead and join and post my story. So here I am. I do want to get the bike up and running for next spring but I'm unsure of how.

Either way, Greetings. I look forward to the ride.
 
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Came to the right place

You came to the right place for help. Not me but someone here will get you pointed in the right direction. Do you belong to a local BMW Club in that area
yet? Start thinking back to what kind of noises etc took place when this event happened as the experts will want to know. Best of luck, the K75 IS a good machine. Keep the faith.

Michigan Mike
 
I'm not far from you and have had the same problem with a shop there in Minneapolis area. You might try a call to Judson Cycle in Lk. Crystal. Those guys really know what they are doing. If you can't get help from someone here to stop by and check things out with you might trailer the cycle to Judson.

I will be courious the answer to your problem.
 
Howdy new guy,

Have you heard of Charlie Johnson? He lives & works out of his home out
in Deephaven/Minnetonka area. Give him a shout & see what he thinks.
I've known Mr. Johnson for the past 30 years & trust him to work on what
I won't.

The other advice to call Ron down at Judson's is a good one also. Either of
these fellows will help you out.

Welcome to the club, & let us know what transpires.
 
There are two possibilities. Both of them are loose or sheared screws on either end of the shifter shaft. If, when you rotate the shift lever, the shifter shaft does not rotate you are in luck! Its the screw on the outside of the transmission. Probably not the case though. That would be too easy!

If, when you rotate the shifter, the shifter shaft rotates with it then it is probably the screw holding the internal shift lever to the shaft. While not expensive parts wise to fix ( a few bucks), It does require removal and some minor disassembly of the transmission.

It is something that a GOOD amature mechanic and a Clymers manual could tackle in a lazy weekend. It depends on yours or your buddies wrenching abilities. Otherwise you will need to take it to the pros where the majority of the cost will be to R&R the transmission. Once out, probably no more than an hour labor to repair the shifter internals. But, if you take it to the dealer , they will probably refuse to work on it without doing a complete rebuild (which you don't need) and charging you over $900 (which you probably don't need either)

Good Luck

:dance :dance :dance
 
Thanks!

Thank you everyone for the advice. If anyone lives in the minneapolis area and would be willing to give it a quick glance that would be helpful. I'll look into calling some of the names that were mentioned.

This sounds like it might be the case "probably the screw holding the internal shift lever to the shaft. "

I don't remember much in the way of sounds. For a couple of shifts it seemed to be clickity, clacking in. No grinding or heavy clunks. It still runs fine and is stuck in 1st gear. Gear shifting itself always seemed smooth, just the gear shifter seemed to be going out of whack? My lack of mechanical abilities are being showcased with this description!
 
One thing about forums like this is when ever or however you finally get the problem fixed , you must report back with what was found and how it was corrected. That way everyone learns from your experience.

Keep us informed.


:dance :dance :dance
 
Update to Gear Trouble, Thanks everyone!!

Looks like this was the answer. Thanks to "98lee".

"If, when you rotate the shifter, the shifter shaft rotates with it then it is probably the screw holding the internal shift lever to the shaft. While not expensive parts wise to fix ( a few bucks), It does require removal and some minor disassembly of the transmission."

A huge thanks to everyone on the forum that helped me with ideas of what the trouble was and most important pointing me to a great place to have the bike fixed. Thank you "BlackHoof". I had it in to Charlie Johnson's last week, and rode it home (snow still on the ground) yesterday! I'm so looking forward to this summer of riding.

Mark
 
96 K1100 w/same problem

My '96 K1100RS is developing the same issue although it is still shifting fine. I pulled the tranny today. Is there anything special I should know before opening the tranny up? Is this a case of the set screw coming loose inside or is something worn out? The bike only has 31,000 miles. Thanks for any tips.
 
If it is the same issue, it's the internal set screw.

What do you need to know? The Clymer's manual has detailed tranny disassembly and reassembly instructions.




:dance:dance:dance
 
Not that bad.

I just found out that I do not need to pull everything out of the tranny to get to the grub screw. That was my main concern. I should have this taken care of tonight.
 
Got It!

Picked up some fresh loctite on my way home. The toughest part of the job was getting yhr grub screw started back in the hole. Now to take care of the misc items like the clutch o-ring while I am in here this far.
 
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