stuck in 2nd

[bcsteve]

I have a 79 r100rs that has a somewhat clunky 5spd kickstart trans.Aside for a little noise and chatter ,occasional popping out of 3rd everything has been fine until a short trip today when i was unable to get the gear to shift up or down out of second gear.I examined the gear shift and the hex bolt and linkage are all as they should be. This really limits the bikes performance, any ideas?

Thanks Steve

 

[20774]

Sounds like the dreaded $2 shifter pawl spring inside the tranny...most likely broken. Gary Smith discusses replacing the spring in the September 2003 Owner's News...with some good pictures. With all the other "issues" with the tranny, sounds like it's rebuild time. Could be a result of using the kickstart as well...

 

[baldwithglasses]

Yep. If you're handy, your $2 broken shift return spring will cost you 8-10 hours (min) shop hours for a rebuild.

When my bike did a very similar thing (except it failed in 5th gear), I paid about 800 dollars for a rebuild.

The good news is that the tranny's (transmission, not some Thai-style girlyman) rebuilt and will be good for 100k miles.

 

[20774]

IIRC, there are some upgrades that make sense with the rebuild. There used to be a kit but it is NLA...I think the parts might be separately, though... The Gary Smith article I'm sure mentions some of these points.

 

[NEALART]

Here is an article on the pawl spring job:

http://www.ibmwr.org/r-tech/airheads/openTranny.shtml

 

[20774]

And another good website on diving into a tranny...

http://jhau.maliwi.de/mot/gearbox.htm