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My Gears are getting stuck? Help! (Read 921 times)
Rockin_John
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Re: My Gears are getting stuck? Help!
Reply #15 - 04/26/08 at 07:39:37
 
Oldfeller--FSO wrote on 04/25/08 at 03:12:33:
These are break in issues that tend to go away by the time 5,000 miles has come and gone.  Be gentle and patient with it.

Take care not to get your revs up any while doing these engagement tricks, damage to gear dog edges can take place if whapped into gear at very high rpm.

Oldfeller



I dunno about "break-in issues" since all three of my Savages have most of these different symptoms to different degrees...

But as someone else mentioned: "old school" transmission... and Oldfeller gave the best advice yet with:

"Be gentle and patient with it."

A whole lot of the problems I'm hearing sound like poor shifting technique, and not having a feel for the transmission...  I have learned to compensate for most of these little shifting quirks over the years. Different bike... different techniques.

The last thing you want to do is get frustrated and go stomping around on the shifter. Best case: you break a shift rod outside the box; worst case you bend a shifting fork inside the transmission; then you have serious and permanent shifting problems which cost a small fortune or whole new education to fix!!!

And yes, as someone mentioned: proper clutch adjustment is important to how the bike shifts. The 99 I just bought had the clutch lever adjusted so close to the bars that the clutch was dragging unless the lever was squeezed tight against the bars. Hint: that's not where/how a clutch cable should be adjusted to engage/disengage.

Other shifting techniques than the much mentioned: "slip the clutch to work it down through the gears" ... Why are you at a stop and it a top gear to begin with? Didn't you down-shift through the gears any while you were slowing down?? Tsk.. Tsk...  You don't really have to use real engine compression decell/braking like a truck going down a mountain, but you can at least snick it through a few gears as you slow down.

Just a tiny bit of clutch action with each shift will make each one engage easier on the way as you slow down. Besides, you should always be in the proper gear to accelerate at any given moment; even while slowing... you may suddenly find yourself in a situation where you need to accelerate, and that's not going to happen if you are at 20mph and still in 4th or 5th gear. You should be down to second by that point, and ready to drop into first just as the bike rolls to a stop.

Oops... who slipped this soap box under me??  Cheesy  Sorry about that... carry on...  Lips Sealed
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Digger
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Re: My Gears are getting stuck? Help!
Reply #16 - 07/28/08 at 21:29:26
 
Sometimes downshifts can be made to happen a little easier if, when the clutch is pulled, you put a little downward pressure on the shift lever and blip the throttle simultaneously.

IHTH someone!
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BurnPgh
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Re: My Gears are getting stuck? Help!
Reply #17 - 07/28/08 at 21:57:56
 
the hard downshift to first seems to come and go for me. Its more pronounced when the bike is still warming up. Usually if I give it a bit of throttle before i shift it slides right in. Sometimes i have to roll the bike a few inches forward or back. The 4-5 false neutral issue is frequent. If I have the revs up a bit and am doing say...60 in 4th it'll slide like butter into 5th. usually i just let the clutch lever out a wee bit and it pops into 5th.
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Re: My Gears are getting stuck? Help!
Reply #18 - 07/29/08 at 06:45:10
 
Rockin_John wrote on 04/26/08 at 07:39:37:
Oldfeller--FSO wrote on 04/25/08 at 03:12:33:
These are break in issues that tend to go away by the time 5,000 miles has come and gone.  Be gentle and patient with it.

Take care not to get your revs up any while doing these engagement tricks, damage to gear dog edges can take place if whapped into gear at very high rpm.

Oldfeller



I dunno about "break-in issues" since all three of my Savages have most of these different symptoms to different degrees...

But as someone else mentioned: "old school" transmission... and Oldfeller gave the best advice yet with:

"Be gentle and patient with it."

A whole lot of the problems I'm hearing sound like poor shifting technique, and not having a feel for the transmission...  I have learned to compensate for most of these little shifting quirks over the years. Different bike... different techniques.

The last thing you want to do is get frustrated and go stomping around on the shifter. Best case: you break a shift rod outside the box; worst case you bend a shifting fork inside the transmission; then you have serious and permanent shifting problems which cost a small fortune or whole new education to fix!!!

And yes, as someone mentioned: proper clutch adjustment is important to how the bike shifts. The 99 I just bought had the clutch lever adjusted so close to the bars that the clutch was dragging unless the lever was squeezed tight against the bars. Hint: that's not where/how a clutch cable should be adjusted to engage/disengage.

Other shifting techniques than the much mentioned: "slip the clutch to work it down through the gears" ... Why are you at a stop and it a top gear to begin with? Didn't you down-shift through the gears any while you were slowing down?? Tsk.. Tsk...  You don't really have to use real engine compression decell/braking like a truck going down a mountain, but you can at least snick it through a few gears as you slow down.

Just a tiny bit of clutch action with each shift will make each one engage easier on the way as you slow down. Besides, you should always be in the proper gear to accelerate at any given moment; even while slowing... you may suddenly find yourself in a situation where you need to accelerate, and that's not going to happen if you are at 20mph and still in 4th or 5th gear. You should be down to second by that point, and ready to drop into first just as the bike rolls to a stop.

Oops... who slipped this soap box under me??  Cheesy  Sorry about that... carry on...  Lips Sealed


I could not agree more.  I learned really quickly that my bike does not like to be downshifted through all 5 gears while sitting at a dead stop.  I try to match my gear to my speed at all times - going up and coming down - and that seems to work really well and keeps me from getting 'stuck' in a gear.  also a little double clutch action has always gotten me out of those jams when it just doesn't want to go into gear.
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Re: My Gears are getting stuck? Help!
Reply #19 - 07/29/08 at 23:19:21
 
Great post everyone.  Thanks for all the suggestions--very useful for this newbie.  

My issue so far has been inability to get the bike out of neutral at a stop!  Dealer said this was a break-in issue.   Hhhhmmm.......?  I'll try messing with the clutch and throttle.  Makes sense--sort of like trying to get a car into gear by going thru other gears first with clutch engaged.

Also -- I've started from a stop in 2nd gear when unable to get into 1st, then immediately downshifted to 1st once rolling.  Not ideal, and it lags to be sure, but at least i'm moving and not fusssing with pedals with traffic looking on.  TTFN.
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justin_o_guy2
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Re: My Gears are getting stuck? Help!
Reply #20 - 07/30/08 at 00:17:47
 
Sometimes I see a light change & just shift to Neutral while rolling at 30 or so. If it changes & I am still rolling at about 15 or 20, I blip the throttle in neutral, pull the clutch & shift to 2nd, no grinding, no drama.
I have pulled the clutch in & forgotten completely to downshift. Sitting at the light, in 5th, dead stopped. Downshifting thru to 1st without movong? Quick & easy, be deft with the clutch, bump the friction zone & shift down till it gets to first. I can do it in about 4 seconds, no grinding.
Neutral to first givin ya fits? Let the clutch out, bring it right back in & be steppin on the shifter as you do.
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