No 5th Gear

[Sharpman66]

My 03 R* lost 5th Gear. It shifts fine through all other gears but 5th spins like its in neutral. Any ideas what this could be? Thanks.

[Bikerron]

Describe ‘spin’ a little better. Are you saying you could coast to a stop in 5th without pulling in the clutch?

Or, it revs up on throttle application in 5th ‘like’ it was in a false neutral?

Have you ever experienced clutch slippage? The higher gear the gear you’re in the easier it is for a weak clutch to slip.

[Sharpman66]

when i shift from 4th to 5th and release the clutch it revs up on throttle application in 5th ‘like’it was in a false neutral. Also my heel toe shifter is sitting lower on the heel side. I replaced the clutch cable recently with no slipping.

[Bikerron]

For starters, take the foot shift assembly apart and clean all the rusty crap outta there and grease up the shaft and then get back with us if you’re still having problems.

[Sharpman66]

Will do thank you!

[Bikerron]

While your at it take your thumb and try to rotate the clutch pull arm shaft sticking out of the case. Should be able to rotate it about a 1/8-1/4” easily before resistance is felt. You’re checking for free play on the cable. Too tight a cable will partially disengage the clutch. Those weak ass diaphragm clutch springs have enough trouble keeping a clutch pack engaged as it is.

pichost

[Sharpman66]

Just checked the free play and there is a 1/4" .

[Shores]

Does the engine rev completely like in neutral with no drive to the rear wheel or does it eventually catch and drive the rear wheel? Why do you have this thread under bike parts for sale? It won’t always show up on the left side bar that way unless you refresh the RSC logo frequently.

[Sharpman66]

Yes the engine rev completely like in neutral with no drive to the rear wheel in 5th gear. Sorry i'm not sure how this ended up in this thread.

[BSeward]

A few years ago my '02 did the same thing. I checked all the above mentioned things. Nope. It wound up being the dogs that engage 5th year failed. All 3 of them. I have a friend who runs a shop nearby, and tore the motor down completely to get at the transmission. He found me a pristine used transmission complete with shift drum and forks. The job came out to around $1400 total. He did it over the winter months, so I lost no ride time. I had a bad habit of lugging the bike in 5th gear. Thinking about it, I think the chattering that was going on with the lugging eventually fractured the dogs. I was lucky that one of them didn't get caught in the gear teeth, as I had about a 20 mile ride home. The bike had around 80,000 miles when it broke. Pushing 87k now with no further trouble. The bike the gearbox came from had the recall done, and had less than 10k miles.

I'd be very careful about riding that bike till you figure it out..

[Sharpman66]

Someone else told me the same thing about the dogs and now hearing it again i think your probably right. Would it cause the shifter to sit off level?

[Bikerron]

It shouldn’t. The shift mechanism wouldn’t know if the dogs were missing.

I’d still service the foot shift shaft before throwing in the towel.

[129drifter]

Those pivot points Bikerron has illustrated will cause weird shifting problems. Mine got better instantly after I followed advice about servicing that area from someone on the Clinic years ago.

[Sharpman66]

Thanks everyone for the help i've removed the oil with a strainer and no pieces came out thankfully. I removed the crankcase cover and inspected the shifter mechanism and its all good shifting through all gears. Time to reassemble and adjust the shifter linkage. Waited over a week for a new gasket from Yamaha and in the process of removing the old gasket with a razor blade. This is taking a while lol.

[Bikerron]

. ... inspected the shifter mechanism and its all good shifting through all gears.

.

What does that mean?

So, you manually shifted the drum internally and determined that 5th gear was still operable by trying to roll the back tire while in that gear, or what?

And, all this was performed after cleaning and lubricating the foot shifter pivot shaft mentioned earlier? Just curious.

[Sharpman66]

I manually shifted the drum internally and determined that 5th gear was still operable by trying to roll the back tire while in that gear. Before i clean and lubricate the foot shifter pivot shaft.

[Shores]

Don’t use a razor blade, use a solvent. You risk scratching the surface and then leaking.

[Sharpman66]

The gasket was so old most of it came off in large pieces thankfully.

[BSeward]

I'll bet my lunch money you lost the shift dogs that engage 5th gear. I drained my oil too, looking for debris, and there was none. Nothing got ground up inside, so there were no bits of metal in the oil.

Another possibility may be a bent shift fork. I found I had a bent one when the transmission failed. If you get in there to see what's going on, be sure to check them. BTW, there are many Roadstar gearboxes for sale on eBay.

[Sharpman66]

I think so also...a winter project lol.

[Sharpman66]

I've reassembled the bike and took it for a ride...still the same. Must be something internal. It clicks into 5th position but nothing is there. Time to take this motor apart! Thanks.