Second Gear, wherefore art thou?

[litigator]

Half way through my ride today, second gear on my 2002 RT decided to take a break. It would either jump back into neutral, or refuse to allow me to go into third. The only way I got into third was to drop back into first, and shift up twice without releasing the clutch. Any ideas guys?

[David]

First thing to check is the linkage.

[litigator]

How do I do that?

[nldaniel]

remove the mounting plate for the footrest.

the shift lever is mounted on the back of this plate. it uses a linkage to interface with the gearbox.

 

the pivot point for the shift lever is generally the culprit, dirty or corroded it prevents the lever from moving freely. clean and lubricate the pivot point and the problem will likely be gone.

 

HTH Daniël

[wolcott]

I don't know about an '02 (have a '98) but I did not have to remove the left hand fairing to get the left footpeg/shifter plate off the 2nd time. I took off about 3 left hand tupperware screws down on the bottom and then took off the footpeg/shifter plate after getting all the fasteners off. I was able to bend the tupperware out of the way gently. I had to do mine twice. The first time I took the lh tupperware off and the footpeg plate and greased up the linkage with white lithium grease and put the little wire retainers back in. The adjustment was okay so I left it the way it was. When I was disassembling it, some crumbs of felt washers fell off the linkage. I forgot all about these when I put it back together. I had to get new felt washers (these hold in the grease and keep grit and dust out of the linkage). If your felt seals are shot and you have to replace them- it looks like they will never go on. They have a tiny center hole of about a 1/16 inch, you must center them over the studs and press evenly but firmly.

[litigator]

If it's the linkage problem you guys describe, wouldn't it affect more than just second gear? The rest work just fine, down shifts are fine, it is just second that acts up.

[strat]

flexible washers ala felt can be pushed on easily and without distortion by using a socket that just fits over the pin even better is to put a steel washer over the felt then the socket and you have a great hand press.

 

Cheers

Cruiser

[David]

The reason it might act up more on second is that this is the longest throw of all the gears.