wont go in neutral.

[340frontporch]

took the bike out a while back (75 xs650) and was startled that it all of a sudden wouldn't shift into neutral. has never been a problem, but now it won't. i did put high mid pegs on and a longer shift arm with the shifter arm running up behind the foot peg, but i can't get the damn thing into neutral even when i try and gently put it in by hand. any ideas. i heard someone say if you take the large nut off on the right hand case (has a spring under it) and put a small nut or screw between the nut and the spring it will aid in getting the thing into neutral.. tried that (not while ridding) and no help... any ideas?

 

[inxs]

- do you have trouble getting the other gears?
- try readjusting the clutch, from here

XS650 CLUTCH CABLE ADJUSTMENT

Be aware that there are 2 adjustment settings for XS650s, cold and hot. The push rods that transfer the worm gear action to the clutch pressure plate are made from steel. These transverse the motor and seat in aluminium. Aluminium thermally expands faster and further than steel giving XSive end play as the motor warms up.

Cold Adjustment…
1. Remove left casing, release cable
2. Clean and lube cable
3. Clean and lube worm gear
4. Repack the ball bearing with grease
5. Remove and clean the push rod, reinstall
6. Reinstall cable
7. Back the worm gear screw out 1/8th turn…pump the lever in and out just enough to take up the free play (don't pull all the way in). This "stacks" the push rods and balls together, taking up any slack and squeezing excess oil out from between them – gives a more accurate "feel" for the rod free play and adjustment.
8. Adjust the lever play to almost nil
9. After 20 minutes or so riding, readjust lever free-play

Your clutch should now operate smoothly, like new. If still hard, the cable may be worn or frayed and should be replaced.

After any service, test ride your motorcycle in a controlled situation before riding in traffic.

You would not believe how many people think they have a clutch problem just because the lever is hard to pull.

- if you have problems getting the adjustment right the cable may be stretched, also check the wormgear housing for cracks, clean and relube it

- repacking the neutral detent can help, but usually the problem is somewhere else

 

[Sundie]

Can you get it into neutral when the engine is stopped?

 

[650Skull]

m May sound silly but i would put the old lever back on, (if not to much trouble) and see if you could find neutral....if it did then it could be in your new set up

 

[340frontporch]

i can't get the bike into neutral riding or stopped. i'm going to see if my clutch adjustment screw came loose and backed off, but it doesn't "feel" that way from riding. i have no problems getting gears, but no neutral. has anyone else heard of this screw above the neutral spring thing?

 

[650Skull]

When you are sitting on the bike the case cover that the clutch cable runs into is on the left. Define the neutral spring thing . You do not need a clutch to find neutral so an adjustment to any cables or levers would not, (in all probability), make any difference. Have you adjusted or damaged the shifter shaft in this ...Go here and click onto Shifter, scroll down to Shifter shaft ... the shifter shaft does not have to be out much to create problems

 

[340frontporch]

i don't think i damaged the shifter shaft, i know i didn't adjust it on purpose. could i have pulled it out too much? would that be an easy thing to do? the spring that i am talking about is under a large cap nut on the top case on the right side. there are two case bolts with the number 9 (or at least on my bike they have that) and forward and towards the center a bit is a large capped nut, under which is a spring, and i read somewhere that putting a nut between the spring and the capped nut would help in finding neutral. does that explain better?

 

[650Skull]

i don't think i damaged the shifter shaft, i know i didn't adjust it on purpose. could i have pulled it out too much? would that be an easy thing to do? the spring that i am talking about is under a large cap nut on the top case on the right side. there are two case bolts with the number 9 (or at least on my bike they have that) and forward and towards the center a bit is a large capped nut, under which is a spring, and i read somewhere that putting a nut between the spring and the capped nut would help in finding neutral. does that explain better?

Shifter 1: no's 21,19,18...The bolt and spring you refer to is the Cam stopper bolt and spring and stopper this will stop the cam from moving when the gears are selected. I would assume that if the spring lost its tension then the cam may be able to move a little bit, (hence the nut to give it more tension), and that could affect neutral. ....Shifter 2: If you had the left side case it is very easy to bend the end if the lever on the shifter rod where the spring clips on, if that is bent you will have to play around with it with the case off to determine what is wrong

 

[340frontporch]

i didn't have the left side case off so i shouldn't have been able to bugger up where the spring clips on, correct? i'm fairly new to transmission problems, is there anyway you can explain what the crap this stuff is, i understand in picture two that i'm looking at the shaft that the shifter arm attaches to, but are the spring (3) and all those other components inside the case, or just inside the left side case cover? i'd rather not have to go taking all kindsa crap off if no need for it.

 

[inxs]

You do not need a clutch to find neutral so an adjustment to any cables or levers would not, (in all probability), make any difference.

- an improperly adjusted clutch is one of the main causes of neutral finding problems
- often neutral can only easily be found while the bike is rolling
- if the circlip-9-holding the shift shaft has moved while changing the shifter the spring can have fallen off

- pays to check both springs shown here

- the detent spring-20-tension can be changed by repacking it but the problem usually lies elsewhere

 

[650Skull]

i don't think i damaged the shifter shaft, i know i didn't adjust it on purpose. could i have pulled it out too much? would that be an easy thing to do? the spring that i am talking about is under a large cap nut on the top case on the right side. there are two case bolts with the number 9 (or at least on my bike they have that) and forward and towards the center a bit is a large capped nut, under which is a spring, and i read somewhere that putting a nut between the spring and the capped nut would help in finding neutral. does that explain better?

for some reason i thought you had been inside the side cover...If you have not had the side cover off then the shifter shaft would not be the problem.........because you had neutral before you put on the high mid pegs (assuming you have not touched or adjusted the cable between the last ride and putting on the new controls), i thought it may be because the new system might not be letting you find neutral due to the extra linkages coursing some variations and not allowing it to find neutral

 

[340frontporch]

no new linkages in my high mid set up, but i'm ripping them off today, hopefully, and taking the side cover off and giving a look at what i can see, there's alotta information here to look over with the bike. appreciate it guys, i'll let everyone know how it turns out

 

[340frontporch]

inxs, in the third picture you've shown, i can't tell where that's at. is that under the right side cover? or the left?

 

[Gordon]

340, that's the shift drum. It's located inside the case's. You can't see it unless you split the case's.

 

[340frontporch]

damn it!!!!

 

[inxs]

- basically that picture is there to show the detent #19, 20, 21, 22 which is the bolt and spring you wanted to pack out, and the shift drum spring #28 which is inside the right hand cover above and behind the clutch, A in the second pic-this has a tendency to break or disconnect...as can the shift shaft spring, #2 in the first pic, B in the second

 

[340frontporch]

so i can take my right hand cover off to access these springs without splitting the cases? or am i understanding wrong? man this is frustrating the piss outta me.

 

[inxs]

- before draining the oil and removing the right hand side cover to check these 2 springs and the relative position of the shifter and drum...

...i would check the clutch adjustment, including the worm drive housing for cracks and do what skull suggested-put the original shift lever back on and see if it makes a difference

- also, have you changed the oil, for instance using synthetic oil can make the clutch slip...it can also make neutral difficult to find

 

[Gordon]

340, you did not state if yuo can find neutral with the engine not running, or did I miis that? These bike's are a bugger to get the clutch right. If you can find neutral easy enough without it running, the problem is most likly the adjustment of the clutch. The book say's that on the worm gear,( under the little cover on the left side) to bring the screw in until it takes up all the slack,then backoff 1/8 turn. I found that between 1/16 to 1/8 is best . What I do is screw in the adjustment at handlebars, then adjust the worm screw. Holding the wormscrew while tightening is where allot of the adjustment get's fucked up. Even with the tool used to adjust valve's it's difficult. The tool has a 12mm socket head with a screwdriver through the middle of, not a nessisary tool at all. Just trying to make the point that the worm gear can be tricky.

 

[650Skull]

sometimes to much information can confuse things........what did you do exactly and a photo of the new shift lever would be good.............I find if i do something and then it causes a problem if i can i change back to the original to see if it corrects the problem. if not then i start looking for other causes