Shifter Shaft - Remove and Replace

[Komakai Okane]

Hi folks, there's an existing forum thread on this topic but it's a minimum of half a decade old and I have a few additional questions. The bike is a 1981 XS650 Special II.

To start the process, I understand to do the following:
1. Remove the rider RH & LH foot rest/ bracket assemblies.
2. Remove the shifter and brake foot levers.
3. Remove the RH and LH engine side covers.
4. On the LH engine side, remove the e-clip & washer from the shifter shaft that's right up against the oil seal.
5. On the RH engine side, remove the clutch basket assembly.
6. Disconnect/ remove the spring on the shifter shaft pawl.

Questions moving forward:
1. Before removing the shifter shaft from the engine, must the transmission be in a specific gear, or must it be in neutral?
2. Do all the transmission pieces inside the engine case stay in place when the shift shaft is removed?
3. Is it as simple as pull the old shifter shaft out and push the new one in - and nothing inside the engine cases falls out of place and then requires splitting the cases to repair?

Thanks for reading this far - Todd.

 

[Signal]

Hi Todd its a while since I have done this but was doing it often at one stage.
Don’t forget to drain the oil first.
Take careful note of the order of the spacers and washers on the clutch basket when disassembling.
When removing the shaft you can don’t have to remove the spring, just pull the lever down out of contact with the drum star arrangement.

Questions moving forward:
1. Before removing the shifter shaft from the engine, must the transmission be in a specific gear, or must it be in neutral?
No but it helps to be in neutral as makes testing easier as you know down 1 is first gear and up 1 is second gear etc.

2. Do all the transmission pieces inside the engine case stay in place when the shift shaft is removed?
Yes all other transmission parts will stay in place when the shaft is removed.

3. Is it as simple as pull the old shifter shaft out and push the new one in - and nothing inside the engine cases falls out of place and then requires splitting the cases to repair?
Yes it is that simple. You may have to set the claw spacing again to get proper shifting (look in the manual) but that’s about it.

Put some oil on the new shaft to ease it through the cases and seal.
Sometimes the old shaft on the foot lever side gets damaged causing it to bend or have sprags. Check for this before you start to pull it out to avoid further problems.
File off sprags, straighten with gentle bending using a pipe over the shaft if bent.

 

[Komakai Okane]

Many thanks - I appreciate the detailed response and feedback, very useful. I'm greatly relieved that opening the cases is not required.