Stuck in 3rd gear?

Taipan · Post by **Taipan** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 3:55 pm

Hi All

Had a weird experiance on my Rockster tonight. I was riding home in traffic as I slowed for a red light the bike wouldn't change down through the gearbox. It was stuck in 3rd? As luck would have it the lights changed so I was able to keep going. I tried changing up and it went up the box ok an dthen I was able to change down through the box ok????

A coupl eof times lately I have had trouble putting it into 1st. If I let teh clutch back out an dtry again it always goes in ok.

Is this some sort of gearbox fault dedveloping? What is likely to be wrong with it?

Many thanks.

Dave

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:10 pm

Hello,

I have never attended this board before even though I read it daily. Exactly the same thing that you describe has happened to me as well. I talked a BMW mechanic about the problem and he told med that it is completely normal. If I understood him right it has to do with the construction of the clutch. You just have to take it down gear by gear until you stop.

By the way - I live in Sweden and ride 2003 Rockster.

I really enjoy reading all your posts.

Erik

Taipan · Post by **Taipan** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:30 pm

Anonymous wrote:Hello,

I have never attended this board before even though I read it daily. Exactly the same thing that you describe has happened to me as well. I talked a BMW mechanic about the problem and he told med that it is completely normal. If I understood him right it has to do with the construction of the clutch. You just have to take it down gear by gear until you stop.

By the way - I live in Sweden and ride 2003 Rockster.

I really enjoy reading all your posts.

Erik

Hi Erik

Thanks for the reply. You are absolutely correct. I did try changing down more than one gear at a time and not releasing the clutch in between.
I'll make sure I dont do that again.

I feel a lot happier now.

Dave.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 6:03 am

Taipan, not experienced the problem of being stuck in gear, myself.

Supposedly as motorcyclists we are meant to perform 'sequencial gear changes' rather than block gear changes. Sequencial gear changes help prevent the possibilty of locking up the rear wheel when down changing. This means braking, matching the gear with the speed, braking, matching the next gear and so on, with the clutch being released enough to bite between each selected gear. (I'm not saying that I alwys do this though).

What I have experienced with the BM is difficulty in engaging first gear, particularly when first setting off, say in the morning. I pull in the clutch, try and select first and though the lever goes down, it won't go into first. Sometimes it takes 3 or 4 goes before it will engage. I tend to put it down to being 'agricultural' as the biking press tend to describe the gearbox.

I'm in for a 6000 mile service next week and will mention it then and let you know.

dilligaf · Post by **dilligaf** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 12:11 pm

What I have experienced with the BM is difficulty in engaging first gear, particularly when first setting off, say in the morning. I pull in the clutch, try and select first and though the lever goes down, it won't go into first. Sometimes it takes 3 or 4 goes before it will engage. I tend to put it down to being 'agricultural' as the biking press tend to describe the gearbox.

Try holding down on the gear lever as you feather the clutch, it should drop into 1st with a resounding John Deere CLUNK.

Post by **NoRRmad** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 12:24 pm

Yes. If the transmission dogs are in the wrong position when you hit the shift lever, you're trying to move the gears in the box with the pedal. You can move the gears by rolling the bike back or forward, or by releasing the clutch. If you hold the clutch in for too long before hitting the lever, the gears stop spinning, and sometimes end up in the wrong position.

478cc · Post by **478cc** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 1:45 pm

A tip I learnt from here early on is to release the clutch lever to about the halfway point before clicking the lever from neutral into first.
It works every time, usually without the loud 'clunk'
If it still won't go into gear, just release the clutch a little further and try again.

Est51 · Post by **Est51** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 12:23 pm

Sorry to sling a spanner in the works Taipan but, whilst I agree with the points on getting into 1st gear, I have no trouble at all coming down several gears with one pull of the clutch.

frevrod · Post by **frevrod** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 8:59 am

I had a similar problem last winter on my previous Beemer (a standard R1150R). When changing down the gear lever refused to spring back up to the central position so without hooking my foot under it I couldn't get it into position ready for the next change down.

Had to remove the lever and clean the linkage then regrease before it started working properly again.

Taipan · Post by **Taipan** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 12:51 pm

frevrod wrote:I had a similar problem last winter on my previous Beemer (a standard R1150R). When changing down the gear lever refused to spring back up to the central position so without hooking my foot under it I couldn't get it into position ready for the next change down.

Had to remove the lever and clean the linkage then regrease before it started working properly again.

I think this is exactly whatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s wrong with mine. ItÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s not getting any better so I thought IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢d better investigate it a bit further tonight. I removed the adjuster rod and the actual lever from the gearbox is as free as a bird. But the foot change lever is slightly stiff in operation.

I removed the little adjuster rod link and cleaned inside the Ã¢â‚¬Å“cupsÃ¢â‚¬Â and applied some lithium grease. But I need to get the actual foot lever assembly off and clean that up. I donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t have a garage and ran out of light, so I'll leave it to the weekend. A good hosing with WD40 has made things a bit better. But I'll do it thoroughly at the weekend.

I assume itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s pretty straightforward to remove the gear lever assembly? What had happened with yours? Had the grease gone all yucky?

frevrod · Post by **frevrod** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 2:15 am

Taipan wrote:I assume itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s pretty straightforward to remove the gear lever assembly? What had happened with yours? Had the grease gone all yucky?

The usual problem with a large amount of grease in a vulnerable position. Eventually all the road dirt combines with it to form a solid lump. I dismantled all I could and sprayed liberally with WD40 before smothering with grease and working it into the moving parts as best I could.

Taipan · Post by **Taipan** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 4:51 pm

I took it all off and eventually got the loctited or was it alloy welded in bolt out

The inner bolt showed signs of wear-ish? I rubbed it down and buffed it up with 1200 grade paper. Which seemed to help it fit in and out a bit better. I polished up the sleeve bushes with a wooden handle and put some light oil on and reassembled it.

It still doesn't drop under its own weight though? But it does move with even pressure and not all unevenly like before.

It does seem to return under the pressure of the gearbox arm spring a lot better though? Should it fall down under its own weight if you take the adjust rod off? If so I'd better get some new bushes and try again?