2007 Won't stay in 4th gear

I was told ONE missed shift can cause that problem. I'm curious to hear your comments, as well as see the innards of our tranny to see how wimpy (or robust???) it is, especially the shift fork, drum, and dogs (any pics?). Having had problems withthe tranny on my BMW (corrected itself after 6K miles; go figure), I always shift positively, and never hurried. So far not one false neutral or missed shift (and always use the clutch); hope to keep it that way. Take care.

JC

ponyfool said:

IMO, the dogs don't just wear instantly, there would have been other symptoms before dropping into another gear. This to me sounds more like a shift fork issue or possibly the shift drum.
Thankfully you have YES and won't have to do it yourself. However, doing it yourself isn't all that difficult. Hell, if I can do it......

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Pony, you are the exception, not the rule. So :yahoo: to you, the rest of us morons are :****:
I can visualize shift forks bending.. but excessive wear on the shift drum?

Homey don't think so.

Unless of course you were running Shell Rotella, Valvoline, or any other type of synthetic/dino based oil. Yep, that's the problem; you were running old vegetable grease oil from the Mexican restaurant weren't you? :glare:

I was told ONE missed shift can cause that problem. I'm curious to hear your comments, as well as see the innards of our tranny to see how wimpy (or robust???) it is, especially the shift fork, drum, and dogs (any pics?).

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I always used the clutch to shift (figured they gave me one, I might as well use it.) Most times on an up-shift, I'll put a little bit of pressure from my toe under the shift lever just before I pull the clutch. That little bit of "pre-load" always gave me good, crisp shifts. If using that technique is what caused the demise of my tranny, no prob, I'll stop using it. I don't think it was though. I've used that same technique to put 30K on my VFR without issue and I learned it from several riders who have lot's of miles under their tires.

I don't have any pictures of the tranny innards since the dealership is doing the work. However, if you go check out Ponyfool's post, he's got some great shots posted. (Be sure to click the images for some serious detail!)

And no dcarver... I only use EVOO. (Thank you Rachael Ray!)

Finally! An end to this chapter.

I picked her up today from the dealership this morning. Transmission is nice and tight. It should be since judging by the parts that were replaced. It's practically a new transmission! Every gear wheel, all three shifter forks, shifter cam, bearings, gaskets, yada, yada. The rep said it was over $2000 in repairs, but nothing from my pocket... Thank you YES Warranty!

No explanation as to what I was doing "wrong" and no mention of "rider error" in the notes. When asked, the rep didn't know why I was told that. So, instead of digging for an answer, I said thank you and rode off with a smile.

Hard for me to bitch when they didn't charge me anything to repair it.

eeksnake said:

Finally! An end to this chapter.
I picked her up today from the dealership this morning. Transmission is nice and tight. It should be since judging by the parts that were replaced. It's practically a new transmission! Every gear wheel, all three shifter forks, shifter cam, bearings, gaskets, yada, yada. The rep said it was over $2000 in repairs, but nothing from my pocket... Thank you YES Warranty!

No explanation as to what I was doing "wrong" and no mention of "rider error" in the notes. When asked, the rep didn't know why I was told that. So, instead of digging for an answer, I said thank you and rode off with a smile.

Hard for me to bitch when they didn't charge me anything to repair it.

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Good result, congrats!

Glad to hear it all went well Chris.

Now, how will you explain to your Feej what the hell that German intruder is doing in its garage?

eeksnake said:

Finally! An end to this chapter.
I picked her up today from the dealership this morning. Transmission is nice and tight. It should be since judging by the parts that were replaced. It's practically a new transmission! Every gear wheel, all three shifter forks, shifter cam, bearings, gaskets, yada, yada. The rep said it was over $2000 in repairs, but nothing from my pocket... Thank you YES Warranty!

No explanation as to what I was doing "wrong" and no mention of "rider error" in the notes. When asked, the rep didn't know why I was told that. So, instead of digging for an answer, I said thank you and rode off with a smile.

Hard for me to bitch when they didn't charge me anything to repair it.

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Good to hear. Mebbe that's enough to get me to put on the knee pads and go back to the dealership for a 4th time with my '06 to try to get it repaired. Each time I've taken it in, I've been told, "we can't get it to come out of gear". The last time was right before NAFO, where I put 3600 miles on the bike basically w/o 2nd gear. I mention this because I think you can imagine a need to have all kinds of reluctance to putting up with a dealer if, instead, you'd cross the country with only 4 of 5 gears. I'm sick and tired of my Yammi dealer, what with multiple experiences of a partially assembled/reassembled bike (starting on day 0). My experience with this dealer is prolly enough to get me to go back to Honda the moment they put out a comparable (but with a rock-solid tranny) S/T machine. BTW, guess which brand my local multi-brand dealer doesn't sell? Zackly!

eeksnake said:

Finally! An end to this chapter.

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Glad to hear all worked out well in the end!

Ari Rankum said:

My experience with this dealer is prolly enough to get me to go back to Honda the moment they put out a comparable (but with a rock-solid tranny) S/T machine.

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Dude. A fart smeller like you? The solution to your problem is so, so, simple................

GET A NEW FREAKING DEALER!!!!!

eeksnake said:

Most times on an up-shift, I'll put a little bit of pressure from my toe under the shift lever just before I pull the clutch. That little bit of "pre-load" always gave me good, crisp shifts.

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I don't see a bit of pre-load causing anything like what was described as your problem. Nothing is forced in the actual shifting mechanism until the drum actually rotates far enough to apply pressure to a fork. I don't see the drum rotating far enough through the star cam to cause any force on a shift fork until the foot lever actually pops up through the ratchet travel. That said, I'm not sure that enough "pre-load" force won't turn the drum far enough to do exactly that, apply pressure to a shift fork, maybe bend it eventually.

Contradicting myself? Dunno. Pre-load without that movement might not actually be possible, is what I mean.

Also, incomplete travel of the shift drum, either direction (missed shift), can leave the forks in a weird limbo without room to be where they try to be, perhaps bending one.

But wearing out the drum? No way. Not unless there's sand in there in stead of oil. Lots of other parts will die first. There's so little movement in the drum slots compared to everything else.

Nevertheless, good deal from Yamaha on fixing it, and doing so quite thoroughly, apparently.

I want to thank eeksnake and ponyfool for documenting their saga! Armed with this info I was able to go to Wesfield Yamaha here in Indy and get my fourth gear fixed under YES. It took 3 weeks to get the parts but I just got a call that they are going back together now. I have an 05 with 71000 miles on it before I took it in. I rode without fourth for about 3000 miles. It is gonna be so great to have that gear back again!!!

While we're on shifting the right way,and the original subject has been answered.

There are still riders out there that don't know how to shift it correctly.

By no means am I referring to the people on this tread,but just in case someone that's reading this might learn something,to stay out of trouble,here goes an attempt.Feel free to add you comments,and differences.

When preparing to shift up,start with enough pressure on "both the gear lever,AND clutch lever",to almost doing it without doing it.Then with that much pressure on each,then just when you're about to actually go all the way.Then you want to let off the throttle just a hair,with the shortest amount of time,POP it (slide)to the next gear.

When shifting down,do the pressure thing again on BOTH clutch and gear selector. But now the throttle needs to move into a more rev direction as opposed to letting off of it(takes a little practice,but you'll do less damage working for this goal than the damage done by not doing it. Good luck you won't need it(having had 2 beemers,that's the only way you can shift them ) . :yahoo:

monk69 said:

While we're on shifting the right way,and the original subject has been answered.There are still riders out there that don't know how to shift it correctly.

By no means am I referring to the people on this tread,but just in case someone that's reading this might learn something,to stay out of trouble,here goes an attempt.Feel free to add you comments,and differences.

When preparing to shift up,start with enough pressure on "both the gear lever,AND clutch lever",to almost doing it without doing it.Then with that much pressure on each,then just when you're about to actually go all the way.Then you want to let off the throttle just a hair,with the shortest amount of time,POP it (slide)to the next gear.

When shifting down,do the pressure thing again on BOTH clutch and gear selector. But now the throttle needs to move into a more rev direction as opposed to letting off of it(takes a little practice,but you'll do less damage working for this goal than the damage done by not doing it. Good luck you won't need it(having had 2 beemers,that's the only way you can shift them ) . :yahoo:

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Hmm, probably calls for a separate thread to discuss shifting techniques. I never had a lesson so my opinion is based solely on how I figured it out over the years.

I do the slight pressure on the shift lever as you describe, then adjust the throttle just enough as you describe, and either shift without using the clutch at all, or I pull the clutch in all the way as I shift. The throttle adjustment is the part that takes practice because timing is very important. I never tried the technique when you preload the clutch lever as you describe. I'll give it a try if I get a chance to ride before winter sets in full bore.

I have a 2007 fjr and now have the 2nd gear problem. Dropped my bike off at the dealer (Madisons Yamaha, Kaw in Raleigh,N.C.) April 22,2010. I sill have not got my bike back, waiting on parts and they said they don't like to do big jobs this time of year. July 24 they informed me that my Y.E.S. was not going cover the labor only the parts due to it was rider error. Any help thoughts any one could give me will be a big help...