New buell owner, no 4th or 5 gear

[pearl91chevy]

hey guys.. i recently bought a 03 buell from my buddy.. always took care of it. 15,000 miles.. i just got about 450 miles on it.. i was riding it down the highway around 55-60mph and downshifted from 5 to 4th and heard a clunking.. and realized i lost gears so i pull over down in the gas station. pull the plastic cover off wear the trans pulley is at, the nut on there just fell off and the pulley gears were completely stripped from the shaft. so after 3 weeks of messing with dealers of finding a new pulley i got the new one installed, started the bike to ride it.. now first off when i realized something was wrong it was stuck in 4th gear. last night when i started it again there was no gears at all, and once i messed with the shifter for a bit, it popped into 3rd then down 2nd to neutral.. I took it for a ride around the block and have no 4th or 5th gear at all. i goto shift up from 3rd and it doesnt do a single thing.. anyone got some advice for me on what it might be? i checked the primary chain and it was a bit loose so i tightened it up and still no change. i downloaded the manual last night also but other then that i havent tore anything more apart yet, since id like advice.. i have pretty good knowhow on mechanical stuff.. i will be pulling the primary cover off hopefully tonight or tomorow.

 

[snrusnak]

Don't know why it would do that if you've repaired it... Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will chime in. That must be frustrating not having 4th or 5th...it's bad enough not having 6th lol.

 

[pearl91chevy]

its horrible man.. the hassel i went threw with local dealers on getting that pulley was a disater and with getting screwed ordering that part anyways was a nightmare.. but anyways.. i was told i might have bent a fork and thats why 4th wont engage.. but hows this?? when i noticed that nut fell off it was stuck in 4th and wouldnt go up or down.. now there is no forth..

 

[Morbid]

In all most likelyhood you'll have to remove the frame from the engine and split the block to repair the trans.

 

[wolfo68]

sounds like something with a shifter fork and the top gears. I wouldn't ride it until after tranny work

 

[pearl91chevy]

any other ideas what it might be??? hoping to get lucky and be something simple.. i will be pulling that primary cover off this evening

 

[uly luigi]

not gonna be "simple" my friend, in my opinion the bike has been ridden pretty hard, probly a lot of fun, but expensive to maintain, these bikes have a lot of torque, just a guess, are you leaking any oil at the output shaft? The pulley side, if you are you have to pull the motor/trans completely down and rebuild everything (might as well, your there), here's the good news tho, if you do the grunt work, shouldn't cost more than 800-1k and have a strong powerplant

 

[pearl91chevy]

just pulled primary cover off.. everything seems tight.. the tensioner is still good looking.. all the gears look great.. anything i should look for now?? or does it have to come apart now??

 

[pearl91chevy]

i ended up taking it to the shop.. guy said it had to do with shifter linkage behind the clutch pack. he thinks when i went to shift back in gear i was to rough and it ended up breaking/bending and thats the cause for the lost gears.

 

[pearl91chevy]

well i started tear down of the buell to find out what exactly went wrong and what needs fixed.. motor is almost out, should have it out today. been taking ALOT of pics for reference on re-assemebly.. i can say so far disasembly hasnt been to bad at all.. glad im going this route instead of paying a shop 1200 for labor

 

[nikfleisch]

For not paying gf to do it. [up]

 

[Rhino1]

Have you checked the shelf on the primary cover? Check this thread out:

http://www.buellxb.com/Buell-XB-For...f-primary-cover-broke-off-2-times-in-3-months

 

[pearl91chevy]

just ran down and looked, no damage to the primary cover..

i just got the motor out a bit ago, that last little bit was a pain in the butt but shes out.. cooling off for a while now since its 102 degress in that garage lol

Also after draining the oil and looking in the pan i found this.. any idea what you guys think it might be??

 

[twobuells]

That is the side of one of your gears. Usually called shift dogs.

 

[pearl91chevy]

oh boy... so what am i looking at here so far on possibly replacing??

 

[Rhino1]

Pull your tranny and have a look--there's probably a bit more damage there. Luckily, the bottom ends on these bikes are very robust, but I'd still have a peek (bearings, anything that might have come into contact with steel fragments, etc). That's a pretty big chunk to be bouncing around.

 

[bigflash1]

That sucks! I had mine completely lock up and throw me off at 55-60...
But if you shop around, you can get it back together pretty reasonably. I was able to find a complete transmission, complete with shift forks on eBay. Got it delivered to the house complete deal for <$200. Add a gasket kit, some locktite (OK, allot of locktite), time and it will go back together. I have several of my gears that are still good visually. Mine is an 05, so not sure if they will work but ping me and I'll let you know what I do have if it will help.
Take a look at my initial thread, and you can see the dogs in the pictures.
Good luckTransmission Lockup

 

[pearl91chevy]

awsome thanks guys.. ill prob start tearing into the motor tomorow on the 4th or otherwise the weekend.. i got it on the table today after work

 

[jgcable]

Thats part of one of your transmission gears. I just went through the process of a complete tear down on an 03 XB9R to replace a destroyed transmission. Mine was stuck in gear. One of the fork tubes was bent and one of the shifter forks jammed between 2 gears and broke several teeth on a few gears. I have 2 extra transmissions so if you need an parts let me know. They are VERY hard to find and very expensive from the dealership.

 

[cgo]

Just curious why they're so hard to find. Are they completely different than a Sportster's? There are tons of Sportsters around.