82 Maxim 650 stuck in 1st gear...Help?

I dropped my bike last week and today while I was driving I had trouble shifting up to 3rd but I managed to get it to shift around again until I stopped at a red light. I couldn't shift it out of 1st gear! I had to park it still in first gear. I can't even move it to neutral!
What's wrong with it? (Feints from stress...)
My motorcycle is a Yamaha Maxim 650 1982. It feel down on the rear brake side.

 

Welcome to the site !!

The Crystal Ball says that you have chain guides (tensioners) that have already started to fragment, and by dumping your bike, you re-located some crumbs into your shifter drum grooves.

You can fish and pick them out or dislodge them, but that doesn't completely solve the problem; it requires splitting the case and fitting new guides.

Hope you're OK, and read the rear brake warning in my sig.

 

Your words...They confuse me! I'm not a mechanic or a know how so is there perhaps a walkthrough?

 

get yourself a copy of the xjcd. There's a WEALTH of info that you WILL use as an xj owner. There's also a really neat section on "Emergency Roadside Guidectomy"......how to remove the pieces of the guide without splitting the case. At least it's something that you can try..........

welcome aboard.

dave fox

 

1). Are you willing to remove an engine and take it almost completely apart?? (fix everything- spend $600?)

2). Are you willing to buy another (good) engine and swap??

3). Are you willing to pull the left shifter cover and "fish around" a bit, getting you back on the road for $5.00,

4). Are you willing to take it to a shop??

Those are your basic choices, the good folks on this site will help you, no matter what you decide.

 

Yeah, good luck on #4.

The problem with #2 is it would be a ticking time bomb as well.

HOWEVER: Let's not completely jump to conclusions. It's also possible (yes I know but worth a shot) that something is wrong with the shifter "mousetrap" itself.

Either way, you pull the shifter cover. Inspect the mech. If it's fine, you get your flashlight and a set of LONG HD hemostats and go fishing.

The primary chain guide in these bikes is known to break up though; picking the pieces out is prolonging the inevitable, but for who knows how long? Could be 10 miles, or 10,000. The true repair is expensive if you don't do it yourself, and difficult to find someone to do it for you.

Sorry. Maybe you'll get lucky and it's only a broken shifter spring. (For now.)

 

Ug...I'm trying to ballance school and ideas to fix my bike. Could I get some help with option 3? (Earlier I wrote 4 by mistake) It seems fairly simple and cheap for me to try. I have the XJ manual but I can't make heads or tails of it unless someone has a specific page in mind. Also whats the shifter spring? If its easily recognizable I'll check it out.
btw Thanks a lot guys! I don't have the money for a shop trip and this is my only means of transportation to school (besides my parents, (thanks parents!))

 

polite bump?

 

You'd have to tell us which book you have, and someone here would tell you a page number, but it would be in the engine overhaul section.

In the Haynes manual it starts on pg 41, but doesn't get interesting till pg 63 it even shows how to make your own Torx tools out of allen wrenches!!

I don't think there's a walk-thru on this site, as Fitz and I said, you open 'er up and fish around, the $5.00 is for a tube of sealant, but you should buy a new cover gasket (from Chacal, top of every page)

 

Oh man, I hate seeing stuff like that happen to a guy who hasn't had the experience of getting deep into his engine yet. Most of us have been there....something big happens and it's WAY over our heads.....hey, come to think of it....we HAVE been there and we DID get it fixed! So, this is where you sink or swim...this is YOUR MOMENT!! The only question I see remaining is whether you're going to do it or sell it???????

The guys here will bend over backwards to help you as much as they can but you are going to get your hands VERY DIRTY....but when it's all back together, you're going to be light years ahead of where you are now, mechanically speaking.....so ask the questions, gather the tools and a clean place to work and get to it!!

You might want to update your user panel so we can see where you live, you might be really close to someone that can and is willing to help you get this resolved.

jeff

 

All right thanks guys.
Jeffk you're right if I accomplish this feat I will be better but the fact is I'm at level zero when it comes to any type of mechanical part. So for instance a shifter cover is something I knwo nothing about. Though that is to say I don't mind trying to wotk it out but those willing to help this poor guy should try to bear with me.
So how about the left shifter cover? Where is it and how do I fish around? For that matter what am I looking for being wrong?
Also yes, I do have the Haynes manual for the XJ 650 and 750 Fours.

 

Okay so the shifter assembly could very easily be your issue. I had a very similar issue with my 650 Midnight, and I ended up just needing to replace ALL THREE spring clips inside of the shift cover. Mine wouldn't get out of 1st/neutral, then it was neutral/2nd. Back and forth, I didn't have any other gears. I thought for sure the transmission had gone since the shift lever was working up and down, but lo and behold $40 worth of parts and she was running like new.

If you take the cover off and even ONE of the three is broken, trust me and replace the other two. I made the mistake of doing only one and about a month later another went. They are fairly easy to get to and don't require draining the oil (assuming you lean the bike way over onto its right side to do the job).

 

I went around looking on this site and can I safely assume the link shows what springs I'm looking for?
http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/p=239859.html
I thought I'd ask before I start. It's raining to day anyways.

 

Yep. There's that spring (the "mousetrap" spring) plus a couple of smaller springs on the arms/pawls. You can see one of them clearly in the pics in that post that show the assembled mechanism.

ALSO shown in those pics (the ones showing the assembled mechanism) is the "fishing hole."

Just above the shifter "drum" in the left upper corner of that cavity you'll see a round hole. That's the hole you peek into with a flashlight and "fish out" broken pieces of the chain tensioner if it turns out the shift mechanism is fine. Being right above the shifter drum, it allows you to see the shift cam and part of the shifter forks, which is usually where the jam occurs if that's what's happened instead.

 

Crow

If you need we can do a Webex meeting, I just finished modeling the shift mechanism in 3D, not the transmission just the levers and springs. We can do a webex meeting if you have a DSL or Cable internet connection. Fitz and others have seen my work so they can maybe say if they think it would help to see the models.

I provided you with a PM with my contact info so we can have voice communication during the meeting

Let me know if you are interested

FlyGp

 

Well since it's finally stopped raining I'm going to open my bike up today. I'm a bit nervous, thinking I might make it worse but it's already broken right? Anyways thanks FlyGp I might take you up on your offer but I'm at least going to work on it myself first.

 

Alright so I got it started before I did any work (weird) and managed to change the gears back and forth. However it's not 'catching' gears or 'engaging' gears. I give it gas and the motor only revs. It won't actually drive. Any ideas on what that could be? I've heard it's a possible clutch problem but I'm not sure.

 

Sounds like you need to start where you had planned to.

Just on the surface, it sounds as though the lever is moving but it's not actually selecting gears.

Proceed as planned.

 

Let's hope that it's the simplest of things that cause a Bike to not Shift.

The TENSION Spring:

Look for it when you Pull the Cover.

At the Front of the Cover is a Small Safety Plate Cable Guide.
Before you re-install the Cover, ... Make sure the Wire that Plate Protects does not get 'Pinched'.

:::::: Small TENSION Spring ::::::

 

I'm having a difficult time getting the screws undone. Any tips? I'm going to be getting wd-40 after school so that might help.