So I'm heading out to work this morning and get to my first red light. Turns green and I'm rolling along in 1st gear just fine. I shift to 2nd and get lots of noise and no power. I put it in first and it's fine, speed up, shift to 2nd and get the same thing. So I pull over, look the bike over etc.
Bike starts and runs fine, put it in 1st and now I've got nothing there either! I wasn't far from home so I just pushed it back.

Observations since I got it home:

It sounds like gears failing to mesh together. Or perhaps a loose chain laying on teeth?

There are no problems when the bike is in neutral.

The problem occurs without my releasing the clutch lever. i.e. I squeeze the clutch, start in neutral, shift to 1st and immediately hear the noise, kill power.

With the bike off, shifting seems fine. I can click into all gears just like normal.

With the bike off and in 1st gear, clutch lever released. I can push the bike and hear/feel this gearing. Obviously I shouldn't be able to push the bike at all. It'll push backwards and forwards.

Someone with more savy than me should answer, but I was wondering if it could be the splines stripped, just me thinking since no one else had answered, and my thinking ain't good...lol... I thought usually the clutch slippage was noticed more in the upper gears first, like in 4th & 5th gear...
Have a good one...Old Dog...

Yeah I've been talking to some others about it and that's a very likely bet. My splines haven't been greased to my knowledge in at least 20K miles.

but I was wondering if it could be the splines stripped,

That'd be my guess. Easy enough to pull the rear wheel off and check.
Checking the engine oil for any metal pieces would let you know if it's in the engine.

What's the year & mileage of your bike?

Classic splines gone scenario. I liken the sound to.. nuts in a hubcap. If you haven't greased the splines in 20,000 miles then it is an even more likely bet.
(You haven't been reading all those cautions about check your splines, have you!)
Chances are you will need to replace both the final drive and the coupling on the driveshaft and you will find either a bunch of red dust or a little black sooty cake on the rear splines where the gear teeth use to be.
Brand new you are looking at $1000 in parts alone. Good news is there are some good used units available.
Let us know what you find when you pull the wheel and final drive
Here's Fergy's write-up on spline lube and replacement
http://pages.tstar.net/~fergy/writeups/final_drive1.html

Bean: You stated you have 1st gear..Any other gears? I believe its NOT the splines as you have a gear that works.. If splines were gone you would have NO gears..Just Lug Nuts In your Hub cap../;o) Please keep us informed and any pics when you tackle this issue. Amsoil Man

Bean: You stated you have 1st gear..Any other gears? I believe its NOT the splines as you have a gear that works.. If splines were gone you would have NO gears..Just Lug Nuts In your Hub cap../;o) Please keep us informed and any pics when you tackle this issue. Amsoil Man

Nope, he lost 1st gear too
"Bike starts and runs fine, put it in 1st and now I've got nothing there either!"

I noticed mine as I was going through traffic lights in Oklahoma City. First couple of ones seemed like the bike was trying to shift on its own, then the third or fourth light, I got the sound and coasted into an apartment parking lot. As soon as my husband doubled back for me and heard the sound he knew what it was. Started the bike up in neitral no sound, shifted to first.. nuts in a hubcap!

Observations since I got it home:

It sounds like gears failing to mesh together. Or perhaps a loose chain laying on teeth?



There are no drive chains for the tranny in our bikes. The only chain driven component in the bike is the oil/water pump. The tranny has direct mesh gears, no chains or belts.

I would agree with Dianna, it sounds like the splines have let loose. You probably had enough surface area for 1rst gear to work but the added torque for 2nd and up overcame that surface area and wouldn't motivate the bike. Later, the rest gave up and there you are.

Yeah I spent most of my day yesterday reading about the spline issues on this site. It's a shame I hadn't done that previously. I have no doubt that's the problem.

Sky rider i think your dead on with what you said about 1st gear. There was probably enough to grab there for a little bit but 2nd gear did her in.

I'll be watching ebay for a new shaft & coupler. If anyone here happens to have a set laying around feel free to make me an offer.

You will probably need a new (to you) final drive as well as this is the main part that strips along with the coupler. You'll have to tear the back wheel off in order to assess the damage. Fergy has an excellent step by step instruction set posted on the site.

Just to clarify, the final drive is the shaft itself or the gearing that connects it to the wheel?

My understanding is that things connect like so:
Transmission, Coupling, Drive Shaft, brake drum, Wheel

Is that right? Am I missing anything?

Te connection goes like this..
From the bevel gear the driveshaft which also has the universal joint connects to the bevel gear. This is housed i the swingarm unit. On the other end is the coupling that attaches to the pinion gear of the final drive unit. This is the "pumpkin" on the left side of the rear wheel. The splines in the coupling and on the pinion gear are what gets worn down without proper lube (Moly 60). The pumpkin also holds the gear oil. So you have the final drive on the left with a spacer inside for the axle, the rear wheel rim and the drum brakes on the right side of the wheel.

Here's the link to Fergy's write up. http://pages.tstar.net/~fergy/writeups/final_drive1.html
This will explain better than anything I know.

Ah ok, I think I've got it. I keep reading about these various parts but without knowing what's what it wasn't all making sense.
Thanks Fergy for the info and pictures.

Hey Guy.........Lets get to the bottom of this.......here's what you do......

Put the bike on the center stand.....put it in any gear........pull the rubber boot back covering the drive shaft at the rear of the transmission so you can see the shaft & universal joint.......with it in gear, see if you can spin the rear tire while looking at the drive shaft. If the shaft stays stationary & you can spin the tire around.........the splines & coupler are toast! (Or something else in the very rear end).

The rubber boot is under the left side cover at the very rear of the tranny...

If while in gear, you spin the rear tire & the drive shaft also spins around......well.......start crying...........

99.9% chance your spline & coupler at the rear end of the driveshaft are gone......

Tcat

Ah, Very good suggestion! I'll try that after work today.

Ok, I got home, put her on the center stand, pulled back the boot and gave the wheel a spin. Everything was spinning. I was about to get upset then I realized there's still a little bit of tooth left and zero resistance.
So a jammed a wrench in there and gave the wheel another spin and she sang the song I wanted to hear, the song of nails in a blender :)

I found a guy that was parting out a bike but as it turns out he already sold everything I need. Since I've got some time on my hands I'll probably go ahead and pull everything apart this weekend and narrow down exactly where the problem is. Maybe I won't need all three parts and can save a little money.

Thanks again to everyone who helped. I'll post again if anything exciting happens.

Question, Is there a safe way for one guy to get the bike on it's center stand on top of the 2x6 without a jack?
I tried rolling the rear wheel onto a small board to rise it up some. This almost worked but the board's only 1" thick. Sadly it's all I've got at the moment.

I read it's possible to do without the board. That you can rise the rear axle nuts above the pipes. Or remove the pipes themselves. Is any one method better then the others?

I had to have help getting her on the center stand with the 2x6 I used. Some people here (Knifemaker) suggest using a nice thick phone book under the rear wheel to help get the center stand up on the 2x6 or whatever. Just be careful that the book doesn't slip when attempting this.
If you are not able to boost the center stand, you will have to deflate the tire at the least and possibly the exhaust as well.

Well I lucked out. Didn't even need the board. I just put it on the center stand by itself. After removing the shocks the wheel dropped down and everything was accessible. I needed to use a 2" extension on my ratchet but otherwise everything went fairly smooth.
Maybe my particular year (94) is slightly different, or because it's a CA model, I don't know. I didn't even take off the passenger peg or license plate.

Anyway, I still have to order my parts but at least I've got the wheel and final drive off. Nothing but red dust in there. The splines on the drive and coupling are wasted. Don't let the front edge of the splines fool you, the main edges are gone.

http://nuclearplayground.com/images_bbs/Splines_F_Drive_01.jpg http://nuclearplayground.com/images_bbs/Splines_Coupling_01.jpg

I'm waiting for my circlip pliers to arrive so I'm not able to remove the coupling yet. Is it safe to assume the drive shaft is ok?

I don't use a board with mine. I do remove the license plate though and after I release the shock I have enough clearance with waggling the tire to the side a bit.
The driveshaft should be fine

I'm still having no luck finding parts.
My drive shaft is fine, the coupling is shot and the final gear assembly is in bad shape.

I've had two different shops e-mail me saying they had the parts but when asked if the splines are in good shape I've got no reply from either.
Nothing's popped up on ebay in two weeks.

Anyone know of another possible source for these?

Well I managed to find someone with my parts. Should arrive at the end of the week. With any luck I'll be riding again by Saturday!

*sigh* the guy only shipped me the final drive. No coupling! I was very specific about it too. This is so frustrating. It's been almost a month that I've been without my bike.

If anyone knows where I can obtain one please let me know asap!