Maintenance & Technical > KX500 Original

Hard shifting

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hughes:
Gowen, Good call on the shifter location. Mine hits the mounting bracket for the skid plate if I move it to far down. My bike didn't really start shifting smooth until I switched to ATF but my is bike old and tried.

serafin:
Zagnut

Where in Vegas are you?  I'm in Henderson.  Maybe we could get together for a ride.

Serafin

Polar-Bus:

--- Quote from: zagnut55 on July 12, 2006, 01:50:45 PM ---Hi all. New member here and I have to say that I made the right choice! All my friends bought 4 strokes but I just couldn't bring myself to do it...glad I didn't because I have never had so much fun as I do on my 04 500! I do however have a slight problem. I found a post for the same thing a few years back, but no one answered the guys post. Here goes... My K5 shifts great 1st through 5th and back down to second but sometimes, not always, I have a hard time getting it into 1st. It just wants to stay in nuetral until I hit the shift lever a few times then it goes into 1st. This is a real pain when you got your groove going or approching a hill at slow speeds. The only thing I did was change the oil. It was my first as I bought the bike used. I tried the redline oil 10/40 because they were out of 20/50 like I wanted for the vegas heat. If you guys can help me out with any info, that would be GREAT! Also, I also noticed that when I pull in the clutch with the bike off and cold it makes a snap or popping sound. Not real hard but just enough to hear it. Thanks, Paul.

--- End quote ---

Hmmmm, this ones a unique issue. I don't think it's clutch (or it would tend to behave the same way in all gears). I also don't think changing oils will have any positive effects. I am thinking there is a burr of some kind in the shift drum, or possibly something is causing the shift shaft to bind as it tries to slid into first gear. Try to figure out a specific pattern as to eactly when your bike doesn't want to go into first, ie: if you come to a complete stop, does it click easily into 1st? If not, try operating the clutch severall times. In my experiences Kawasaki clutch plates can be prone to "sticking" from lack of oil between the drive plates.

gowen:

--- Quote from: Polar-Bus on July 13, 2006, 06:31:56 AM ---In my experiences Kawasaki clutch plates can be prone to "sticking" from lack of oil between the drive plates.

--- End quote ---

That is what I've run into alot too. Between my KDX's and KX's. As far as the gears go, You have a larger shift from 1-2nd gear then you do from 3-5th. So, usally you can do half shifts on all gears but 1-2 and 2-1st. That is my thought.

FuriouSly:
Ditto Gowen, 2nd to 1st and vice versa take more effort (false neutral scenarios). If the clutch plates are glazed from heat, low quality, or poor oil choice you will tend to get a popping of the plates upon clutch pull (seperating of the plates).  Generally when the oil heats up the plates should function better, but if not they probably have been burned.

It looks like there are more people in the Las Vegas area than I thought.  I live in Henderson as well serafin.  Zagnut in Vegas it looks like.  Arigato and 1alldave live in Vegas as well.  Wonder who else?

FuriouSly

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