[Soulstealer36]

First time poster. Long time lurker. Have been poking around on the forum but can't seem to find a thread that deals with this.

2004 KLR650 with about 15,000 miles.

Bought the bike and it wouldn't shift into 4th gear. Like running into a wall with the shifter when trying to get into 4th gear. After riding around the neighborhood for 5 or 6 miles, now it won't shift into 3rd gear.

Yes, I understand you need to really hit the shifter but to no avail.

Here is what I have done so far to remedy:

- Fresh oil change
- Removed shifter - inspected - looked fine - not loose and nothing obviously amiss
- Removed clutch cover to inspect pawl spring. No problems there. Did replace the spring for the hell of it.
- Found some small chunks of metal in the oil screen. Figured the previous owner hadn't done the doohickey and was seeing results of failure.
- Pulled left side cover - spring for idler shaft lever was disintegrated (source of metal in oil screen?). Installed Eagle Mike's doohickey.
- Still won't shift into 3rd.

I am leaning towards a broken or bent shift fork. Any other ideas? Appreciate the help.

 

[Soulstealer36]

Thanks pdwestman. Already put a Moose Racing 3/4" longer shifter on it. To no avail.

It's a truly odd sensation. When shifting from 2nd to 3rd, just feels like you are at the end of the gears. Clicks up about halfway but doesn't do anything. And won't go any further than 2nd.

Has anyone run into broken or bent shift forks on their KLR? If so, can you list any symptoms you ran into?

 

[Soulstealer36]

NormK -

Thanks for your reply. I did inspect the shift pawl and it was fine (assuming that's the forked shape assembly that is attached to the opposite end of shifter shaft).

That's a good idea on the shift drum. I will check that out tomorrow.

One of the six or seven pieces of metal I found in the oil screen was a rather shiny, machined piece that looked broken off. About 1/8' of an inch long. Using a camera to poke around inside might be the trick to verify where that came from.

 

[Soulstealer36]

NormK -

As far as the "pawl" you are referencing, are you speaking of the left or right side of the bike?

Tossed the metal shards. Several of the small ones looked like the broken end to the black spring for the idler balancer lever that was disintegrated. The one that caused me concerned was shiny, machined metal that did have a sharp edge to it indicating shear force. Looked a bit like a cone with the sharp edge on the wide base of the cone.

Put the bike back together last night and readjusted the shift lever. Going to take it out for a ride when it stops raining (Seattle) and see where we are at. Stay tuned.

 

[Soulstealer36]

NormK -

Apologies for going dark. Was out of town.

I am leaning towards your idea about the pawls. Been all over this bike and am not finding anything else that could be the cause of the shifting problem.

Took it out today with the new extended shift lever. Definitely shifts better from 1 to 2. Still no go on getting into 3.

Do you have to crack the case to get into the gears that were pictured in your pawl diagram?

 

[Soulstealer36]

Well, after throwing my hands up in the air on the shifting problem, I took it to Seattle Used Bikes (SUB) for them to play with it.

Diagnosis: Bent shift fork which in turn cracked the case. Mechanic believes the KLR was dropped hard on the shifter which in turn bent the shift fork. PO continued to ride it and over time, shift fork cracked the case. Mechanic says he has been working on bikes for 43 years and has never seen this on a KLR before.

So....time for a new motor. Anyone have a good resource for used KLR engines?

Thanks to everyone for the advice.