87 250x 3rd gear trans problem?

[Jwilsonpwt]

Hey everyone,
Does anyone have any good info on the problem that the 1987 250x had with the transmission? I am having a problem with mine from time to time only in that gear. It shifts into third just fine and never fully comes out of gear, but it seems to have a quick slip or miss a few seconds into riding in third. I was told in the March 1988 Dirtwheels there was an article about it. I sometimes see listings for used 250x's that say they have the later model trans update/upgrade. Any info anyone could provide would really be appreciated.

Thanks again,
Jeff

[polcat1p]

My first 87x did the same thing, then it just went boom. The 87x that i have now is fine.

[Jwilsonpwt]

what went boom? How severe was the engine damaged?

[countypark]

Mickey Dunlap at 4 stroke Tech or Tom Carlson at TC Racing could help you out I bet. They are 250X and 300EX masters.

[polcat1p]

Originally posted by Jwilsonpwt
what went boom? How severe was the engine damaged?
My trans. It happend because i just keep riding it with a slipping third gear. At that point in atving most people were putting 350x motors in there 250xs, so i was able to pick up a later model 250x motor cheap. I never took the motor apart, so i dont know how bad the damage was. The 87 250x i have now has low hours but if there is an issue with 3rd, i will fix it before its gets to costly

[prepracing]

the "cogs" that interlock on the gears get rounded off over time and causes it to slip in and out of 3rd gear. I had an 87' model a few years ago that was doing this. You have to replace both 2nd and 3rd gear to make it right, due to the gears interlocking design. If I remember right the gears cost me $130 from my local honda dealer, and I installed them myself. If your not afraid of splitting the cases its really not that difficult. Get a HONDA service manual ( not a clymer because it doesn't show the detailed schematic ). And its pretty straight forward on installing the gears, and no special tools needed other than a torque wrench when putting your cases back together and puttting the head back on.

[JJ69]

my 87 hasnt had any problems with 3rd.. it'll pull up and do donuts in 3rd quite easily.

[rebelbuggy]

Originally posted by prepracing
the "cogs" that interlock on the gears get rounded off over time and causes it to slip in and out of 3rd gear. I had an 87' model a few years ago that was doing this. You have to replace both 2nd and 3rd gear to make it right, due to the gears interlocking design. If I remember right the gears cost me $130 from my local honda dealer, and I installed them myself. If your not afraid of splitting the cases its really not that difficult. Get a HONDA service manual ( not a clymer because it doesn't show the detailed schematic ). And its pretty straight forward on installing the gears, and no special tools needed other than a torque wrench when putting your cases back together and puttting the head back on.

are the older 250s driffrent from the 400s?
cause my buddy had his cluth out when replacing his timing chain and he only took off the side cover. I might have to replace my cluth on mine soon. i really hope I dont have to split the case.

[bwamos]

Originally posted by rebelbuggy
are the older 250s driffrent from the 400s?
cause my buddy had his cluth out when replacing his timing chain and he only took off the side cover. I might have to replace my cluth on mine soon. i really hope I dont have to split the case.

You don't have to split the cases to change out the clutch. You only nee to take off the right side sidecase cover.

[Honda TRX250ex]

My quad does the same thing. I split the engine in half to take a look at it. I found out that the main counter shaft was moving in and out and that was causing the third gear to slip out too. I put a washer in there (wasent a thrust washer) and put it all back together and when i rode it for about 3-4 hour later it started slipping again. My guess that the tanny wore down the washer that i put in there because it was not a thrust washer. I'm probly going to split my engine open again in the winter in auto class and replace the whole third gear and all the thrust washers and spacers.


heres my advice
DO NOT split the engine if you never been into a tranny or you dont know anything about an engine or a tranny. You can mess up the whole engine badly if you did. If you know how to i suggest you get both a clymar and a honda service book. You can use a 300ex book also thats what i did. I use both books because the clymar one didnt have some of the information in it.
My suggestion is to bring it into a dealer and have them fix it.