Transmission problems

[BlaineKaiser450]

Ok i think i might have a problem with my transmission on my 2004 450r. When i shift from 3rd-4th, under heavy acceleration, it hits false neutural randomly. When its in the false neutural, if i stay on the gas and rev it out, nothing happens but when i pull in the clutch, it hooks back up and starts going again. Nothing happens if i shift while being super easy on it. One of my friends thinks my shifter forks might be messed up. Any help from anyone is greatly appreciated.

-Blaine

Mine has done that occasionally for years. You have to make sure you pull up all the way on the shifter.

[warr72]

Sounds like the fork isn't engaging all the way.

[warriorxcr1]

before you break the motor open check your chain slack..... there are detailed instructions in your manual but heres a brief how to.

my quad does this to me when there is not enough tension on the chain which equals chain adjustment time.

you should have 1- 1 1/4 inches of play in your chain (measure from part close to airbox) from lowest to highest.

-put your finger under chain and pull straight up.....thats basically it.

chains stretch all the time so i would examine that first.

How would the chain tension have anything to do with the transmission shifting? That doesn't make any sense to me.

[warriorxcr1]

simple.... sprocket skips under hard acceleration or as the chain raises and lowers due to bumps, jumps, etc..

if the sprocket is not correctly hooking up with the drive chain how are the internals meshing correctly?

im not saying this is his problem for sure.... just trying to save him a headache if it is.

this has happened to me before as my chain has stretched!

Originally posted by warriorxcr1
simple.... sprocket skips under hard acceleration or as the chain raises and lowers due to bumps, jumps, etc..

if the sprocket is not correctly hooking up with the drive chain how are the internals meshing correctly?

im not saying this is his problem for sure.... just trying to save him a headache if it is.

this has happened to me before as my chain has stretched!

That makes no sense at all. There is no way the sprocket is going to skip a tooth on the chain. I don't care how loose it is. There is no room in there for that to happen, unless you have like a 10 tooth front sprocket.

[warriorxcr1]

lets not even say its going to skip... leave it at that. how can a worn sprocket or loose chain give you the same bite as a new, and properly speced one?

actually if you want to get deeper.... a loose chain will wear down a sprocket, and in some cases if worn enough, will cause a chain to skip after you pound a 40 foot double or push it too hard for example, but forget about skipping again.

i guess honda tells us to keep are chains properly adjusted by professionals and to replace worn sprockets, rollers, and chains for no reason as well. how could proper tension actually cause things to work right?

bottom line.

it happened to me... it could happen to him as well. as soon as i adjusted my chain the problem was solved. your getting rather offended for such a stupid thing. i am trying to spread resonable advice. if you disagree i am sorry. but tearing a motor down to replace a shift fork does not seem logical right away.

blaine... what are the condition of your sprockets, and chain slack?

[BlaineKaiser450]

now that you say this, it kinda makes sense. My sprockets are kinda wearing out and my chain kept coming loose. I would tighten it, but it would still hit false neutural next time i shifted hard. Ive got a rear end coming in the mail, so ill replace the sprockets and chain then.

Originally posted by warriorxcr1
lets not even say its going to skip... leave it at that. how can a worn sprocket or loose chain give you the same bite as a new, and properly speced one?

actually if you want to get deeper.... a loose chain will wear down a sprocket, and in some cases if worn enough, will cause a chain to skip after you pound a 40 foot double or push it too hard for example, but forget about skipping again.

i guess honda tells us to keep are chains properly adjusted by professionals and to replace worn sprockets, rollers, and chains for no reason as well. how could proper tension actually cause things to work right?

bottom line.

it happened to me... it could happen to him as well. as soon as i adjusted my chain the problem was solved. your getting rather offended for such a stupid thing. i am trying to spread resonable advice. if you disagree i am sorry. but tearing a motor down to replace a shift fork does not seem logical right away.

blaine... what are the condition of your sprockets, and chain slack?

I'm not getting offended. It seems impossible to me. Maybe I just never let my stuff get that bad.

I'm out of this one.

Good Luck.

[BlaineKaiser450]

BUMP!


anyone with any more input?

[300ex mxracer]

mine does it once in a while. doesnt get any worse, or any better. and my chain and sprockets are all good.

[TJ Bradley]

Kinda old post but i just found it. Sorry.

But my 05 started doing this exactly. I ignored it at first but cause it was only every now and then, but eventually it got more often and worse. Finally to the point so bad i couldnt even get out of 2nd gear under hard acceleration. It would kick into neutral from 3rd and 4th under load. And in 5th in would kick back down into 4th. lol. It about got me killed cause id let it get so bad by just trying to ignore it. I would be pulling hard to the face of a jump and all a sudden it would go into neutral, and you could imagine how that can turn out.

So anyways i had the motor tore motor tore apart and the tranny gears checked. On the inside of the gears where they mesh together they had worn down and rounded off.The actual teeth were fine, but on the inside of the gears where they hold in gear they were worn. Instead of being sharp straight edges they were smooth as could be. All the shift forks were good in it, it was just those couple gears that had just worn out from years of banging gears and abuse. I STRONGLY recommend to tear it apart now before it gets you hurt. lol.

[speedracer350X]

I agree, my shifting seems more "crisp" with a properly adjusted chain

[mike07450]

shift forks are bad

[sunco]

we do mx. the kids chain was lose - don't know if he tighten it. was on the track & his chain broke - he replaced it - wasn't long before he came in & said 3rd gear is gone. Oh well now its time to tare it down & rebuild. Its an 07. Bummer

[KEVIN132]

ive done a bunch its not that hard. just get a book or call a shop!

[eastside 400]

trans is shot. Very common, how often do you shift without the clutch or shift with the clutch without letting off the throttle. i barely use the clutch when i shift and i go threw a tranny every year or 2. Like said above, the dogs on the gears start to round off and wont engange properly and when you try to do it under power it makes it worse. Moto-Xperts does a cut on the dogs to promote better engangement. The good thing is that the 04-05 trannies are way better then the 06+.

[sunco]

Yeah the dogs r worn along w/ the rest of the trans. We got a Honda guy doing our work on the side , so we r in good hands. Its currently getting the motor rebuilt - so we'll have to find something else to do this winter :D

[eastside 400]

i sure hope it doesnt take him all winter to do one engine

[sunco]

Sounds like its time for a tranny tune up. Ride it till it breaks or tear it down now & fix it. I'm getting ours done so we can still ride, not many days left for us in jersey, but I c ur in cali so u got all the time in the world unless ur racing for points. Good luck