Gearbox cr*pped out

[jpool]

OK, seems like my transmission just cr*pped out while riding back from work today. Symptoms:

• Bike is jerking violently (like going in and out of gear quickly) and making nasty mechanical noise when you open the throttle more than 1/3 way in 4th gear on the freeway
• If you just cruise along at steady throttle in 4th gear, things seem to be fine. I didn't want to ride for too long in 4th gear though to experiment further
• All other gears are fine, no problems even at full throttle

The bike is an '11 Roadster with 18k miles on it. @warp9.9 and other Rocket gurus, your insight on what kind of damage I'm looking at would be most welcome.

 

[jpool]

After some more research I'm suspecting either the dog gears or shift forks are busted, but if anyone has any other suggestions that don't involve splitting the cases to verify, those will be much appreciated.

 

[1olbull]

Above my pay grade, but sure hope you get it sorted out quickly!
Keep us all posted, please.

 

[warp9.9]

My guess is you either kicked a Circlip loose on the fifth gear and since it is only happening in fourth and your not having first gear problems, I suspect the input shaft fifth gear could be drifting. If I am right your riding a time bomb time to split her open. It could also be a bent dog which is moving the third/fourth gear (input shaft) to far allowing some dog collision between the fourth and fifth when not in mesh. Its really hard to do this long distance
time for some ice cream

 

[jpool]

Thanks a lot for the excellent remote diagnosis Warp! The message is not what I wanted to hear, but it was what I was also expecting. It may take a while before I get this fixed, but I'll be sure to report back on the autopsy results.

Truth to be told, the number of problems during the past 18 months / 16k miles I've had the bike has made me seriously consider trading it for something more reliable for commuting

 

[warp9.9]

Thanks a lot for the excellent remote diagnosis Warp! The message is not what I wanted to hear, but it was what I was also expecting. It may take a while before I get this fixed, but I'll be sure to report back on the autopsy results.

Truth to be told, the number of problems during the past 18 months / 16k miles I've had the bike has made me seriously consider trading it for something more reliable for commuting

Since yours is a Roadster and I have seen a few with transmission problems. All of them had bent shift forks which wore the dogs. I think some of the problem is they shift easier then the older ones but people still stomp on them thinking it is going to make it shift faster. Of course I am just taking a educated guess here. O another good thing is if your mechanically inclined and can read you can do the work yourself with only a few special tools needed. You can split the engine do the transmission completely without losing cam timing on the crank. I took my time and still had to slow down to make it take three days

 

[sonny]

Just curious, is the biked modified or stock? I have a 2015 Rocket X bought in Oct. with 14,000 miles and have had no problems at all. I am really starting to think twice about doing any modifications to the bike even after the warranty expires. Reliability is very important to me. Sorry to hear of your misfortunes with the bike.

 

[jpool]

Come to think of it, I have had a few missed 3rd to 4th shifts during hard acceleration, especially when the bike still had less than 10k miles. Over time the transmission has gotten smoother (until now, that is). Perhaps the shift fork was slightly out of alignment from the factory, and the missed shifts due to that have exacerbated the problem.

Sonny, I have only RamAir + TORs (143hp at the wheel), and I don't think the slight power increase over stock has contributed to any of the problems I've had (leaking cam cover gasket, snapped throttle cable, corroded starter button contacts, high idle, and now this). All the other problems so far have been pretty minor, but Triumph parts availability just causes too much downtime for a commuter bike, IMO. Luckily a friend of mine promised to loan me his ZRX1200 while I get my gearbox woes sorted out.

 

[sonny]

I have been real lucky so far. If something goes south in-order to get it fixed I am going to have a hard time because the two dealerships here in Oklahoma suck. Any warranty work will have to be taken out of state.

 

[skydog1000]

I have been real lucky so far. If something goes south in-order to get it fixed I am going to have a hard time because the two dealerships here in Oklahoma suck. Any warranty work will have to be taken out of state.

Are you talking about Tulsa and OKC. OKC has a new dealer