My '88 R100RT was parked in '03 because it would not start. I believe the problem there was a broken electrical connection. I have fixed this and many other problems that arose due to it being parked outside under a tarp for almost 20 years, and as soon as my new brake master cylinder piston shows up it will be ready for the road. From what I have been told, the bike shifted fine when it was parked. I have changed all the fluids, but still this shifting issue persists:
The shift lever does change gears, but it remains in whatever position it is pushed to, and does not return to center on its own. For example: If the bike is in first gear and I shift up, the bike does change to second gear, however I must push the lever down halfway before lifting it up again to switch to third. From third, if I push down on the lever to reach second, I must lift the lever up a bit before pushing it down to shift down to first. It does not seem to have a functional "return spring".
I know that there is a spring in the shifter mechanism that commonly fails, but the symptoms of that failure seem to be very different from this case.
Searches for similar issues on this forum and on google turned up only irrelevant results or fixes for the seemingly-unrelated shift-mechanism-spring-failure, mentioned above.
I have only ridden the bike about 100 yards around the parking lot at my apartment, and have not warmed up the transmission adequately. Is it possible that once the transmission fluid warms up it could loosen up and lubricate the mechanism such that it will move more freely? Alternatively is there anything I can check without disassembling the gearbox that may fix this issue?
I posted this issue in an Airheads Facebook group, and it was recommended that I send the transmission out to be rebuilt. However, as a student I cannot afford to pay someone $100+ hourly to have the transmission rebuilt. If, after external diagnostics point to an internal issue and assuming I can purchase/rent/borrow/make the proper tools, is it outside the scope of the average engineering students' ability to rebuild one of these transmissions?
Thanks for the help!
Ok, thanks for the advice. I'll give that a try and report back tomorrow.
When you changed your transmission oil.... did you take a look at the OLD oil before you got rid of it?
If it looked like a chocolate latte.... you may really need to consider a rebuild.
Unless you live in the desert... 20 years under a tarp outside will fill up a tranny with moisture..... and that will rust your gears pretty well.
I bought a set of two airheads that had sat under a shed outside for 10 years.... When I opened the tranny on both of them.. the bottom half of the gears looked great... they had been submerged in oil all that time... but the upper half that had to deal with the line of moisture that formed on them from 10 years of the seasons going by... totally ruined them....
You might do better just finding a decent used tranny and putting that in... Maybe you can sell the old one for parts... or keep it if you want to overhaul it some day... but bearings and gears are not cheap either.
It is very naughty to put our babies out in the weather.... better to find them a new home than keep them in the back yard.
They don't really need to be outside to collect a lot of water. If kept in an unheated area, condensate can also collect and turn the gear oils to a color ranging from green to brown.
Sometimes in situations like this all you need to do is change the oil and then go for a nice 50 mile ride. The engine will get fully warmed up, and oil will wick into even the tightest bushings and loosen things up. My indoor-stored RT shifted poorly when I fist got it running. The more I rode it the better is performed (both engine and gearbox).
What's available now that wasn't back in the 70's is multi-grade gear oil which is far superior in performance to the older straight 90W EP. It takes 1-1/2 quarts to change the gear oil on the whole bike (gearbox, drive shaft, and final housing). Before I spent any big money or time, I'd change ALL the gear oils and then go get the bike really hot. Once hot, stopping and laying the bike over to the LH side might help "flood" parts of the gearbox that usually only get a mist. I have no proof of this, it's simply an old English bike trick that cost nothing and may help you in this situation.
Hope this helps.
Owning an old Airhead is easy.
Keeping an old Airhead running great is the true test.
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