Fluids and adjustment.

 

2nd that, heard of this many times OVERFILL. Also the weight of the primary oil can have an effect ON FINDING NEUTRAL. Running AMSOIL 10-40 in primary, just saying. NO issues.

 

as a side note: consider review of shaft arm as it enters transmission..the rear arm of shift linkage has one bolt that is allen...this thing(allen bolt) likes to get loose over time and causes the teeth on the transmission shaft to wear from the arm slipping back and forth..as that shaft wears the shift arm gets increase in play..difficult to get into neutral and eventually no shift because shaft is shot...easy to check with flashlight..just look for excess movement of arm while shaft stays in place.

 

I assume that you have tried holding the front brake and rocking the bike back and forth gently as you apply pressure upward with your left toe to shift from first gear to neutral?

 

Wow. Thanks for the responses. Here's where I'm at on this: Last nite I removed the derby cover and adjusted the clutch pack per the manual and then I adjusted the clutch cable. Also lubed the clutch cable. A test ride revealed little change but I was able to get it into neutral at idle just once. This is a fairly new bike with low miles (2500) and it was serviced at a very reputable dealer here in St. Louis. I also checked the transmission fluid while warm and it was clean, clear and at the top mark on the dipstick and smells like gear oil, not motor oil. I have not checked the primary chain as yet and I'll do that this evening. Also checked the shift levers and they are securely attached and seem to be functioning properly. When I got the bike about 3 weeks ago I changed the motor oil and I used Mobil 1 in the crankcase. The neutral issue has remained the same since I got the bike. It runs fine except for this issue.

 

Did you try what I told you above? It will work.

 

As stated earlier try bumping throttle a little while finding neutral.

 

I'll give it a shot this evening when I get home from work. Thanks, Wally.

 

Ditto on the primary oil level. It should just touch the bottom of the clutch basket with the bike level. You would probably have noticed this when you adjusted the clutch. Redline recommends Synthetic MTL in the primary, and ShockProof Heavy in the trans.

 

Last nite I checked the primary. To my surprise the lubricant level was not over full and, in fact, it appeared very low. I drained the lube into a pan and the amount looked to be about half of what the manual calls for (32oz) and the fluid looked to me to be dirty; smelled like gear oil. Very small amount of shavings on the drain plug magnet. Otherwise, everything else in the primary case looked, at least to my amateur eyes, OK. Chain may be a little loose perhaps; maybe. So I drained out the fluid that was in it and replaced with Mobil 1 15w50. Buttoned it back up and went for a ride. Shifted just fine as it had before the operation. But still no neutral at idle. No change in that regard. Now what? Oh, and by the way, the manual states very clearly in bold print that an overfull condition in the primary will cause neutral issues at idle. But underfull?