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I have a 2003 KDX 220 and the gear shifter is floppy. It doesn't return to the starting position. Gears do change, there's just no return action on the shift lever.

So from reading its not uncommon for a return spring (I think it's the spring to the bottom right of center in this pic: http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/07/23/equrune7.jpg) to either fall off (if installed incorrectly) or break off due to wear. The previous owner just rebuilt the top and bottom end before I bought the bike, so I imagine something went wrong shortly after he got everything reassembled.

So my question is - how hard is it to remove the case to see what's in the pic above so I can inspect it? There are some hoses there for the water pump, I can disconnect those - also seems to be a cable leaving the top of the water pump area which I believe is related to the KIPS operation. Can I disconnect it as well to give me the free play I need? What about the clutch basket itself - can that and the water pump all stay intact if I keep them in place and just remove the bolts for the rear clutch cover? Or does the clutch basket have to come off first?

I'm just a bit hesitant to start tearing it apart and I'd like to figure out the minimum amount of dis-assembly I can do to have a look for that damn spring. Any help greatly appreciated.

I do have a copy of the service manual, just looking for some experience/guidance to go along with it.

Colin

Actually the return spring is in the bottom left. The one you referred to is the pawl detent spring. If it's broken then your shifting would be bad, i.e.: half shifts, over shifting. You have to drain the oil and the coolant to remove the large right side cover. But the good news IIRC is that you can change that without pulling the clutch.

what he said.

i bet you find the shifting drum has a lose bolt, and it slipped out past the index tensioner.

Here's a video on exactly what you're talking about! It's on a Suzuki 2 stroke engine but shows you why your shifter should return and what part (spring) is probably having the problem. Watch from the beginning, although it's specifically addressed 30 seconds into the vid!
Good luck!

Thanks for the advice guys. kxdude4, that video is awesome. Plan to haul mine apart one night this week to see what's going on with that spring.

Colin

see if you can get to that spring by removing the smaller clutch cover. Then remove the 22mm nut and clutch as a whole unit.

kx200, will do. For the 22mm nut, that's going to turn the whole shaft on me unless I lock up the back wheel somehow, either via the rear brake or by locking the rear sprocket with something wedged between it and the swingarm, right?

Between the excellent videos shadowdev1 put on youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrDQOm ... Auu6Pxi60g and the information in the thread started by luckymic here: http://www.kdxrider.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=91104 I'm pretty confident I can get my issues sorted. To be continued...

Colin

Got the covers off to have a look. Here's the culprit:



I put the spring back on, but I'm curious how it ended up this way to begin with. Guess I'll have to try putting it back together and see what I get.

Colin

They sometimes work their way off. Before you bolt it all back up make sure that the gear change spring is there. It will be attached to the shifter arm on top (just under and behind the big gear in your pic) from the position of your shifter it appears that it is in there, but you will want to make sure. Good news is you avoided a case split!

bufftester, I'm not sure which spring you mean. I'll have a look tomorrow. With the big spring repositioned, I can't turn the gear drum. Is it normal for it to jam with the case off like I have it? I mean the drum with the bolt with the #7 on the head. It was changing from neutral to first when I had the gear shift lever on, but after I took that off and fixed the spring position, I can't seem to make it budge now.

Colin

The image below is an SR motor which is the same except for the part circled in red so just ignore that. Your shift return spring would be the yellow bit (yes I did poorly at drawing, which is why I became an engineer ). The other 2 springs to check are circled in orange. If everything is there then use your shift lever to run through the gears. It helps to have the rear wheel off the ground and a helper to turn it as sitting static it will be difficult to do. Take the plug out and you should have no issue turning the rear wheel while you run through gears.

Awesome, thx for the extra info. The other springs are all in tact, but the spring in orange above the shift return spring does look a little mangled. It's working fine, but it does look slightly bent/stretched from previous wear. I'll see if I can get a replacement for it before I put things back together.

I'll try rolling through the gears with the back wheel up and the plug out. Thanks for the advice. I've got some new gaskets on the way to clean everything up (PO had used a lot of RTV to seal everything up and it's left a bit of a mess around the case and in some of the bolt holes).

Colin

So I had everything apart, I put the clutch return spring back on, sealed up and torqued down the cases. Before sealing it up I put the gear shift lever back on and ran through the gears (clutch and clutch basket were off, so no clutch action involved at all). Everything seemed fine.

Once everything was sealed back up, I went to try it again and I'm right back where I started. No return on the gear shift lever. I'm sure the shift return spring has popped back off.

I checked the parts diagram to make sure I'm not missing a spacer or anything on the shift shaft - it seems pretty basic, there's a collar that fits into the back of the shifter plate behind the shift return spring - but that's it. Other than that, the shaft just inserts right through the cases and out the other side where the lever gets attached. It doesn't seem to have any horizontal play in it when I grab the shift lever itself and try to wiggle it back and forth. So I'm not sure how the return spring is popping off so easily.

Anyone seen something like this before?

Colin

cstuckless wrote:So I had everything apart, I put the clutch return spring back on, sealed up and torqued down the cases. Before sealing it up I put the gear shift lever back on and ran through the gears (clutch and clutch basket were off, so no clutch action involved at all). Everything seemed fine.

Once everything was sealed back up, I went to try it again and I'm right back where I started. No return on the gear shift lever. I'm sure the shift return spring has popped back off.

I checked the parts diagram to make sure I'm not missing a spacer or anything on the shift shaft - it seems pretty basic, there's a collar that fits into the back of the shifter plate behind the shift return spring - but that's it. Other than that, the shaft just inserts right through the cases and out the other side where the lever gets attached. It doesn't seem to have any horizontal play in it when I grab the shift lever itself and try to wiggle it back and forth. So I'm not sure how the return spring is popping off so easily.

Anyone seen something like this before?

Colin

is the plastic bushing worn out?

if it's loose, the spring can twist sideways and pop off possibly

I think I've got it solved. Once I took the case off the 2nd time, it was still in the correct position, but I could tell it was binding on the case somehow. Turns out the spring is not symmetrical - it has a bigger bend or hook on one end or the other (top or bottom depending on how you insert it). The bigger bend needs to be down (on the bottom) for it to not bind on the case. You can see in my original pic above where it slipped off that the bigger bend is on the top (hard to tell though unless you've had the spring off and in your hands I guess).

Anyways, I've flipped it around and tested it by temporarily seating the cases back together and all seems fine. I'm keeping things apart for the time being as I have to split the cases next to sort out a transmission oil leak (bike is smoking like crazy). When I get everything back together I'll report back to close the loop on it.

Thanks for the help guys.

Colin

Is it smoking more than a 2T typically smokes? If you have never rejetted and are running heavy oil mixture or using cheap oil the bike will smoke like a chimney. Are you losing oil? Have not heard of anyone having a case issue where the transmission oil was leaking into the bottom end of the motor but it is possible I suppose.

I have 2 KDX220's. My "new" one, which is the bike in question, just had a bottom and top end done before I bought it off the PO. It's a 2003. And it's smoking like a chimney.

It looks like he put it back together in a rush to sell it. I put 900ml of 10w40 into the transmission side, ran the bike for 5-10 mins (I had to take it away from my house due to the amount of smoke it was blowing, it was getting into the house and stinking everything up). The ground behind the bike was covered with oil after just 5 mins.

I then drained the transmission and got about 450-500ml back out. The Coolant level didn't appear to change at all. I can only assume it's burning trans oil, and I have a leak in the oil seal on the crank side? My other 220, which is a 2004, runs great and barely smokes at all.

I can't imagine a case of bad jetting would result in the amount of smoke I'm seeing, nor would it explain the missing trans oil after just 5-10mins of the engine running. But it's the first time I've dealt with this type of situation, so I'm all ears on suggestions.

Colin

cstuckless wrote:I have 2 KDX220's. My "new" one, which is the bike in question, just had a bottom and top end done before I bought it off the PO. It's a 2003. And it's smoking like a chimney.

It looks like he put it back together in a rush to sell it. I put 900ml of 10w40 into the transmission side, ran the bike for 5-10 mins (I had to take it away from my house due to the amount of smoke it was blowing, it was getting into the house and stinking everything up). The ground behind the bike was covered with oil after just 5 mins.

I then drained the transmission and got about 450-500ml back out. The Coolant level didn't appear to change at all. I can only assume it's burning trans oil, and I have a leak in the oil seal on the crank side? My other 220, which is a 2004, runs great and barely smokes at all.

I can't imagine a case of bad jetting would result in the amount of smoke I'm seeing, nor would it explain the missing trans oil after just 5-10mins of the engine running. But it's the first time I've dealt with this type of situation, so I'm all ears on suggestions.

Colin

that's terrible news. crank seal is dead then. i could show you while I'm napping, after so many splits for my first time... but there are tutorials here on the forum already.

you'll really only need the flywheel puller tool, a good sized steering wheel puller, freezer , and heart gun/hair dryer. time consuming but not hard.

the next time mine needs seals I'm going to split the cases, clean the case halves, GRIND OUT THOSE DAMNED NUBS THAT PREVENT EASY DEAL REPLACEMENT tap two holes on each side for keepers, and put it back together . i can't be the first person to realize it should have always been this way .

This doesn't look right does it? There appears to be a good 1/4 inch gap between the crank seal and the crank. Wrong seal installed when PO had the bottom end done??





Colin

Whoa... worse again.. see the hole in the case to the lower left of the crank? Holy moses... what now?