Not shifting

[Perhsing]

I replaced my gear shift oil seal this afternoon. That repair went as planned but when I reassembled everything the bike now won't shift. The shift lever just sits in one spot and doesn't engage the transmission. What did I do? How do I fix it?

 

[Wolfe_11B]

What model/year? How did you go about removing the seal? On my 81, to properly change the seal, you'd need to pull the shaft off which requires removing the right side cover. If you did that, you may have not got the end of the shaft sitting right on the selector mechanism

 

[Perhsing]

I have an '81 XS400. I just ripped the old one out with a pick and some needle nose pliers. Then slid a new one on and set it with a deep well socket that was the same diameter. I did shift the bike without the wheel moving while changing out the seal. It was in neutral and I didn't want the chain moving while my hand was down there.

 

[Wolfe_11B]

I'm going to guess that the play on the shaft with the seal removed was enough to misalign that right side shaft end. Easy to fix if you take off that right side cover, just get it back where it needs to be (it will be easy to see how it needs to go). Only bad part is oil will need to be drained, and probably a new gasket.

 

[Perhsing]

Yes I moved the shaft back and forth several times in the process of replacing that seal. I am no mechanic but I'm willing to try and repair it myself. Any idea where I find the correct gasket? What oil do you recommend? Is there a schematic I can look at that will give me an idea of what I'm going to be looking at once I get this thing apart?

 

[79xs]

Like Wolf 11B said, it became disconnected when the shift shaft was moved inboard.

By chance I saw your post this morning and I happened to be doing a teardown of a XS400 motor tonight so I made you a video for you. You might be able to do this without removing the clutch cover. Don't forget to remove that clip off the shifter so you can move the shifter shaft in/out.


Here is the link/video