RD250LC Gearbox Disaster

[pkay]

So after an eternity getting my RD250LC back to what I consider reasonable condition and undoing years of abuse I finally invested in new rubber and got her regoed in anticipation of smoking out lots of car drivers while filtering through the traffic this summer. But alas it is not to be.

First ride post rego and the gearbox has had some major issues. Gradually lost gears until all I had left was 6th. Could not select anything else, first was the first to go then pfst. Managed to get to work but she went home on the trailer. Dropped the oil from the gearbox and there was lots of tiny shiny bits glittering in the sun. Engine is now out in lieu of gearbox surgery. But will give me an opportunity to clean up the frame and gunk from 30 years of someone else's riding. So I guess there is a positive I think.........

[JonW]

Interesting, sounds like you dropped a bearing on a gear shaft or something, usually these are solid performers, especially in a 250. :/

[pkay]

Yes - great way to kill a couple of hours pulling the engine out.......... I hope it's just a bearing, but at least it will be schmiko once it's fixed. I am just resisting the urge to turn this into a mini resto.....

[JonW]

I would do that if i was you, if you have the parts and the money its quick to do while you fix the motor.

[pkay]

I'll clean up the frame and the wiring. I've already got the exhaust repaint lined up - that was the bike one as the pipes were showing their age. I had it repainted last year. So yes maybe a small cosmetic touch up will be on the cards.

[JonW]

Sounds like a good plan. Ive found that since we often wait for parts to arrive we can use the time to get other jobs done locally. Blasting, paint and powder are perfect while you wait jobs

[mboddy]

I have a lot of rdlc gearbox parts. Please let me know if I can help out.

[pkay]

Thanks for that - my mechanic is coming over next Wednesday and we'll stick it up on the bench and see what surprises are inside!

[ged]

At least having already paid for the tyres and rego your pretty committed. In for a penny, in for a pound! Good onya. It might keep ya broke for a while though.

Bearings sometimes don't like sitting for too long. In my experience anyway. The tiniest bit of corrosion can become catastrophic in very short order, which sounds a little like what's happened? How long has it been sitting?




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[pkay]

Too long.........
It got started fairly regularly but I didn't take it out cause of the crap tryres

[jools]

Lousy luck pkay, lets hope she gets fixed up without too many dramas.

[pkay]

Cheers Guys
S o the Mechanic came over this morning and we split the cases. Good news is that the gears are all fine. As suspected (well done guys) it looks like the shift drum bearing has too much slop in it to allow the selector forks to function, all out of alignment. Was good to poke around inside and see the health of everything else. Gear cog faces look great, selector forks are fine, output shaft bearing is a bit wobbly as well so will replace that and also take the opportunity to replace all the seals while it's apart. The shift shaft is good but the mount for the lever is a bit worn so will replace that too while I am at it. They are simple things aren't they? It was apart in less than 45 minutes....... So the key now will be to source the bits without breaking the bank - they look cheap on Yambits but the currency is a killer but I have a price start point.

[JonW]

buy the shift shaft and other parts in the USA, the shaft is the same from LC to Banshee, so thats easy and cheap too. bearings and seals the same. fit genuine crank seals only... the rest you can do what you like. Otherwise easy peasy, glad you didnt have a disaster in there waiting for you, even better we were right LOL

[pkay]

Who in the US do you recommend? I did a price compare of Yambits and Ebay and Yambits seemed a good bet with currency conversion taken into account. There is a shift shaft on eBay at the moment which seems about right money too

[JonW]

Partzilla is good, same company is boats.net who list the old 4L0 part number:
http://www.boats.net/parts/detail/yamah ... 00-00.html

Amazon show the new number on their listing (its a banshee part) :
http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-4L0-18101- ... B005C5AV2K

trying that in Partzilla nets this:
http://www.partzilla.com/parts/detail/y ... 00-00.html

but you should google it and check Ron Ayres and a bunch of others I think... Im betting this is far cheaper than any ebay seller or the likes of yambits...

I think if you have a download of the parts books for the 4L0 (from rd350lc.net and others) and then search google on the part numbers you might be surprised at how cheap some bits can be, others not so much... So long as the USA had a model (or even a doff bike) with that part number they will supply it if its not NLA, and much cheaper than the UK sellers...

Also... A reminder.... dont get yambits crank seals... OEM only!