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New to the XJ

Discussion in 'XJ Technical Chat' started by alaskazzr, Jul 20, 2008.

  1. alaskazzr

    alaskazzr Member

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    Hey everyone, so I've been trolling the forums for a while now, and got my first XJ today. It's (from what I'm told, and by educated guess) a 1981 xj650LH midnight maxim. I bought it for 300 bucks off Craigslist, it ran, drove, and stopped. Cool. But, of course there were buts....

    #2 cylinder is running a lot cooler (via calibrated back of hand test to the headers). This is not too huge a deal right now. I've seen a lot of the threds in here outlining carb overhaul/cleaning.

    The turn signals light up, but do not flash....Again, I think I saw a post about the flasher relay, easy enough i suppose.

    No speedometer/odometer. Is it elec. or cable? Easy fix either way i would imagine.

    Now, the real meaty problem:
    The bike runs all day in 1st gear and shifts (kinda hard, but shifts) to neutral. Beyond that, it's a hard pull up, to -nothing-. I rode the bike around a little bit in first to get a feel for it, and there feels like there is nothing beyond neutral, maybe a false neutral, but that's it. After the little jaunt, in the garage I attempted to shift into neutral form a standstill, but i got a kind of ratcheting clunking noise.

    SO, I ask of you all, am I hosed here? I work on military aircraft for a living, so I have what I consider an exceptionally mechanical mind, and I am not opposed to stripping the engine down to nothing, and rebuilding it back up to make it work, besides, I have another bike to ride in the meantime....That being said, I figured I'd ask all of you, in case there is a possible simple fix, before i really start tearing into it.

    Thanks in advance for the help and insight, and I commend you all on what I have seen to be the best motorcycle maintenance forum on the 'net.

    -Ben in Alaska

    P.S. I've attached a photo of my bike, not minutes after the transaction...Since I know you all call out for a photo for definitive ID of the rig.
     

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  2. Ratbike

    Ratbike Member

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    Nice bike and great deal man, the speedo is a cable not electric and you should look into adjusting the shifter arm there is links you can make longer and shorter.
     
  3. alaskazzr

    alaskazzr Member

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    Hey thanks,

    Now, about the shifter links....
    On my ZZr600 and the wife's 250r, there is a rod that connects the shift lever to the splined rod that goes into the transmission. I adjust these all the time for better angle, wear etc..., but on the Maxim it looks like this: [attached picture]. If there are adjustable/changeable parts here that'd be cool.
     

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  4. bigfitz52

    bigfitz52 Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    OK, so what happens when you operate the shifter and watch the mechanism that is in the pic? The pawl(s) should engage/turn the shift drum to the next position. My SRs both broke a spring in this (similar) mechanism so the pawl didn't engage when trying to upshift...if the shifter mechanism is going thru all its paces and actually advancing the drum position-by-position then there is a problem internally. From the pic, it looks kinda grubby/sticky in there, possibly one of the arms/pawls not moving freely? I'm sure you know the value of disassembly and cleaning (it's amazing how many things can be fixed that way...)
     
  5. Nick

    Nick Member

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    Welcome to the site alaskazzr
    You may also have the upper chain guide showing it's age and dropping bits into the shift drum which stops the shift forks from getting the gears to move into second or beyond.
    If you goto this site..... http://www.yamaha-motor.com/sport/parts/home.aspx and get into the parts listing for your model. You can see the possible offending part in the starter clutch parts listing, it's the upper chain guide #23.
    Here's a link to another thread on the subject...... http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=8848.html
     

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