Is my 2nd gear going out?
 

hey, just wondering if anybody can help me out. about a week ago i was in second, pulled back on the throttle, and it popped out of gear... it didnt go into neutral, but it felt like it was (no light at least). i pulled over with the clutch in, and went back into first, then switched into second, this time taking it extremely easy. since then it has happened a few more times, just popping out of second, going into "lala land" or whatever, then it will just kick back in, or ill shit up to third, and everything will be fine. i'm going to look at my clutch this weekend, but does anybody have any other suggestions? or is my second gear going out?

It could be worn shift dogs. How many miles? Do you shift hard under power alot?

it might be that "shit" to third.... hah! j/k... either a dog or fork

damn those expensive ass transmission parts... about 20K, and i ride it hard... actually, to be honest, i horse beat the F**K out of my hawk. what is a bike there for, expect to be ridden as hard as you can, right? (Britten logic) so yeah, short answer: i shift under power through all the gears, full throttle, just pull in the clutch, othertimes i will do a clutchless shift... and also, i do my best POWER wheelies in second, from about 3K rpm, all the way to right before the rev limiter, which i had been doing wheelies a lot...no clutch wheelies for me, even if i have to replace second gear.... so the shift dogs? or should i replace more than just that?

Re: Is my 2nd gear going out?
 

Shit good luck...Dont you need to split the casing in half to replace those? Or is that just the shift forks.

Anyways good luck man!

Yup. Yer goin' in.
Once you have it apart, you can inspect the rest of the transmission. It's a good idea to shim the end play on the input and countershafts while you're at it.

I would guess you will replace both sides of 2nd gear (dog side and drum side), as they will both be beaten and rounded off.

psh... if i'm dropping my engine (probably be in mid winter, when i wont be riding it anyway) i'm going to replace all the dogs and drums and both shift forks and everything else the manual says to replace in the transmission... and while i'm at it, there is that one post about the oversized pistons... while i have the engine out, and half open, might as well open the other half, right? pistons, valves, the whole deal, right? then after i have it rebuilt, turn it into a abd ass stunt bike...good idea, huh?

RC, you should give me a little info on all the mods you did on your engine, it looks like you dropped it and did a lot of work, if you have pistons and cams and heads and valves and the flywheel...where did you get all this stuff at, and how much did you spend, roughly?

Bent shift fork.

yeah, that is what the guys at the local shop told me...maybe ill just replace the fork, maybe ill do some heavy engine work... all i know is pulling apart the tranny is gonna suck!

Re: Is my 2nd gear going out?
 

If you have to take your trans apart you might as well get your rears 'undercut'. Send the gears & shafts to Paul Gast and he will repair and ubdercut your gears so the bike will shift better than new. Check the shift forks and shift drum also. By the way my bike does not pop out of gear but I am going to undercut me gears anyway because the shifting is so much better and the stock Super Hawk has a 'clunky' 1st to 2nd shift anyway. I have done this mod before and it results in impressive improvement, the only issue is the large amount of work involved; it's worth it in my opinion. JIM

You guys are probably right about the bent shift fork, especially if it came on suddenly. But every time it pops out of gear it's eating up the engagement dogs and drums.

Pulling the tranny apart doesn't suck, but it is time consuming and detailed. I think your profile said you were a heli mechanic, so you probably know how to use a metric crescent wrench 8)

The engine is basically all apart then. Good time to replace rings, main and rod bearings and pistons. Shame to do all that without the head work to go along with it. And at 20k miles you'll need new exhaust valves and recut valve seats...

You're in it now!
The good part is, if you do it right, it is a monster street bike!

Re: Is my 2nd gear going out?
 

exactly what i'm saying, rc996... since i already have the engine dropped, i will definitely replace everything worn in the tranny, but i will more than likely do a lot of the same work it seems a lot of people did: JE pistons, Mori cams, OS valves, get my heads redone, new exhuast (probably custom make it with help from www.burnsstainles.com nad some sort of slip on), the underseat radiator (from "the new guy and his vtr" in "gneral discussion"), probably a 929 or 954 forks and entire front end, and gonna try some different types of fairings, since the bike will be a lot skinnier with the rad. in back, ill make the fairings skinny too. next step after that 5000 dollars in parts alone (ill do all the labor, cuz, as my profile really does say, i work on huey's... which arent too much different from a hawk, right? right? jk...)

and jim, what does this undercutting of gears mean exactly? how much roughly will it cost, and who is paul gast? anybody else ever heard of udnercutting gears?

A full engine rebuild is more expensive than a used motor. Do it if it gives you a grin, but low mileage SH motors show up on ebay for a grand fairly often.

As to the transmission, you can easily see or measure what needs replacing.

Re: Is my 2nd gear going out?
 

Under cutting is a process where the gear engagement dogs and their respective pockets are machined at an undercut angle so that the gears pull or draw themselves together during gear changing. It requires very precise and actuate machine work so that the mating surface angles are exactly complimentary and contact points of all the dogs are engaging concurrently. This is best done with a CNC machine and an experienced operator. . Go with Fast by Gast. Oh, and it WORKS. JIM[web:2b68415923]http://www.fastbygast.com/Catagories/Products/Transmissions.asp[/web:2b68415923]

Re: Is my 2nd gear going out?
 

schmidt: i gotta drop my engine anyway... i am in the process of getting a cbr1000 or 954... so i can take my time with my hawk, so why dont i rebuild the engine i got, and rebuild it to ten times better than brand new, like RC996's? and JIM: thanks for the info! i will definiftely check Gast out!

It does depend what you want.

It takes some time and money to properly take care of all the details. But it is very rewarding.

I do my own machining work.

Re: Is my 2nd gear going out?
 

exactly, RC, and i want one bad ass motorcycle (as if the superhawk was'nt one to begin with, right?)... i will probably not do my own machining, dont have correct tools, but MOST of the labor i will do myself!