Hi, I'm new to this site, and I am hoping someone might beable to help me with my new project, its a 87 LT500, I picked it up cheap with a bad clutch, I have placed a new clutch in it and it ran good, my problem is the shifter sometimes doesnt engage right, it doesnt slip or anything, it just doesnt shift to the next gear unless I play with it a little, it also feels like theres not enough tension on the shift lever, any help on this would be greatly appreciated, Thanks
check the shift forks. one might be bent.
A easy thing to check is the gear shifting paw is lined up with the shift barrel paw. Pull the clutch cover and lol below the clutch. If these are misalign it won't shift right.
Do you have a service manual?
Is the shifter shaft straight, if its bent a little your shifter could be rubbing on the side of your motor and making it hard to change gears, I had that problem when I bought my bike, The shaft gets bent when the chain accidentally comes off while riding from poor maintenance.
This one.
Bent shaft like said above too.
Also check to make sure the shifting shaft is straight, even slightly tweeked will cause some shift problems.
Thanks for all the replys, and I noticed the shift shaft gear was misaligned when I changed the clutch I thought I lined it back up correctly but ill pop the cover back off and give it another look, the spring thats on the shaft had come off to so ill double check that, I have a manual but it didnt say much on the position of the spring does anyone have a picture of how the spring hooks on, thanks for all the help