Feels like my FJR is jumping a cog in 2nd gear

I've had my 2010 for about 2000 miles now and just starting to realize this problem, it has 21K on it right now.

Only when hard on the gas, the power cuts out abruptly for a 1/2 a second then comes back on as the tach sweeps past 4K and again around 8K I cannot not duplicate it in 1st or 3rd and not really had a chance to try 4th or 5th but I don't think it will do it on the higher gears anyway. Normal riding I never would have known but once you really gas it is, 2nd gear it does it every time and I don't think I've been able to nail down a specific rpm, but it's usually twice at the rpm's previously mentioned.

Feels terrible, at first I thought I was pre-loading the shifter too much and it was going into 3rd, but today I realized it wasn't and something seems very wrong.

Thanks in advance.

Worn dogs on the transmission gear. Yamaha FJ's have been prone to that flaw with 2nd gear since the first FJ1100's.

You have to split the cases to repair or just pass by 2nd gear.

You'd think they would have figured that out . . .

Yup! Mine has it too.. just learn to not give it WFO.

I reckon it's caused by "poor shifting habits", you have to be firm with ol' blue gearboxes, but it's not terminal if you work around it.

^^^^ I'm with the collective.

Couple really good threads for splitting cases for the repair. Google search is your friend and good luck!

--G

Yup, and besides, it wheelies better in 1st, just takes a little more wrist control.

Bruce

Seriously??? Am I not putting it into 2nd properly? Or did the dummy that had it before me screw it up?

Won't be splitting any cases, will it hurt anything if it does it every now and then?

Make sure you have it solidly in second gear and roll it on hard> if problem is still there then you have your answer. If it's not there, then adjust your shifting method accordingly.

Da Wolf

While my personal bike is fine I did test ride a unit that had the problem. The old FJ1100 and 1200 were known for this as well. As already stated it starts with sloppy shifting habits or abuse and wears the shift pawls and dogs to a point where they no longer get full engagement. Not an wasy fix but it can be repaired. You don't want to pay for this if not absolutely necessary though cause it won't be cheap. Once this wear starts though it will progressively get worse so be careful on the 1 - 2 shift as that seems to be the most stressful on the bike.

Yeah, probably previous owner didn't make solid shifts into second, causing the wear. Like I said, I can force mine to slip, regardless of how solidly I put it into 2nd, by giving it the beans. So I just avoid that..

I wonder if lowering my shift lever will help, what happens if you go a bit past the little mark that tells you where it can be adjusted to?

Preloading the shifter? how long and how hard. That's a sure-fire way to wear down the shift forks.

Ditch, it has nothing to do with your shifter location. The previous owner probably forced some shifts and bent the shift forks. That leads to wear in the forks, and 2nd gear starts disengaging. The shift is complete, it just doesn't stick. You have to split the case to fix it.

There's a couple awesome threads about it. I think Wfooshe was the last one to do it and gave a Hellavua writeup. If you have the money, you can pay a dealer to do it, but it'll be 'spensive. Have to say, with my skill level and tools, I'd probably just pay a local mechanic to do the work. Actually, I'd just ship it to FJRay, and let him do it.

Sorry. It's shitty news. It WILL get progressively worse.

wfooshee said:

Preloading the shifter? how long and how hard. That's a sure-fire way to wear down the shift forks.

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I don't use the clutch either, up or down the box. These bikes are tough.

Just kidding, found some threads, I would have done a search but I never would have thought this was common on a Yamaha. If it were cheap to fix I'd consider it but apparently it's quite expensive and that's not including what I'd screw up while I'm in there.

I'll just keep riding it and if it ever starts doing it during normal riding I'll ghost ride it off a cliff and buy a '16.

Tough crowd

I took it out again an no matter how well I snick it into 2nd it still does it and even worse, it will do it at 30% throttle. Does that mean eventually 2nd gear will be worthless?

I'm confused. I thought bad shift forks/dogs meant that it would not stay in 2nd. That it would shift into 2nd but pop out under hard acceleration. In this case it stays in gear, just not at full power. The same bent shift forks cause both of these symptoms?

No it's stays in 2nd gear, kind feels like you are running over a 6" strip of sand and spinning the tire a whole bunch, but then it grabs and keeps pulling. Once low in the revs and once up high

If it's NOT popping out of gear, the shift fork is not your issue. You almost sound like you have a slipping clutch, but it should do that in every gear, not just second. Are you SURE it's not coming out of gear?

A slipping clutch could be something as stupid as the PO putting "energy conserving" car oil in the bike. Opening up the clutch, cleaning off the plates and changing the oil could fix that, cheap.

You have to be sure what's going on...

Positive, it will stay in 2nd all day long, the gear indicator is coming in very handy for this. But it only jumps in 2nd, not 1st or 3rd and that's completely verified. Not really willing to go over 100 to see if it does it in 4th or 5th.

What's the cost of splitting the cases? My dad has done it several times (not on an FJR though) and said he needs a project.