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SM5 shift Issues - won't go up into 2nd without popping out! Any Ideas?

PeterLet

New member
Hi All. I have a 2010 RT SM5. Today, while out riding, I found that all of a sudden I could not shift into 2nd from first. It goes into gear and then pops out. The only way I could engage 2nd from 1st is to actually hold the shifter up with my foot and then release the clutch. However, up and downshifting in all other gears is normal. Any ideas on what this could be?

Thanks.
 
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If this happened suddenly I would check and see if the clutch is working properly before jumping into transmission issues. Is the clutch fluid low? Is there a leak at the slave cylinder? A leak at the slave cylinder would cause a problem and could go undetected for awhile. It is also an issue with other bikes that have some age/miles on them. A bent or damaged shifting fork will cause this as will a worn or damaged gearset. Yamaha had this issue on many of their bikes several years ago and it affected second gear only. IF that is the problem a transmission tear down is on tap.
 
Thanks so much for your input. I really appreciate it although the last sentence gave me the Heebie Jeebies...

Sorry about the Heebie Jeebies, just going on past jobs. Acting up in second gear only is a good sign of worn locking dogs. I would suspect a clutch issue first though. This is far more common than transmission damage unless there has been a lot of high revs and gear banging going on.
 
The Yamaha problem affected mostly the XVZ1200 1983 to 1985 1/2 because of a soft thrust washer in the transmission so it would wear and not keep second gear engaged under pressure and was taken care of halfway thru the 85-model year. It was a well-known problem for Yamaha that everybody knew about. I have not heard of such a problem from CanAm for the VTwin transmission. I have an SE5 that tends to strip out the shifter. Is it possible your manual pedal is worn or not tight or in the right place? How long since you changed the hydraulic fluid in the clutch lever?
 
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