GL1200 shifting problems

[RThill4355]

I have 1984 GL 1200 Aspencade. Short version, bike was parked on edge or road, no shoulder, side stand gave way, bike fell on its left (shifter side), when I righted to bike, got it started no problem, went to shift and bike was stuck in OD, would not shift, managed to get the bike home, got it on center stand, and tried to shift out of OD, would not budge, took off heel/toe shifter along with peg, and was able to shift by hand, but not get it on 1st get, was able to shift into neutral by hand but not with heel toe shifter. Does it sound look like shifter forks are bent? And does someone know of anyone who works on older Wings. Local dealer will not get involved. Hate to junk it, bike runs flawlessly, has poor boy conversion and looks really nice. Help. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[LeMaitre]

When you say you can shift it by hand, I get the impression that the heal/toe shifter is binding. Have you tried removing the heal/toe and just using a stock toe shifter?

-Mark

[RThill4355]

I have the bike on its center stand and am shifting it by hand also shift with my toe, but it is now making a weird noise not the snick it used to make but like a hard clunk. I tried putting the heel toe shifter back on but it will not shift with it. the side stand bracket gets in the way with the shifter as there is no room for the toe of my boot to shift with, I am going to try to have the side stand bracket moved back and re welded. Any thoughts? Tanks in advance.

[Rednaxs60]

Thought about your problem. Have rebuilt my 1200 engine last fall/winter and have had the cases apart 4 times, one was for a shifting issue, but this was an install to the engine issue.

Do you have the engine guards on to protect the cylinder heads. If so, was this bent? Heel/toe shifters are not my preference. Highly unlikely you have damaged any internal parts. How did the transmission shift into OD? Would expect the bike to be in first or second.

You are able to get the transmission into neutral by hand using the shift lever, but not into first. Can you shift up to OD by hand? If you can shift up, should be able to shift into first.

You do not have to relocate the side stand unless your foot size is extremely large.

The hell/toe shifter uses the OEM shifting arm. The heel/toe shifter fits over the shifting arm, a "U" piece and moves the shift lever up down. Because of this it would be very difficult for the heel/toe shifter to impact on the shift lever when your bike fell on the side.

Is the shift lever bent, or look bent?

I would surmise that the heel/toe shifter assembly is bent. I would remove and just use the original foot pegs.

The hard clunk you mention is generally associated with the 1200 on first start, and after having sat overnight or such. This hard clunk is RPM dependent as well. My 1200 does a hard clunk (sounds like and HD) into first gear after having sat overnight or for a long period of time, after which it is a fairly smooth into first gear. The engine in my bike sometimes starts at a low idle speed, around 800/900 RPM and when I engage the transmission at this RPM, there is no hard shift into first. I believe this to be because of the stiction in the clutch plates. Is this new noise at high, cold idling RPM, or after the engine is at operating temp, RPM at 1000 +/- 100?

I have attached some pictures with explanations of what is there and how it works, thought these would be good for information.

This picture is of the shift lever as it protrudes out the side of the engine case with the oil seal removed. Not a lot of movement can be done fore/aft and there is not a lot of movement can be done side to side. This picture was taken just after I bought the bike in 2015:

This is the new shifter oil seal installed:

To do any damage inside the engine you would have had to put sufficient force on the shift lever arm by the shift spindle, and if this happened, you would break internal supports, or even crack the engine case. This pic is from the manual:

For the internal aspects. This pic shows the shift lever inside the engine case:

This pic shows the shift lever assembly with the shift arm engaged to the shift spindle that has the external shift lever attached. It is a ball that fits into the shift lever "U". This shift arm protrudes through the front of the engine case (behind the water pump/transmission cover) and engages the shift drum linkage assembly:

This pic from the manual shows the exploded view of the shift drum assembly. The piece to look at is the drum joint:

This pic shows the shift lever engaged with the shift drum assembly that controls the shifting of the transmission, The shift drum assembly is in neutral. When the shift drum joint is in first, the shift lever rotates the drum assembly counter clockwise so that the drum joint is horizontal. The only way to view this is to remove the water pump/transmission cover:

This final picture is of the transmission shows the transmission gears (top), the shift forks middle, and the shift drum assembly drum that has groves that move the shift forks appropriately for the gear being used:

Hope this helps. Cheers

[RThill4355]

Thanks for the pictures, sorry it has taken so long to get back, been enjoying riding my '10 trike (roadsmith). Took off the heel/toe shifter, and road bike. Sometimes when riding shifting is fine, other times very hard to either up or down shift. Had bike on friends lift table and found that the frame tube that holds the side stand is rusted through, also cracked just under engine mount. I am thinking of having another friend (all members of a GWRRA chapter), cut out the offending bad frame tube piece and rewelding new tube/frame piece. Any thoughts??? Again thanks in advance. I really like riding this bike solo as it is a bit more fun than the trike.