Second gear slip/clunk

[Sandro_916]

So I am currently trying to figure out the cause of my GS550 to slip and clunk.

When I am in second gear and accelerate mildly, this causes the bike to slip, clunk, and kind of jerk around. Sometimes, especially when the engine is cold, I am having to use a lot of force to shift around the lower gears, but this usually goes away once the engine warms up.

I'm assuming that this can be either a striped second gear, or something wrong with the shifting mechanism, or both. Hopefully it's just the shifting mechanism as I would like to avoid splitting the case. I want to diagnose this issue before I ruin the entire tranny or lock it up while I am riding.

Anyone have any insight on how figure out what is going on?

Also, if it either a broken dog or something in the shifting mechanism, where do I get these parts? I looked on many Suzuki parts sites and most of the tranny/shifting parts are obsolete.

[Maddevill]

If the engagement is just sticky, try changing the oil and see if that helps. If it is jumping out if 2nd gear, especially when you accelerate, then you have a bent shift fork and/or a worn 2nd gear. Both require splitting the cases to fix. I have known guys with a bent 2nd gear shift fork to ride for YEARS just upshifting to 3rd.

[Sandro_916]

Hey Maddevill,

I don't really mind not having a functional gear. I'm just worried it might lock up on a turn or something

If it is the issue with the forks or the gears, and I leave it alone, what's the worst that can happen?

Also, I heard that when 5th is engaged it is also spinning second. Is that correct? Should I avoid lugging it in 5th?

Is there anything I should check behind the clutch basket to see if there is an issue with that? It would be awesome to hear that it could be fixed without splitting the case. (I'm assuming not because the issue is only in 2nd gear )

[Maddevill]

Well, there is never a guarantee that a gearbox won't grenade but if it's just a bent shift fork, then nothing bad should happen. However, if you feel like looking around the clutch even if for you peace of mind why not do that . Especially if you are going to be changing the oil anyway. A bent shift fork will usually do this: Under hard acceleration from first it will pop out of second gear and scream the motor in neutral. The gear slipping out and ramming the shift fork against the other gears is how the fork gets bent. Once it's bent, the only fix is to replace it.