82 Gs550l shifting issues!

[Hyrulianrider]

Hey there!

So I just bought a Gs550l last weekend. I am not super mechanically inclined but one of my best friends is the bike was in pretty good shape. About 20,000 miles and has been running smooth. Last night as I was sitting into 5th gear it felt as though the the gear didn't hit right and then there was what seemed to be something inside the transmission bouncing around and preventing the bikes gears from moving up and down despite the fact that the clutch doesn't seem to behave differently and the shifter will move normally as well (despite it not doing anything... I can downshift forever without it stopping at 1st gear but it doesn't feel any different than before the issue) he is looking at it tomorrow but I just wanted to get some insight from you all! I know more about bikes than ever before because of this forum and I appreciate it.

 

[seanarthurmachado]

What year and model ? Mileage ?

Any issues shifting previously ? Any changes at all to the bike ?

It might be useful to put your bike, year your signature and enter in your location.

Sean

 

[Hyrulianrider]

What year and model ? Mileage ?

Any issues shifting previously ? Any changes at all to the bike ?

It might be useful to put your bike, year your signature and enter in your location.

Sean

Nothing major the bike ran very well! But the only issue I could possibly point to its skeins when shifting from 4th to 5th it would land right and fall back into 4th. It only happened once or twice but that was the only shifting problem I have had. Doesn't seem to have any alterations (I definitely didn't)

I added in the title my year and make but I will add it to my signature!

1982 GS550L 21,000 miles, I'm in Dallas Texas

 

[seanarthurmachado]

I am assuming "skeins" is auto correct speak for "skips".

If you were skipping/falling out of gear then that would be a serious warning sign in my opinion

 

[JCT]

I have an 82 GS550L (Just for curiosity whats your serial?) .. anyway they have light indicators that let you know what gear you are on 1,N,2,3etc. Are the indicators actually changing when you push the shift lever up or down?
If they are... then my guess is that you might have burned the clutch plates. It is very rare for something to break inside the transmision but is a lot more common to burn the friccion plates of an old bike specially when it is "new" to someone and you might have been playing around with it,.. it happens to all of us.
Anyway the plates are easy to check/replace and they are fairly cheap.
You can even google or youtube a step by step video.. its easy even if you are not mechanically inclined
If the gears indicator lights are not changing then I would be guess the problem is in the transmission and you will have to do a mayor tear down but regardsless if the lights, start by the clutch is part of what has to come off before getting to the transmission.
Good luck
Let us know how it turns out

 

[exdirtbiker]

It's possible you snapped the "gear shifting shaft" listed here: http://www.partsfish.com/oemparts/p/suzuki/25510-47000/shaft-gear-shifting

I got a YZ85 for free after the kid landed a jump with this foot on the shifter instead of the footpeg. Bike acted like your symptoms. That bike was a 5 minute fix.
I don't know if you can get to all these parts on a GS550 without pulling the motor and splitting cases.
And it gets better.. the part is NLA. Good luck !

 

[Hyrulianrider]

Alright so a buddy and I took it apart last night and we found one of the gears from the transmission that broke in half and fell out. That was what was causing the rattling noise while driving. So we agreed the Transmission needed to be replaced. However we don't know what caused the break in the first place (could be just old could be a bigger issue) my new question is how hard is it to replace the transmission. Is it worth the trouble? The engine still runs well and there isn't a problem there.