Shifting problems and oil sediment

[Marshall]

I finally took my bike out for a quick spin around the block. The first thing that I noticed is that the bike seems to have no neutral and no first gear. It seems that 2nd gear is as low as it goes. What would cause this?

Also, when checking my oil level yesterday I drained some oil out of the crankcase/transmission. There's a bunch of sediment floating around. I see black and red pieces. Do you think that these are pieces of the seals? My bike does smoke a lot.


Here's a picture of the sediment:

http://imgur.com/8vOs6uJ

Other than that I'm making good progress with it. It's not a showpiece but it runs.

[Craig380]

Those bits are more likely to be general crud and clutch plate residue - the linings of the friction plates do rub off into the oil.

With the smoking it's hard to know the cause until you've had the chance to do a couple of decent long rides on the bike ... often, the smoking is just old oil residue in the pipes, and that will get burnt off over time.

[Marshall]

I guess I need to take it for a long ride. Unfortunately the gas tank leaks so I need to patch that up.

[Coyote]

I don't know how the T-350 is set up but on the GT550 there is a paw that mates with the shifting ratchet on one end of the shift shaft (opposite the foot control). If the paw is mismatched by one tooth the same thing happens. No neutral and no first gear. It's an easy fix on the 550, but I don't know on the T-350. A T-350 guru needs to chime in.

[yeadon_m]

The online manuals shows that the same gear shift arm and pawl design was being used then, also. Agreed that if that pawl is a tooth out (as I accidentally did on my GT550) you get 2nd and up only, if its one tooth 'downwards' on the gear shift shaft.

Cheers,
Mike

[Marshall]

You guys might be right about that. When I was first putting the engine back together the shifter mechanism did slide out a bit and I slid it back into place. Apparently I did it wrong. I'll take it apart again.