won't shift into 2nd

Just wanting to know if anyone has advice on what to do if the bike will shift down to first up to neutral but not to second or higher. This is keeping me off the road on my project.

Is this a new problem? Did it work before...? Have the transmission/shifter mechanisms been disturbed somehow? Also is this while the bike is moving? There is a safety in the transmission to stop shifting up when the bike isn't moving.

Most (all ?) KZ have a feature called "Positive Neutral Finder" that prevents the gearbox going into second unless the front sprocket is turning.

So, it is quiet normal for a KZ to be standing still in the garage, with the engine running and all you can select is 1st gear and Neutral.

If you really want to see if you can select 2nd gear, jack the bike up so that the rear wheel is off the ground, select 1st gear and let out the clutch and spin the rear wheel anti-clockwise by hand. Once the rear wheel is spinning, you should be able to select 2nd gear and so on.

Best to try this with teh spark plugs out so that the engine turns over easily.

Post edited by: Murphyau, at: 2005/10/22 06:12

This question get asked real often, so I made this a sticky. Leastways, I hope I did, first time I have tried it

Here´s a pic of the neutral finder mechanism on a 650 (79 D2 engine). The mechanism consists of three little steel balls, on the 650 the they are located inside the fourth gear on the output shaft. Inside the gear there are 6 holes (bottom of pic) - three of the holes go straight through but the other three (120 apart) are smaller at one end, these are where the balls go.

In the output shaft where the fourth gear sits there are three recesses app. 3/4" long also 120 apart (one can be seen in the pic). When the bike is not rolling the output shaft isn´t rotating and at least one of the balls drops in it´s recess and limits the gears travel to first and neutral. Once the shaft starts spinning the balls are slung out and you can shift up.

When reinstalling the fourth gear and balls obviously the holes holding the balls should align with the recesses in the output shaft or the neutral finder won´t work.



Post edited by: OnkelB, at: 2006/09/10 18:53

Hey OnkelB,
Good explanation and pics too. Thanks a bunch.
KZCSI

you guys were right. Thanks so much I was thinking I had a difficult problem ahead of me. Thanks for all the help.

That's awesome...one of the coolest threads in a while. Thanks, OnkelB

Great information! Every now and then I would wonder how the neutral finder worked. My 73 Z-1 has it. It might be the first Kawasaki to use this feature. Also I was thinking it's a patented Kawasaki design, as they still use it, but other brands of Motorcycles, (Yamaha, Suzuki, etc.), have never had this cool feature.

Damn, mine doesn't work... at least I don't think it does. I think I've gone past neutral before. I hope none of those little balls are loose inside my tranny/engine cases.

Hello, I have a 1979 Kz 650 that has the same problem. On the right hand side of the engine you need to remove the foot peg, covers and look to see if the shifter spings are broke. If not you need to remove the sifter completely and see if all the pins are good and not borken. If the problem isn't there then it is a internral problem and you need to remove the complere engine and replace the shifting folks in the crank.That is my problem and I am not much on being a mancanic so I must let my baby go. The cost for a mancanic to fix the intenral problen is around $7oo.oo

wow you guys really popped my bubble!!! here i was thinking how good i was hitting neutral everytime i stopped. then i saw this article and tried it on my 79 kaw ltd. guess what, no second gear while i was stopped,,thanks for all this great info in the forums!!