Shifter not returning

Have had a great summer of riding my 73 Z1! Last week I got caught in the rain and during the ride home the shift lever would not reurn to "up" position after shifting. I could raise it with my toe in order to downshift and it upshifted just fine, however when I downshifted, the lever stayed in the lowered position. Any thoughts??
Thanks ahead of time, Lewie

Could be a broken returning spring or a loose or broken returning spring pin




It is located behind the transmission cover. In very rare cases the pin is broken out off the casting of the engine housing.

Hi Lewis,
+1 on Scirocco's suggestions.

Also, there's a service bulletin covering early Z-1's regarding the return spring being too long & binding. We'll have to look it up & post it later.


Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

Thanks guys, sounds like the spring or pin may be the culprit. Looks like a weekend in the garage!

Never a weekend, 30 minutes to go inside the cover, could fix in hour if parts are available.

Hi lewisj,
We were wrong; there are two service bulletins re: shift lever travel issues on '73's.

Apologies for the poor quality. These are probably 3rd. generation images. Best we could do.










Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

The return springs were weak. Two winds. Get one for a KZ 1000. They are stronger. So is the main shift fork.
Steve