03 RM85 Hard to Find Neutral - Please Help

[ssaulnier]

I bought an RM85 for my 11 year old to trail ride. He just started riding New Years Day. It is a great bike and he loves it but is frustrated trying to find neutral (me too).

It is very hard to find neutral on this bike, even for me with the engine shut down, using my hand and rocking the bike fore and aft.

The detent between 1st and 2nd is hard to feel and is almost non-existent.

I changed the tranny oil with a quality aftermarket tranny oil (can't recall the name now) as soon as we bought the bike. The old oil looked OK and not full of shiny metal particles.

The clutch adjustment seems OK and it doesn't drag.

I am wondering if I need to pull the clutch off and replace the little detent wheel and arm (and spring) that contact the shift drum, or maybe replace or resurface the shift drum neutral detent.

The bike shifts OK otherwise and I can find neutral if I try real hard while coasting the bike when it is running. But it should not be this hard to find neutral.

Any advise please? Thanks.

 

[razorboy]

Not an expert on tranny's by no means but I was at my local shop just a week ago and there was a Honda 250 being worked on.
The owner was complianing of the same thing (hard to find neutral). It turns out there was a little armature broken off inside the shifter assembly. Couldn't tell you what it was cause I wasn't paying that close attention but my mechanic friend showed me the part and said that it would be very difficult to find neutral with it broken. It was a little arm with a small roller on the end IIRC?

Not your fix I know but something to have checked. Pull the clutch and sidecover off to reveal the shifting bits and see that everything is still intact. Its a place to start?

Cheers
Bernie

 

[ssaulnier]

Thanks Bernie. I agree that is the best place to start. I won't have time to do it for a couple of weeks though. But that is where I'll start.

 

[Jasle]

the detent is inside the clutch cover and can be seen by only removing the clutch cover. the roller sits in a goove on the drum end. has a spring on it. I'd also investigate the clutch basket for severe grooving. In fact that is what i'd expect to see you find is your problem. before buying a new clultch basket for some serious $$ just use a flat file and file the basket smooth to ensure it fixes the problem. Very common in the RM! Especially one 4-5 years old, and possibly owned by a racer or someone that did not change oil often enough...
some other things could be bent shift forks but you'd need to split the case.