Hey,

I have an 02 Warrior, and I'm still experiencing difficulty with bike with the gear lever (Forward/Reverse) It seems once the bike is really 'warmed up' that the problems start. The first one is, it's impossible to get into neutral at times. I believe this is a rather 'common' problem with these bikes, although it shouldn't happen. I've just been turning it off, since the bike gets relatively hot, especially at idle, and the fact that it's air cooled doesn't help. My second, and more annoying problem is going in and out of reverse. When I initially bough the bike it did the same thing, but I always went into reverse while the bike was actually in neutral. I tried this past weekend doing it in first gear, which worked. Went into reverse fine. The problem arrived when I went to take it out of reverse and back into forward. It was extremely difficulty to move the lever, as if it was being held back. I'm just wondering what could this be? I finally got back in, but it required a lot of force, and I felt I was going to break the lever.

Any ideas on the problem? I'm planning on doing an oil change, and putting some Maxima dino oil hoping that improves shifting, but I'm not super optimistic.

 

they all do this its all in the clutch, the basket wears and it sticks. theres no getting rid of it. one thing that makes it way smoother is an oil cooler.
tip try shifting from reverse while still rolling and going into neutral also, thats a trick that most of us use.

 

Can you explain your tip in more detail again? So your saying while in reverse (and moving) with the clutch pulled in try shifting the foot pedal from first to neutral, as I'm moving the reverse lever back to the forward position? I use to shift the bike from neutral (green light) on into reverse, when I'd want to go out of reverse, I'd sometimes both the reverse and neutral light on at the same time, as if the bike didn't know where to go. I guess theres no way around this problem unless I get a new clutch? Even than I'm assuming theres a chance of this issue? Any explanation for it not going into neutral easy?

 

yep thats pretty much it try doing it while still in motion.
the clutch plates get hung up on the basket and the gears bind up

 

you may have a problem with your clutch i had this problem too and found i had broken a clutch plate

 

Your problem was the same? It would be hard to get back forward when coming out of reverse, especially when the bike was warm? Is replacing a clutch place very difficult and expensive? Is there an easy way to check to see if it's broken?

 

grooves form in the clutch basket

 

Interesting.... I've never had major problems coming out of reverse on our two Warriors, but one of them likes to ignore the clutch when in reverse and just keep going until a hard jab on the rear brake intervenes. Then the gear disengages and it can shift back in to neutral/first without a problem.