Reverse gear....what's that?..lol..

 

<< So mis-adjusted clutch and riding style....What style of riding is the culprit? >>

You know, the kind of style where you start the quad and then ride it...

14mins, this is nothing personal but defending Yamaha in this case is horse$h!t. A misadjusted clutch leads to catastrophic transmission failure of this magnitude? And our riding styles cause this as well? I understand that some people are harder on quads than others but come on. These same guys whose riding style and misadjusted clutch blew their Raptor trannies up at one time rode 250R's, LT's, Tecate's, 400EX's, etc. and they didn't blow those trannies up! Assumably their riding style hasn't changed and why whould they keep the clutch adjusted on their old bikes and then ignore their brand new Raptor? No matter what the parts look like--they're still junk and that's why Yamaha changed them. I could spray paint a pile of crap and put a bow on it but it's still just a pile of crap...

 

I really can't see a mis-aligned clutch causing gear damage. Mis-aligned clutch and a rider having to stomp the shifter to get the machine into gear.....I may buy that. It would be nice to get a definitave answer on what causes this disaster to happen. I am thinking it could be the following (IMO most likely to least likely):
1) Weak design....came straight from an overseas streetbike with no changes. I have researched this.....same EXACT internal gearing, so one must assume there were no NEW gears / gear designs for the 01 Raptor.
2) Reverse gear engagement / disengagement problem. I think this could be people adjusting their reverse cable too tight (wanna turn the **** 1/4&quot; instead of the full rotation). OR, this could be a gear alignment problem.
3) Shifting fork problem. This could be an alignment / engagement problem on some Raptors due to the manufacturing process. I am not gonna buy the crap about riders stomping the shifter and causing the problem.....raptor riders are, on average, some of the oldest (and most EXPERIENCED!) sport quad riders out there.
4) 1-way starter clutch bearing. When the 1-way starter bearing goes out (and a lot of them do!), this could easily be the death of a gearset.....or at least a shortened life.

Anyway....just my thoughts guys.

 

here's another
5) Gearing. The first thing a lot of Raptor owners do is gear the Raptor down (ie 11-12 tooth front sprocket). This effectively multiplies torque at the rear tires.

 

I am not defending yamaha!!!! Crap breaks all the time, cars,boats,planes,houses etc. It is hard to find a common link on this. My renters can break concrete in the living rooms. After 17 months of riding hard if the tranny goes i do not feel yamaha owes me. The DESIGN COULD BE BETTER but that is a different story. A lot of people always want to pass the buck to someone else. I looked at the parts the other day and i am fairly knowledgeable to form a opinion on this. 250r trannies must have some problems cause fortin offers a complete set. I do think people ride harder today than in the past. We do everything bigger,tougher,faster,harder.

 

UPDATE - I lost 2nd gear this past weekend. Clutch always had plenty of free play.

 

I feel its the shifter slop, combined with crappy 2nd gear. All you need is a couple missed shifts going into second to start rounding these dogs. Most of the pics I have seen of the bad second gear had the dogs rounded or one missing and the others rounded..

I would be interest to see if replacing the shifter and allways getting a really good shift would help delay failure.

 

gary,
whats the next step now...any ideas...purchase 2nd gear from yamaha?fortin?
have you checked for collateral damage inside?