Found the problem! Thanks Dave

Thanks to Dave's experience he found the issue on the main shaft in the tranny. One of the gears seized on the shaft. Guess thats no good, so lookin for parts on craigslist/ebay.

Pics of the shaft and gear:

(Click to go to Flickr and see full-res pictures)


Dave also pointed out that one of the connecting rods was ready to go. I'll take some pictures later. So guess will have to replace the crank too ($$$). Good learning experience nonetheless...

TG trip is looking less attainable now..but we'll see.

Split the case

Last night we split the case to take a look at the transmission. Still not entirely sure what we're looking for, but what the hell.

Seems as though there is a problem with shifting. One of the forks gets stuck part of the way through the shift sequence (Watch the video).

Also, one thing that we cant seem to figure out is if there should be any resistance when shifted into gear or if the gears should just align for a different ratio but still spin rather effortlessly. We found that when shifting, the gears seem to bind and dont want to spin together.



Here are some pictures:

(Click to go to Flickr and see full-res pictures)

It's too bad I didn't take many good pictures before we pulled the engine from the bike. I used a crappy old camera that I take with me to the desert, I shoulda known it takes crappy pictures, so I took new ones with the SLR.

I was basically in denial that this was necessary, we started by draining the engine of fluids then pulling off covers to reveal clutch and water pump. After realizing that the issue may be deeper in the engine, I finally agreed that the engine needed to come out (Daryl was right...).

Here's the engine out of the bike..

Left side of engine. (stator, shift lever and main drive)











View from rear of engine (intakes)












View from front of engine (engine head, exhaust at lower of pic, balancer tube at top)











Right side of engine. Clutch in center, pressure plate and friction plates removed.











Top-from rear of engine. (Clutch cable connector)

Last trip out to the desert left my Banshee with a busted clutch, tranny, or shifter...no idea which at this point. So it's time to tear it down and rebuild *something* before the season.

I've never torn down my bike or any other bike, so I have very little clue what I am doing. But hopefully the help of my buddy Daryl will make this go smoothly.

Some useful links I will likely be referencing throughout the rebuild.

• Decent walkthrough of an engine rebuild
• PDF of Service Manual
• Exploded Views of Parts
• Yamaha Online Parts Viewer
• Yamaha Owners Manual

I'll post pictures of the pains and progress. Target date to complete is Thanksgiving weekend for the first trip to the dunes.