6th gear failure

Has anyone else had 6th gear want to keep jumping out?

I've just finished repairing my gearbox and I know of at least one other case of this happening.

 

I recall a post from a member in Africa where his 1200’s engine gave up the ghost really early. Turned out a bunch of swarf was circulating in his engine, which eventually caused it to fail. I believe Honda eventually owned up to it but it was an uphill battle if I recall the whole story correctly. Perhaps his issue is akin to yours, just poor tolerance parts being installed?

 

I do not have a thorough understanding of everything that goes on in a transmission. What was the cause and what had to be repaired/replaced?

 

Could part of the problem been lightly resting your foot against the shift lever? That would cause the shifing
fork to be in constant contact with the gears rather than floating as it should.

This is something that I've never actually heard of so just guessing at the cause. Something has caused the
shifting fork to be in constant contact with the gear causing problems.

 

The gear trying to separate was causing it to push against the shift fork.
Do you have an understanding of how the shift drum works?
Resting your foot on the shifter does not apply pressure to the fork as the slot is straight once it goes into 6th.
And....I always ride on the balls of my feet.

 

Yes, I understand how they work, and if you raise/lower the shift lever it can move in the slot of the shifting
drum to the point where it tries to move the shift fork. Some slots in the drum are simply V-shaped where
as soon as the drum is turned the fork has pressure to move.

Why was the gear trying to separate? There shouldn't be any side thrust to speak of. Not like they're helical
cut gears.

Just looking at the photos again, it almost looks like the shift fork was riding on the gear dogs, that can't be.

 

My 2015 had this issue at 40,000k's. Paid $5000 having the gearshift drum replaced by a non dealer mechanic with a genuine Honda one that lasted 3,000k's before have the same issue. Mechanic, Dealer the parts were ordered through and Honda Australia refuse to help! I loved this bike but I'll probably part it out and get a Tuono V4. Definitely never buying Honda again

 

I've just purchased a 2010 1200,test ride was OK,throttle a little snatchy but all else seemed OK.What I didn't know was the seller wasn't the most honest person to buy a bike from,test ride was in a built up area,didn't get out of 3rd and bike had no tax insurance or fuel in it.
Only found out about the bike riding home and engaging 6th for the 1st time,stutters badly,angry with myself for trusting him but it's a vfr,what could of been wrong with it.
I must have higher morals,I'm not going to pass it on,going to change the oil and use it for a bit has a 5 speed,cruises quite well,it's either that or its sold has spares or repair or I have a large red garden ornament.
Sean

 

There are a few things that determine decent gear selection, the shift "star" which indexes the shift drum into correct positions, and then the shift fork pushes the gears together, then the dogs that connect the gears have an undercut which pulls/holds them together when drive torque is applied. If the shift fork is bent it may not push the gears far enough together. If the dogs are damaged, the undercut can be worn down and the dogs can disengage and jump over each other, which also cause the shift fork to bend again. This was a geneic sort of fault in a lot of the early Suzuki 4-cylinder water cooled engines, speaking from personal experience with my RF900. Once the bits get damaged, the damage will get worse each time the bike jumps out of gear.

 

It will eventually do it in 5th too

 

sickmick,could you at least of put MIGHT do it in 5th eventually give me some hope the bike is worth more than just scrap value.

 

2010 to 2012 VFR's are cheap. They did have problems with hardening on some of the higher gears on early models. Unlucky you have one of those. They also had swarf in the eangine on some early models, cured by a supposed recall to check. Early models also prone to wearing out their big ends and seizing as well. Sorry its not good news.