New old bike

[Praxxl]

I bought a 1986 V-max two weeks ago. My first ever non-Harley. I am learning the V-max from the very basics.
It has 20,000 miles and has been in storage a long time. I bought it at auction. It would barely run when I bought it. The carbs were off synch by a mile. I finally got it running and the engine sounds strong. I took it on a couple of 4 mile rides. No further because I didn't know what kind of problems I might have and end up pushing it back. Anyway, I have discovered two issues.

1. It pops out of 2nd gear and back in under aggressive acceleration. Out / in then out and in while accelerating. Obviously this has bummed me out totally.
It stays in second if I accelerate gingerly. All other gears are fine.

2. The starter seems to bind or maybe short out when it is up to temperature. Its hard to describe but it sounds like it is trying hard but barely rolls the engine. I saw this once years ago on a car. I think it was a problem with the starter windings at that time.

So what is the most likely culprit for popping out of 2nd and then popping back in? Forks? Chipped gear? Bent shaft? I had a Harley pop out of second. I changed one gear and countershaft. It was easy on the Harley. Rixed it myself. The V-max looks to be much more of a challenge.
Should I tackle it myself? I am capable, but not familiar with the V-max. Any instructions I can download on fixing this? I have searched some on the web and found plenty of cases where a V-max popped out of second gear.

I am at a crossroads. I gave $2800 for the bike. I can probably part it out and get that much I think but I hate to do that. I'd rather drive it. But can I fix it without investing a stupid amount of money??

 

[eggohead]

There are a bunch of threads talking about the 2nd gear issues. I have a 90 and never had any issues. Now the starter on the other hand***** you need to find 4 brush, I will bet yours still has the stock 2 brush. You can get a rebuild kit pretty cheap or clean it up and do the crimp fix. I have had my 90 for about 7 years, I wouldn't sell it for all the $$$ in the world. They are way too much fun, Look up Sean( one2dmax) / Molreys Muscle and talk to him about the gear and a used starter... Don't give up on the bike, trust me...

 

[DJ89MAX]

Sorry to hear of the infamous 2nd gear problem with your max Praxxl. It was a common failure for the 80's Vmax's right around that mileage. The shift cam was made with too soft of a metal so that the shift fork eventually wears a groove in it. It will pop out of that 2nd gear back into neutral. That gear must have just the torque and positioning to be the only one to do it. The rest will be fine. I speak from experience. My 89 did the exact same thing at 26k miles. My yamaha mechanic (friend) had to pull the engine, split it and locate the transmission problem parts. Since we had it apart, I replaced all the parts and gears except 4th & 5th gears. They looked like new still. This was years ago but I think I spent about $400 in parts for replacing more than I needed. It took my buddy about 5-6 hrs to do the job. Unfortunately, that times a yamaha hourly rate equals some expensive labor. You might be spending about half of what you paid for the bike or more but mine now has 44k miles and has no issues. Once that is taken care of, you should have a good dependable vmax. It depends on how much you want to put into it. I know I wouldn't attempt the job myself. There were a lot of parts in that transmission that my buddy spread across the work bench. Starters aren't too bad for the vmax. You could replace that yourself. Hope this helps. Good luck .

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[davesax36]

You can get a core transmission from Sean that would probably work. Get the videos from Damon (that's his name on the board, just PM him) and try it yourself. Swap the middle gear from your current trans so the shims match your block. It can be done. I took my motor to Sean's place (one2dmax) and he let me help do the work. It took us most of the day, but I know he's done it faster with someone more experienced.

The job can certainly be done in a weekend with a few friends. I'm sure Texas-ss-tornado would lend a hand if he's close enough to you. If you only wanted to buy a couple gears, I've got my old trans here in a box that you could have for $100. I think I also have a shift segment. You'd need 2nd and 5th gear, though. Those are the ones that turn together when you're in 2nd. Popping out of 2nd usually damages 5th if it's happened enough times.

 

[one2dmax]

For an auction it sounds like a bit on the high side (especially for one that didn't run and able to verify the condition).

Problems:
1.) 2nd gear is bad. All years of the Vmax (and many other brands/models) have issues like this. Common is the 2nd gear though usually others are worn. You can either buy new gears that show the actual damage or get something like one of our undercut transmissions. A few customers here have our undercut trannies and also a few have our optional overdrive 5th gear.

You'll have to remove the engine, take off all the side covers (heads/cams can stay on), and split the case open. Not too bad a job normally. This will not be super cheap. You're going to spend $1000 minimum and more depending on what all you replace while you're in there.

2.) If the primary problem is very slow cranking while hot then the issue will be a bad (or going bad) starter. Again a very common issue on the pre 1990 vmax's. You can usually fix the issue with a later model starter. I have good used ones available. You can sometimes take apart your old starter, clean the guts/contacts, and reinstall.

If it's been bad for awhile it may have damaged the "starter clutch". These typically make a sound under the left crankcase cover that sounds like it's full of rocks rolling around when you are pushing the starter button.

 

[Blurr]

Ouch, hard way to get into a max, sorry. I feel your pain.

 

[PATMAX]

First post should have been, " There is a Vmax up for auction that doesn't run and has no history, should I bid on it?"

We can help you praxx but you are gonna spend $. I say part it now.

 

[Praxxl]

Well it wasn't quite that bad.
The bike would start with use of starting fluid enough to tell the engine was strong. I could drive it, barely, down a short city street. Enough to see it would go and shift OK but couldn't accelerate hard enough to get it to pop out of gear.
Bad luck on my part and yes, I probably paid too much.
I think the tranny might be a good winter project. I will likely do it myself to keep the cost down.

 

[Redbone]

Another option, like Sean mentioned, if your going into the transmission is to get it undercut/ od 5th gear. I had it done when I had the same problem as yours. The undercut trans is great and working with Sean is a pleasure! I don't have it in my current engine (that's another story) I'm going to swap it over to the new engine in the next couple of years.