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This past Friday, I began having problems shifting. What I finally figured out while riding was that my shift pedal is not returning to center after shifting (up or down). After looking in my manual, it sounds like it may be the return spring. However, the manual says the engine must be removed to get to it. Is there any way possible to get to it easier?
Anyone know if I can do it somehow without removing the engine (which means also the tank, carb, and everything else)?

Thanks for any help you can give.

Unfortunately, to get to most anything in the tranny, you need to open the cases. And this means either removing the engine, or on some bikes(maybe not yours), coming in from underneath the bike. Getting the bike that high in the air or upsidedown is asking for an accident... it is safer to remove all the stuff in the way and yank the lump.

And yes, your right. It does suck. But not as much as wrecking more stuff trying to fix the first problem.

Is it the 96 Vulcan 800 your talking about?

If so the engine needs to be removed.

But the good thing is that the case doesn’t split in the center. (left and Right)

It splits bottom and top. Wich means you don't have to brake down the top end or even remove the carbs.

Once the engine is out and all oil is drained from it. turn it up side down and remove the bottom cover wich is a lot like taking a tyranny pan off of a cars transmission.

You than have access to all the shifting linkage and gears. Not that hard But a little scary looking.

When your in there I believe the manual states this is a good time to clean the oil pump pick up and repack the pump gears. Your in there might as well do it!

One weekend should do it!

Good luck!!!

and post back!

Mike

Thanks for the input. I haven't decided whether I will attempt it myself or not. I'm going to call a couple places around here tomorrow and get a few estimates first.

I took the bike over to the dealership today to have one of their techs look at it. He thinks it is due to the aftermarket controls on it. The previous owner had laid it down about a month before I bought it. The left side control setup did get bent but just barely noticeable. The tech said he thinks it is getting bound up in that setup and it should all be removed, fixed, polished, etc to make it work right. I mentioned that I had a set of stock controls on the way that I was planning to swap on this weekend and he said to just forget about this aftermarket setup then and see how it is after I put the stock controls back on. He said it was probably a 1 in 1000 chance that it might actually be the spring. He said in the 10 years he's been at this Kawasaki dealership (the only one in our area), he has never seen a Vulcan engine have to be opened up for any reason so, although it could be the spring, he really doubts it and recommended looking at all other possiblities first.

Just for kicks, I decided to go out to the garage and test out that mechanic's idea on what the problem is. He was right! I swapped the pegs from one side to the other. Turns out the male end of the peg that the bolt screws into (through the shift lever and mounting plate) was bent ever so slightly. It's so subtle, you can't really tell by looking at it while mounted, but the screw was very difficult to get out because of it whereas the other side was smooth and easy to take off. So I swapped the peg assembly from the other side on to see what would happen and it shifts beautifully.

I'm just relieved that I don't have to pay a fortune to have it fixed!

Hey, cool!!! Gotta love it when that happens.

well now my world is shattered--i thought that all mechanics were vultures just waiting to beat everyone out of their money.