DR650 Gearbox Issues

[NordieBoy]

Also posted on AdvRider.

Anyone who has had a DR650 gearbox let go can you tell me...

1. Year of bike.

2. Mileage.

Just trying to see if there's anything in common or something that can be done to prevent this happening to anyone else.

So far:

2001 60,000km

2001 55,000km

[jenks]

Also posted on AdvRider.

Anyone who has had a DR650 gearbox let go can you tell me...

1. Year of bike.

2. Mileage.

Just trying to see if there's anything in common or something that can be done to prevent this happening to anyone else.

So far:

2001 60,000km

2001 55,000km

Sorry about your troubles Nordie!! I'll be watching this thread with interest

[the_aussiedr650]

This is on ADVRIDER @ 30,000k but not sure of year and another guy in the same post had his go at 40,000k and it was an 01

[Spannermad]

Looking at the pic of that gear , it looks as if the spline and the edge of the drive dog (at the top of the gear in pic) both line up. This is very bad design as both create a weakness, but with them ligned up it`s a double whammy.

[ivtriedeveryusername]

1995, 55000kms

Nothing like the pic though, the hadening on the teeth finally wore off, huge ammount of metal filings and realy noisy.

[NordieBoy]

Grenaded engines due to 3rd gear failure...

NordieBoy 2001 60,000km

Transalper 2001 55,000km

Rosscoact 2004 13,000km

Mardy 1997 53,000km

TH 1999 40,000km

RubberCow80 2001 25,000km (2nd gear?)

[texas-dr]

Also posted on AdvRider.

Anyone who has had a DR650 gearbox let go can you tell me...

1. Year of bike.

2. Mileage.

Just trying to see if there's anything in common or something that can be done to prevent this happening to anyone else.

So far:

2001 60,000km

2001 55,000km

Nordie Boy, also get the serial numbers of the bikes, that way we can tell if it

was a specific "run" of gears. if a specific run of gears is shown, suzuki has been

known to do a recall.

[NordieBoy]

DR650 3rd gear blowups...

NordieBoy (NZ) 2001 60,000km

Transalper (NZ) 2001 55,000km

Rosscoact (AU) 2004 13,000km

Mardy (US?) 1997 53,000km

TH (NZ) 1999 40,000km

RubberCow80 (AU) 2001 25,000km (2nd gear?)

Philth (AU) 3 bikes <20,000km (2nd gear?)

BikeRooter (AU) 2006 10,200km

I'd probably put the 2nd gear ones as Aussies tanked up on fourecks being confused about this "counting" thing.

I'm starting to think it's 3rd gear itself. The design of it with the thickness of the metal and the selector grooves and the more you use 3rd gear under load.

All the low mileage ones are Aussie with quite possible heavy 3rd gear sand use.

[NordieBoy]

Nordie Boy, also get the serial numbers of the bikes, that way we can tell if it

was a specific "run" of gears. if a specific run of gears is shown, suzuki has been

known to do a recall.

The bikes range from 1997 to 2006 so far.

2001 is popular though.

[snpl]

Hello everyone! Im from greece. I have a '96 model with 135.000klm. 2nd gear was moving to neutral as rpm's got higher. I have dissasembled the engine to figure out what was the problem. Ill post some fotos and try to explain below.

[BSR-1]

Hello everyone! Im from greece. I have a '96 model with 135.000klm. 2nd gear was moving to neutral as rpm's got higher. I have dissasembled the engine to figure out what was the problem. Ill post some fotos and try to explain below.

I look forward to your report!

[snpl]

Below you can see the half part of the right (as we ride the bike) of the crankcase. Be aware that the driveshaft and the countershaft are actually alligned so the 2nd drive gear and the 2nd Driven gear are in contact. In the picture this is not happening because when I split the crankcase , countershaft moved so in picture is a bit higher from its original position.

I will try and explain a bit how the transmition between Neutral and 2nd works:

2nd Drive gear rotates as it is attached and "locked" to the countershaft.But the 2nd Driven gear is actually rotating freely on drive shaft (Neutral Position).It needs 4th driven gear to rise up,bind with it and force drive shaft to rotate (2nd Gear Position). This happens because the 4th driven gear is bind to drive shaft in a way that they rotate together but the gear can move up-down.

4th driven gear is moving up and down because the 1st fork embraces it and forces it to move like this.The fork its self is forced by the gear shifting cam rotation. The fork has an cylinder arm that it is attached to the cam's guidlines.Guidelines look like this

/\

------/ \-------\

\------

(sorry for diagram but i have no clear picture for it)

As the cam is rotating it forces the arm (and so the fork ) to move up or down to certain positions. The arrows on the pictures indicate the position of 1st and 2nd shifting fork as cam rotates to 1st, Neutral and snd gear.

The Problem:

When I eventually opened the crankcase I believed that the damage would be something obvious.Possible broken teeth of gears, forks, or other parts.The real problem was that everything looked ok (with no excesive damage but all parts had minor surface - contact - damage). I made a conclusion that all this small problems were added together and formed the automatic gear shifting problem.

What is happening:

As 2nd driven gear and 4th driven gear come close, the damaged contact surfaces cannot hold the torque provided so the gears detach (To see exactly how these gears work please consult a online part store or wait for me to post a picture!).The detachment pushes the 4th gear down so the fork is forced to move also.Eventually the fork's arm presses the cam guidline and the cam rotates to neutral.

If you look carefully on the picture you will see that the 2nd gear position is in a guidline that forms "a top of a hill" on that spot.So it is easy for the arm to rollback to neutral position.

I hope you can understand what is happening.Plz forgive my expression mistakes but mechanical terminology in english is something completely new to me.

[BSR-1]

I hope you can understand what is happening.Plz forgive my expression mistakes but mechanical terminology in english is something completely new to me.

I think you've done a great job of explaining in english.

I would appreciate any other pictures, diagrams or explanations that you have to offer!

thanks!

[Bgunn]

Just trying to see if there's anything in common or something that can be done to prevent this happening to anyone else.

No failure, but my O6 at 14K miles has a fairly whiny 3rd gear. More pronounced at lower rpm's when accelerating.

Took a 07 for a ride today that has !0K miles. Its there too, but not as loud as mine. Also thought my 06 was getting harder to downshift but the 07 was about the same.

Do most DR's whine a bit in 3rd or is it a tell tale sign?

[1motime]

My '08 model with 2500 miles whines in third gear, but it gets noisier as I accelerate. I think I need a louder pipe, so as not to worry about it.

[DirtieR]

? 5 min ago I was living in blissfull ignorance, now I'm peering at my DR through the window expecting the third gear to drop out on the floor and roll towards me...damned internet.? (my common sense is just starting to prevail btw)

Sorry for your loss Nordie

[NordieBoy]

No failure, but my O6 at 14K miles has a fairly whiny 3rd gear. More pronounced at lower rpm's when accelerating.

Took a 07 for a ride today that has !0K miles. Its there too, but not as loud as mine. Also thought my 06 was getting harder to downshift but the 07 was about the same.

Do most DR's whine a bit in 3rd or is it a tell tale sign?

Mine never whined. Just kept it bottled up inside until one day it just went postal.

[Wybs]

DR650 3rd gear blowups...

NordieBoy (NZ) 2001 60,000km

Transalper (NZ) 2001 55,000km

Rosscoact (AU) 2004 13,000km

Mardy (US?) 1997 53,000km

TH (NZ) 1999 40,000km

RubberCow80 (AU) 2001 25,000km (2nd gear?)

Philth (AU) 3 bikes <20,000km (2nd gear?)

BikeRooter (AU) 2006 10,200km

I'd probably put the 2nd gear ones as Aussies tanked up on fourecks being confused about this "counting" thing.

I'm starting to think it's 3rd gear itself. The design of it with the thickness of the metal and the selector grooves and the more you use 3rd gear under load.

All the low mileage ones are Aussie with quite possible heavy 3rd gear sand use.

I see 2 possible theories from the data:

1) aussie/that part of the world bikes had a batch of marginal gears

2) the bike's oil delivery system doesn't work when riding the south of the equator. could be the toilet bowl effect or just cause you are always upside down.

Don't mean to poke fun at your misfortune, be interesting to know how many DR's are down there vs in the states/europe. It does seem like an aussie thing

cheers

[Madsdad]

Add Madsdad (US) 2005 9980 miles or about 16000 km. Shifting into third and Kaboom.

[NordieBoy]

Add Madsdad (US) 2005 9980 miles or about 16000 km. Shifting into third and Kaboom.

Hmmm. You sure you don't have Aussie blood?

DR650 3rd gear blowups...

NordieBoy (NZ) 2001 60,000km

Transalper (NZ) 2001 55,000km

Rosscoact (AU) 2004 13,000km

Mardy (US?) 1997 53,000km

TH (NZ) 1999 40,000km

RubberCow80 (AU) 2001 25,000km (2nd gear?)

Philth (AU) 3 bikes <20,000km (2nd gear?)

BikeRooter (AU) 2006 10,200km

Madsdad (US) 2005 16,000km