99-02 R6 ONLY 2nd gear slippage problems - warranty issues

I will post in the Admin's suggestion forum that we would like a stiky made. If you look at the top of this page, you will see a few posts that remain at the top of the page no matter how old they get.

Guess what I'm another R6 owner with the same problems
with 2nd. I thought my rear wheel was lose the first time I felt it slip out. Then I thought it was my cdi but then the 3rd time or the 4th was when I noticed it was only happening in 2nd gear. I then phone yamaha about this problem and was unable to speak with someone in person
but was able to leave a message in regards to my problem and to return my call at there earliest convenience. I waited about 4 day then I took it in to a local shop, not my dealer but one that I have been to before. They looked at the bike, just looked took my info
on the bike and said they call me back to see if they would cover the work under warrantee. In mean time I desided to take the bike down to a friends friend shop. The guy is one of the top tech's Cycle Improvments
He takes the bike for a ride & come back with the news that the dog forks a couple of washers some other stuff had to be replace. At this point I thought, this really makes no sence I've never had any problems with any yamaha's I've owned, My RD the FZ my other R6 never had to do anything, but change the oils and regular maintenance. Now yamaha has not returned my call or the dealer at this point and steams coming out of my ears.
So now I'm in the mood to call yamaha again & again to my discovery, an answering service. I leave another message in regards to my problem, not letting them know I was upset but to call me in regard to my problem.
This time I figured they call me back in 24 hrs. or they should anyways. I waited 2 days and no call , well now my getting hot under the colar, so I take my bike back to the dealer I bought it from & tell him the problem. Mat
the tech at A&W takes my bike for a ride and comes back
to tell me the same thing as Cycle Improvments had told me, the trany problem with 2nd. gear. He said it should be covered under warrantee & he would call yamaha to
have it authorized & would call me when he had done so.
I waited another 2 days with no replies, I then dropped
back in to see Mat about my bike & he said that I was not going to like to answer that has for me that yamaha
won't cover this problem & thats because I abused my bike. Well that was the straw that broke the camels back. Now I know there others with the same problem
and would like to ask If anyone would like to share the cost in taking this farther please contact me. I sure we can win this battle if we all work together.

Thanks

nAiLed

Okay guys, this is the first step in getting something done about this problem. The goal is to <!--EZCODE BOLD START--> (1) Get Yamaha to acknowledge there is a problem with the design/manufacturing process of the R6 transmission. (2) Give R6 owners the means to get their bikes covered under their Factory or Y.E.S. warranties.<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->

To do this we need everyone who has had problems to post them here. The more people we have, the better our chances are for success. I plan to keep a running tally of all the people's screen names who post their problems.

So far, this is who we have:

<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> CtryBoyInMT
draughtr6
yam99blue
Rsicx
mullerr666
Hpower281
yzfman
Duffster
R6 on one
92GTstang
HDs99
ChiTownR6
r6HeavenTNT
Jdubb431
prv8pilot
idroppedit
dtorok84
Eric01
R roku
baw02141
RuiTrigo
Greg2k1R6
Wheelie Monster
drspeedmore
r6danger
Jon AKA Spike
nailed
Suomy
mggspeed
Eric01
tricksix
rustyph
<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->


I will try to contact via e-mail everyone on the list with a .pdf form they can fill out and send back to me. If we can get everyone to have their forms notarized and sent to me, I will put up a web page to host them. From there people can download and print out all the forms and have them with them when they go to their dealerships for warranty repairs. I will also be in contact with Yamaha's Factory Warranty Dept., and I will forward the forms to them as well in the hopes we can get a written acknowledgement of the problem.

Feel free to contact me at <!--EZCODE BOLD START--> ariahgreen@msn.com<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->

*list updated*

I lowsided my motorcycle at 2,000 miles and twisted up the shifter. At 7,000 miles my second gear started to go. Problem was is that when I lowsided it jammed the shifter and bent the shift fork. Rough shifting between first and second not only can bend the shift fork but it wears off the gear dogs. Now the R6 has a very "wide ratio" transmission because of its high redline @ 15,500 revs. This is why "other yamaha's" don't experience the problem as bad is because the gap between first and second gear isn't as violent. If you know how to shift well and don't clutch up wheelies your tranny should last well over 20,000 miles as mine did after it was fixed. I rode it until 25,000 miles (some racing too) and then sold it to another racer and last time I checked the tranny was still going strong.

GSXR's have had this same problem but there was actually a serious problem in 2000 with many of the GSXR's comming off the line with miss-assembled transmissions. I forget the specifics.

There's nothing wrong with the Yamaha. 600 transmissions are not necissiarly weaker, they just have to take higher loads from the wide/harsh gap from first to second. This is why the 1000's and 600's with lower redlines shift smoother. Yamaha did a great job.... To put up with my abuse for nearly 20,000 miles after my first tranny rebuild and then go on to someone else thats pretty damn good.

Those who have trannys going in 12,000 miles must be either missing shifts from first to second, clutching up wheelies or lowsided on the left side.... any inputs from those with problems???

An interesting response. That is pretty much what my mechanic said, and it sounds technically plausible.
He also said sometimes a lazy gear change, where you might only half engage the gear, and have it pop out on you, would cause some rounding of the dogs, and once rounded....its just a matter of time.

Having said all that, I have NOT done any of the above. Not even once. I change gears cleanly and always use the clutch properly, So there has gotta be some other reason...
I have had other powerful high revving bikes, also with large 1st - 2nd gear ratios, but no gearbox issues - my last, a CBR with 70,000k's and a perfect gearbox.

The only thing i could suggest that might bring on this condition, was the previous well known defect that Yamaha fixed under warranty. It was to do with the detent spring (i think thats what it was called), that made it jump out of gear, and you had trouble getting it back in. They said that was unrelated to our current issue, but if it was popping out of gear, surely that could have caused the initial critical rounding of the dogs. The mechanic even said "hey, once the dogs start to round......"

So, my new theory,
Folks who have experienced the first spring failure and ridden long enough to round the dogs (not long), are now subject to this premature aging of the dog. It looks like abuse, cause thats what it got - only not from us. Perhaps Yamaha should have replaced the gears when they replaced their spring...

So how many of us 'tranny abusing premature dog wearers' have suffered also the fate of the broken spring thing?

If there is a correlation, we have a case to put to Yamaha.

damn i havee no IDEA wut u guys are talking about, but you guys are scarein the SHIT outt me ;O

My shift Detent spring also broke, and right before it did, My 99 R6 with over 16,000k on it, started to slip in 2nd gear, I thought it was clutch slipping, but it checked out OK, after replacing the the broken spring the Bike seemed to be ok, without any 2nd gear slippage, but I do notice in other gears ,4TH, 5TH When accelerating in the High RPMs(redline). I been more cautious about the problem, and have changed my riding style to compensate for the problem but it still happens just a lil, less.

<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> Suomy<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->, please send me an e-mail address where you can be reached.

Thanks, Ariah <!--EZCODE BOLD START--> ariahgreen@msn.com<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->

Im glad I read this. I have the same problem. I just though my clutch was worn. My R6 has around 18000 miles on it. Send me that email so we can definitely do something about this. Yamaha is great, but this is something that they need to take care of. It seems that everyone with more than 5000 or 10000 miles is having this problem. Ive noticed it a little since around 15K. Ill keep reading this post and see what we can do.

sorry about that. My email is mggspeed@hotmail.com