Broken Shift Linkage

[ELKHNTR]

I was scheduled to leave the country in two days, so I pull the KLT out of the garage to go for about a 300 mile ride where the weather is nice and sunny. Just as I start her up and put her in gear I hear an odd “clack” noise. “Hmmm, that’s not good,” I think to myself. I get off the bike and onto my hands and knees only to see my shift linkage broken. She’s only got around 12,000 miles on her too, so of course there was a lot colorful language for the neighbors to hear, and some feet stomping and whining………and yes I’m better now, thanks for asking.
Reality finally sets in when I realized that fortune did actually smile on me ‘cause it could have happened hours later when I was out in the middle of nowhere, so trust me, no complaints there at all.
Before I leave I make two calls, one call to the 1-800….Road-side assistance number, and one to the closest dealer to let them know she’s on her way. They told me not to worry about it, that not only will they come pick it up and fix it, but they’ll also put her back in the garage too. My wife just called me here at the airport to tell me that they were already there to pick it up.
So far I’m very impressed with the service and how well it’s all going.

I guess we’ll see how the rest of it goes eh?
I’ll keep you posted. In the mean time, anybody else have a similar experience or advice?

[zippy_gg]

Funny thing is that there is another post about preventive measures to keep this from happening...
After my linkage broke on my 99 I bought a kit from PhilJohn and then another for my 03 as a preemptive measure.
Phil is a member of this forum and can be reached at philjohn@invisimax.com.
Replacing before a break is easy and only takes 30 minutes.

[AlaskaFish]

Well heck Ron, wish you had called me! I could have had that fixed in a matter of minutes and you could have still enjoyed the ride if it was the usual culprit.

When you get back home give me a call at work or home and we'll hold a real quick mini tech session on how to prevent this from happening in the future.

Many of us, including myself, have had this happen. If lucky, like you, it is near home! But some of us actually carry spare parts with us on the Bike so we're ready wherever and whenever!

It really is quite simple to do once you've been through it.

John
I was scheduled to leave the country in two days, so I pull the KLT out of the garage to go for about a 300 mile ride where the weather is nice and sunny. Just as I start her up and put her in gear I hear an odd “clack” noise. “Hmmm, that’s not good,” I think to myself. I get off the bike and onto my hands and knees only to see my shift linkage broken. She’s only got around 12,000 miles on her too, so of course there was a lot colorful language for the neighbors to hear, and some feet stomping and whining………and yes I’m better now, thanks for asking.
Reality finally sets in when I realized that fortune did actually smile on me ‘cause it could have happened hours later when I was out in the middle of nowhere, so trust me, no complaints there at all.
Before I leave I make two calls, one call to the 1-800….Road-side assistance number, and one to the closest dealer to let them know she’s on her way. They told me not to worry about it, that not only will they come pick it up and fix it, but they’ll also put her back in the garage too. My wife just called me here at the airport to tell me that they were already there to pick it up.
So far I’m very impressed with the service and how well it’s all going.

I guess we’ll see how the rest of it goes eh?
I’ll keep you posted. In the mean time, anybody else have a similar experience or advice?

[avonfloater]

Well heck Ron, wish you had called me! I could have had that fixed in a matter of minutes and you could have still enjoyed the ride if it was the usual culprit.

When you get back home give me a call at work or home and we'll hold a real quick mini tech session on how to prevent this from happening in the future.

Many of us, including myself, have had this happen. If lucky, like you, it is near home! But some of us actually carry spare parts with us on the Bike so we're ready wherever and whenever!

It really is quite simple to do once you've been through it.

John
Hey John -

I'd be up for that mini-tech session.

Denny

[AlaskaFish]

Be more than happy to accommodate you too Denny! In fact it is so simple we could do it for you at your place and Ron later if he is going to be out of town for a while like it appears from his post.

I really had a weird problem with my Bike the other day. Art managed to lend a little advice and morale support and we got through it fine. We'll discuss it later, too lengthy for here. I'm sending this from my hotel in Eugene. Down here on business/work. You remember what that is don't ya Denny?

John

Hey John -

I'd be up for that mini-tech session.

Denny