[treeman]

I just received a telephone call from a friend of mine, actually, my Auto Owners insurance agent. She was Northbound on I-75 near Cheboygan, Michigan, when her transmission failed. She stated that she lost 5th gear, then tried to downshift to 4th, to no avail. Anyway, she has called a tow truck, and is having it hauled to Alpena Honda, which is where she bought the trike. That is about 90 miles from her location. She was towing a small camper when the bike failed. Bike has 39000 miles on the odometer, and was purchased new as a trike.

She is asking me if I know the approximate cost of repair???? She is guessing three to four thousand. Does that sound somewhere in the ballpark?? She did say that she heard a lot of clattering before the final failure. She was heading to a Gold Wing camping get together near Sault Saint Marie, Michigan. I will be heading up there to pick her up in the morning.

 

[TravelinLite]

I have read on here where others have posted $4,000. I personally don't have a clue. Sorry to hear of her dilemma.

 

[Sid Moen]

Might be damage someplace else in the drive train besides the transmission.

 

[RodFarmer]

I lost a U-Joint on mine. I hope that is her problem as it is a simple fix.

 

[GoldWingrGreg]

She did the right thing by having it towed. I specialize in the repair these and they run anywhere between $2,200 to around $5,000. When you take it to the Honda dealer, they will replace the gears with new Honda parts. It sounds like it has been a ghost shifter, and probably for a while to the point now that damage is done. Under cutting the gears is the only way to repair it to know that the issue of ghost shifting will not return and usually a cheaper way to fix them. I don't know of any Honda dealer that will do that. In my tag is a gear that is undercut.

 

[HBarlow]

What is "ghost shifting" and what is the procedure for eliminating it?

Does the woman in the original post not have an extended Honda warranty?

 

[finleypj]

some information for your freind.

.
Ghost shifting is when the bike for no explained reason will shift gears or drop out of gear. It is a chicken or the egg thing, some say bent fork shifters cause this others will say the at the gears don't lock in and jump out bending the fork shifters. Either way it is not fun to ride a bike never knowing when the damn thing is going shift out from underneath you.

I just had my wing repaired by Greg, am starting my 1000 mile assessment but due to personal reason won't post that till some time in the future. You will have several tell you that you don't know how to shift your bike, your lazy shifting, your lagging the gears, your riding on the wrong days, the full moon was out and that was the cause.

The truth is some of these bikes are prone to transmission issues. I hope you have an extended warranty and that triking your bike does not forfeit that warranty.

If you are going to have the bike's transmission rebuilt under warranty make sure you get them to put a new warranty on it. If they don't you might be out of pocket the next time. I just paid to have mine done, yes it was expensive, but in the end I am on a bike that rides like NEVER before.

 

[Jeffrey]

Does the woman in the original post not have an extended Honda warranty?

Triking a Goldwing is the best excuse for Honda to avoid transmission warranty repairs. That goes for extended warranty as well. Too bad......

 

[Rocky]

She did the right thing by having it towed. I specialize in the repair these and they run anywhere between $2,200 to around $5,000. When you take it to the Honda dealer, they will replace the gears with new Honda parts. It sounds like it has been a ghost shifter, and probably for a while to the point now that damage is done. Under cutting the gears is the only way to repair it to know that the issue of ghost shifting will not return and usually a cheaper way to fix them. I don't know of any Honda dealer that will do that. In my tag is a gear that is undercut.

That's not a true statement!
I posted a thread some time ago and asked this very question.Those that have had their transmission repaired DID NOT have another failure.

People have been using scare tactics for years to get you to buy something you don't need,and :wrong:

Yes Undercutting gears for some "Would" be the way to go,But it's just wrong to say that the only way to fix a true ghostshifter is to undercut every transmission failure.

The Fact are that 99.9% of those who have had a transmission failure have not had further troubles.

Here is the thread I posted in 3/11,and as you can see not 1 repeated failure after it was rebuilt with stock parts. http://gl1800riders.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3423551#post3423551






Yes my bike is in prision again-All I can say at this point is HONDA has been great!:bow:

 

[treeman]

Update

I've just returned home from rescuing my friend, the stranded trike rider. She said that the dealer, D's Honda, Alpena, told her that the transmission is faulty, and that it would take about a week to fix it. She does not have the extended warranty. She purchased the bike new from that dealer in late 2006.

The dealer will fill her in on the full details after getting into the transmission, probably starting this Wednesday. I appreciate all of the advice and information from everyone, and will forward the responses to her, since she is not a member of this site.

The dealer is attempting to have her trade the broken trike for a new 1800, but she is not convinced to go that way, at least not yet.