Shifter removal - seal?

[quicklimegirl]

So I made a stupid rookie mistake (but have been riding on the street since '77).  I didn't slow down enough coming down a hill to turn onto a highway, and hit the front brake too hard. I tucked the front wheel & dropped the bike on its left side.  Only damage was to my pride, an increasingly sore hand,  and a slightly bent in shift lever.  The side stand mount is getting in the way of the bent lever preventing easy downshifts and inability to get to 1st gear at all. It's a good thing 1st gear is so short on the bike ('17 FZ07) so it didn't require much clutch feathering/slippage to easily start out in 2nd gear.

I went to take off the lever to see if I could bend it out a bit on my vice, but between my hand being a bit sore already bracing my fall, and it not being easy for me to loosen the mounting bolt, I stopped...also because it seems to contain a seal.

Unlike the vintage bikes like RD350s and RD400s I'm used to working on, in which the shift lever mounts to a protruding shaft, I need to know, does the seal encased in/or behind in the mounting bolt keeps tranny oil from seepage?  Can you remove the lever w/o oil coming out, or is this seal - if that's what it is - designed to keep the oil in?  If that's the case, it would seem I'd need to drain the oil just to R&R the shift lever.  Can someone please clarify this possibly stupid question?  I'm already embarrassed by what I did a couple hours ago.  Sigh...…..it might've been the last good day to ride, sunny & 82F.  

 

 

[mossrider]

Just now, quicklimegirl said:

So I made a stupid rookie mistake (but have been riding on the street since '77).  I didn't slow down enough coming down a hill to turn onto a highway, and hit the front brake too hard. I tucked the front wheel & dropped the bike on its left side.  Only damage was to my pride, an increasingly sore hand,  and a slightly bent in shift lever.  The side stand mount is getting in the way of the bent lever preventing easy downshifts and inability to get to 1st gear at all. It's a good thing 1st gear is so short on the bike ('17 FZ07) so it didn't require much clutch feathering/slippage to easily start out in 2nd gear.

I went to take off the lever to see if I could bend it out a bit on my vice, but between my hand being a bit sore already bracing my fall, and it not being easy for me to loosen the mounting bolt, I stopped...also because it seems to contain a seal.

Unlike the vintage bikes like RD350s and RD400s I'm used to working on, in which the shift lever mounts to a protruding shaft, I need to know, does the seal encased in/or behind in the mounting bolt keeps tranny oil from seepage?  Can you remove the lever w/o oil coming out, or is this seal - if that's what it is - designed to keep the oil in?  If that's the case, it would seem I'd need to drain the oil just to R&R the shift lever.  Can someone please clarify this possibly stupid question?  I'm already embarrassed by what I did a couple hours ago.  Sigh...…..it might've been the last good day to ride, sunny & 82F.  

 

 

There is no fluid anywhere near where you need to work to get your lever removed/bent/fixed'/repaired. Go ahead and tear into that foot peg mount contraption. It's seperate from the engine-transmission via that rod and heim joint set up. Even at the other end if you have to remove something to bend the rod or something it does not effect the motor itself. Just remember to completely remove the small Allen head machine bolt that locks the shift arm to the shift shaft, it passes through a recess in the shaft thus locking it in place even if it isn't tight. 

I would just about bet you could bend the shifter enough in place to be useful by using an open end wrench (or 2) as a fork and lever to bend it away from whatever it's rubbing on. 

The attached pic will be slightly different than your configuration but may actually be more clear since it lacks the road going stuff that hides some of the fasteners and such.

The foot peg area of yours will be very similar to this one. You can see at the other end of the rod connecting the two ends of the shift system where the shift shaft exits the motor, where you mention the levers used to attach in the old (my) days.

Here's another view of the area from the parts finder that may help.

Here's a couple of images of what I mean by fork and lever. I haven't had a new shift lever in 50 years. You can use any number of configurations to get it done. Of course new is better but some of us would 20 new ones a year, lol. 

Good luck.

Edited September 12, 2019 by mossrider

[minkster]

There is no oil.  What you think is a seal is just a rubber washer.  I believe there is blue locktite on the shift lever bolt so it's tough to break loose.  If you can't get it easily loose, you could try adjusting the shifter rod to bring the lever up a little higher so it doesn't hit your kickstand bolt anymore.

[quicklimegirl]

Thanks, guys.  I wasn't sure if it was a really weird, outboard placement of a shift shaft seal.  I'm pretty ignorant about modern bikes, I've been working on ancient 2-strokes for so long!