GL 1800 lemon?

[guatdoc]

I did my research onA gold wing 1800 GLS with Rhodes Smith trike conversion. Bought a 2001 with 102000 miles on it. Thought I made a good buy because many forum members report 200000 plus on their gold wings.

On on my first major road trip the tranny goes out which means pulling the entire engine since the tranny is built into the engine. All the mechanics were astonished. They all said they had not heard of such a thing.

So so my question to the forum is how about you? How many have had this problem in a GLS 1800????

 

[rhino 2]

Hundred thousand plus miles.. 15 years old....Nope thats not a lemon in my thinking...:Shrug:
How good was the deal... Maybe that will pay for the repairs...

 

[Gold Rush]

I did my research onA gold wing 1800 GLS with Rhodes Smith trike conversion. Bought a 2001 with 102000 miles on it. Thought I made a good buy because many forum members report 200000 plus on their gold wings.

On on my first major road trip the tranny goes out which means pulling the entire engine since the tranny is built into the engine. All the mechanics were astonished. They all said they had not heard of such a thing.

So so my question to the forum is how about you? How many have had this problem in a GLS 1800????

My '06 had just shy of 120,000 on it when I sold it. About 50,000 of that was as a Motor Trike Adventure conversion. Never had any transmission issues. It did "Ghost Shift" a few times if I got lazy while shifting.

 

[guatdoc]

Hundred thousand plus miles.. 15 years old....Nope thats not a lemon in my thinking...:Shrug:
How good was the deal... Maybe that will pay for the repairs...

I understand what u are saying. My question was do you know someone this has happened to? I am looking to verifiy frequency.

 

[Jobe05]

I own a 2001 and a 2012 Gl1800, have put 150,000 miles on Goldwings, am a moderator on two Goldwing forums and have not heard of a "Tranny going out".

Some models have issues with it slipping out of 5th gear, the beginning of a bigger issue.

Maybe you can tell us what the systems were when the Tranny went out.

 

[pwhoever]

Very interesting thread here about it: http://gl1800riders.com/forums/5-gl1800-tech-board/164020-gl1800-transmission-woes-tech-question.html?action=thread
It seems to be a known problem. You can also Google "ghost shifting" and find a wealth of info. There is a shop down in Zephyrhills FL called http://justwings.com that has a lot of information on it. Take a look on left side of that site for the ghost shifting link

 

[tfdeputydawg]

Very interesting thread here about it: http://gl1800riders.com/forums/5-gl...mission-woes-tech-question.html?action=thread
It seems to be a known problem. You can also Google "ghost shifting" and find a wealth of info. There is a shop down in Zephyrhills FL called http://justwings.com that has a lot of information on it. Take a look on left side of that site for the ghost shifting link

+1. You beat me to it.
There are tons of info on tranny failures on many Wing forums.
That shop in Florida touts undercutting of gears as a prevention for the failures.
Also some claim worn/bent shifting forks as a cause. This claim is supported, it seems by Mother Honda as warranty claims for this have been known to be denied if the bike is equipped with a heel/toe shifter.
Seems many claim the 06 model to be the worst offender. However, never had any problems with my 06 at all. Have no idea why 06's have the "rep" for failures????
BTW, for the OP, what is a GLS model??????????? Do you mean ABS?

 

[silverbullet05]

I recently bought a 2002 with 91.000 miles on the clock thinking the same thing. Although I will not be triking it yet. I've done some reading over on the GL1800 forum and have only seen one other fellow with blown tranny issues. He found it cheaper to just replace the whole engine/transmission rather than fix the tranny. I'll assume it was used.

Check out this thread,
http://gl1800riders.com/forums/4-general-mc-message-board/305578-high-mileage-1800-s.html
Especially the 23 post in this thread.

 

[CrystalPistol]

While mine is a 1500 ..... I am in a chapter I've been in 20 years now and we have a bunch of GL1800 based trikes including Lehmans, Champions, MTs, a RoadSmith ..... and a CSC. Triking any bike adds weight to haul down the road and increases the mass that must be speed up and slowed rotationally to do that moving. The engine may make same horsepower, but the stress on the drivetrain is increased (imagine jacking a rear wheel up to spin free and the low stress on the drivetrain even as you go WOT ..... as compared to having that wheel on the ground and having to move that whole bike doing it).

Only once do I ever recall a shifting issue popping up , it was on an 1800 with Champion kit, it was the personal trike of the Champion dealer, a close friend. In Cortez, Co. it started to shift not as smooth, he just noticed a slight change. He asked me to take a spin, I did. It was OK but there was something .... so we checked and found that a little clutch fluid was missing. Topped off fluid, kept eye on it, and seems he overhauled slave back at home.

I was putting on a Chapter Fundraiser once a few years back (CD 6 years) and a member of a visiting chapter group had a brand new GL1800 trike. He was excited .... showing it off, and suddenly there he was, tight turn smoking inside rear tire then straightened while still spinning and he fast shifted to 2nd ..... I often wonder how long that lasted?

Lastly ..... about H&T shifters. Up shifting by pressing down with a heel with weight of the leg above just never sounded like a good idea. My GL1200 had a H&T when purchased in '95, within a month it was back to OEM shifter & pegs. Maybe 10 years ago I had some knee problems, needed to change position of left leg on our GL1500 trike. I bought a set of Add On Low Boys that came with H&T but soon changed the shifter to a linked toe only, and since have further modded to eliminate linkage, just have a longer shift lever and PLP's Shift Brace .... and kept floorboards and added heal rests both side to use when shifting as well as braking.

 

[guatdoc]

I recently bought a 2002 with 91.000 miles on the clock thinking the same thing. Although I will not be triking it yet. I've done some reading over on the GL1800 forum and have only seen one other fellow with blown tranny issues. He found it cheaper to just replace the whole engine/transmission rather than fix the tranny. I'll assume it was used.

Yes that's the way I decided to go also. Mine is inshop in MN waiting for every one to get back from Sturgis!!!!