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Seemed to have taken a good hit to my gearshift today and managed to knock the spindle it is attached to hard enough (towards the rear of the bike) to put a large crack in the left crankcase and rip out a hole the size of a quarter. Needless to say all the oil drained out on the ground (=O) and I was left with a bike that wouldn't shift. I managed to get the bike back in first and limp it back to my truck. Okay, now for the questions....

Having taken a large chunk of metal/composite out of my left crankcase (not the cover the actual crankcase) just aft of the gear selector spindle I would assume I have to replace the whole left crankcase. I've had my bike for a couple years now and have managed to avoid going to my local bike shop and paying through the teeth for service, but this sounds like a job that might require a fair bit of knowledge and special tools. I feel like I might come up short and was hoping if anyone else has had this problem and tried to do the fix themselves. Secondly, is this a common occurence? Ironically enough I had just installed a Hammerhead shifter on my bike and was taking it out for the first ride. Something tells me that the ox-like strength of the shift lever caused the failure and the stock one just would have bent. Anybody else have an opinion on this one?

Any tips are past experiences or tidbits of CRF wisdom is much appreciated. Thanks

Damn Red, that is some really bad luck. I sounds like serious tear down work. If you have never taken an engine down that far, have someone else do it, if you are skilled, it can be done, just like a giant jigsaw puzzle. There is always the option of buying a complete new engine on Ebay. I guess I would get a quote before going that route! Good luck!

Can you post som pics of the carnage?

I'll post some in the early afternoon and as i get it apart.

There are some special tools involved. Some necessary, some you can get away improvising. The process is not incredibly hard, just very detailed. I've done a ton of these type repairs.

I'll offer to repair it if you want to ship it to me. I'll do it for at least half of what the dealer will charge laborwise. (I have no overhead...) You're probably looking at about $1500 from the dealer. Get a quote. Ship the whole lower half to me, broken parts, shifter intact. Unless you have you're own hookup...

Thought I'd offer....my work list is empty right now.

Wow! What an offer. I guess the Christmas spirit is alive and well.

Thanks for the offer 124, but I have a local mechanic who does work out of his garage in his spare time that is going to help me out. I have pics, but they are a little large to upload to this site. Sorry guys. I'll try to get it figured out in the next couple of days. Thanks for the advice and all the help as per usual!

Some pics of the "carnage" -->

http://crfsonly.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=1731

http://crfsonly.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=1732


More to come after I get it all apart. Was this a freak accident? This ever happen to anyone else? The repair is going to be very costly and I sure hope this isn't the norm.