The Big Cat on Taskers Gap

[BykBoy]

Took the big cat up to the ATV trail at Taskers Gap (http://www.mountaintravelguide.com/4x4%20Trails/virginia/shenandoah/TaskersGap.htm) this weekend.



It started out OK. But then the trail got more and more rocky... I fell a few times and eventually, the gear box got jamed in neutral and would not get into gear. I ended up rolling the thing down the mountain to Edinburg and getting a flat bed truck to get it back home...

[BykBoy]

At the top of the easy part of the easy blue trail





Looking back at the easy part of the trail





Things are getting harder....







And the first fall...  :oops:











The big cat on the back of the flatbed on the way back home

[GatorTiger]

Sorry to hear about your bad luck with the gearbox... Any diagnosis so far?



Hope you still had (somewhat) of a fun day!



Cheers,

HG

[BykBoy]

Sorry to hear about your bad luck with the gearbox... Any diagnosis so far?



Hope you still had (somewhat) of a fun day!



Cheers,

HG

From the estimate sheet it looks like the fork shifter rod (???) is bent and I'm getting 7 new clutch plates. There were a host of other seals and gaskets bringing the total for parts to $700. Add in another $600 of labor and I'm looking at a hefty bill. I am also having them do the standard 36K service, which will add another $600 or so...



I had a blast while the cat was wroking... I could have done without the second part -- getting a 550lbs+ bike out of the trail, down the mountain, halling it 100 miles to the shop, and having it sit there for 2-3 weeks while the parts are in transit... Oh well, it's all part of the adventure...

[twotaildog]

Looks like a fun ride. Sorry about the shifter trouble. Do you think knobbies would have helped, or were the DS tires adequate?

[BykBoy]

Looks like a fun ride. Sorry about the shifter trouble. Do you think knobbies would have helped, or were the DS tires adequate?

Knobbies would have been much better for sure. However, I found the hardest part was the narrow trail. The big cat can go over rocks and routs, but it's hard to manuver it in the winding, narro trail. Add rocks and roots and Its even harder to follow the line with the big heavy Tiger.



I found that keeping a fast yet steady pace was best. Bad things started to happen when I started to ride the clutch. Slowing down made it much harder to handle.



Knobbies or DS tires, it would still be a chalange...

[Mudhen]

NICE!!!  Sucks about the shift rod, though...so that happened one of the times that the bike went over?  Or is that an internal piece...

[BykBoy]

NICE!!!  Sucks about the shift rod, though...so that happened one of the times that the bike went over?  Or is that an internal piece...

It's the internal rod that shifts the gears. They had to open up the clutch side cover and take apart the entire transmission to get to it... It took them a lot of time to get it out (lots of labor $$$). I saw the broken part at the shop. It's a tiny little edge less then 1/4 of an inch. But without it, the shifter rod just moves back and forth and does not engage the gears....



I don't think it happend because of the drops. I dropped this big cat so many times in the last 3 years... If it was the drops, it would have happend long ago :oops:...  More likely it broke when I was trying to force it into gear. I was putting a lot of preasure on the gear shifter...