Shift Shaft Oil Seal - Really Tight & Causing Stiction

[diesel]

I replaced the shift shaft oil seal on my son's KX60 and the new seal fits the shift shaft really, really tight.  So tight that the shifter does not want to return to center after shifting up/down.  Is this something that will "wear in"?  The new seal is genuine Kawasaki and it was installed according to the service manual.  All advice/comments welcome.  Thanks

[jonny500]

if it worked ok before and nothing else apart from the seal has changed then yes i would say it will wear in and free up after a short while. when the engine is running the vibrations should help to. i take it you oiled/greased the seal well before instalition

[diesel]

if it worked ok before and nothing else apart from the seal has changed then yes i would say it will wear in and free up after a short while. when the engine is running the vibrations should help to. i take it you oiled/greased the seal well before instalition

I coated the lip of the seal with the ATF I run in the bottom-end.  The shift shaft was coated with ATF as well.  I suppose polishing the shift shaft was an option, but everything is reassembled and filled with fluid now, so a test ride is probably the next thing to try...

[diesel]

Just an update on the overly-tight shift shaft seal...it seems to be wearing-in as I had hoped.  The shifting is 90% back to normal.  I say 90% because shifting from 5th to 6th has been a problem still.  The shift to 5th goes normally, but the tight seal prevents the shifter from dropping back to center, so attempting to shift to 6th results in a missed shift.  I allowed that to happen twice.  Now the wearing in process will be done at more conservative speeds...and shifting 1-3.  The seal has had two heat/shifting cycles put on it and the results are good.  I also checked the little Kawasaki plastic parts bag and the part number was correct, so I guess this seal was made on a Monday.  Just wanted to let everyone know...

[jswatland]

This is a very interesting post. Wonder if Kawi techs have been dealing with this for years? I'll be sure to keep a look out for this on future rebuilds, thanks for the info

[diesel]

Update - The issue with the shifter seal never really resolved itself, so I removed the shift shaft and checked to see if it was bent.  It was perfectly straight.  I tried using a spare shift shaft from another KX60 engine and it had the same issue...overly tight at the shifter seal.  The fix was to polish the shift shaft.  I checked the fit every few thousandths of an inch, and when I had removed enough material, the shift shaft slide right into position.  No more binding.  I still say this seal had to be made on a Monday, but the fix was fairly easy.  The worst part was pulling the engine because the clutch-side footpeg prevents removing the shift shaft with the engine mounted in the frame.