Newbie Question About Purchasing an 85 VMax

[3BadBirds]

I'm looking to buy an 85 Max locally. I'm still trying to set up a date to take this beast for a test drive. In talking with the current owner, however, I know that 2nd gear is shot. I called my local Yamaha dealer just to get an idea of how expensive this repair would be. He told me that he would pass on this bike as the cost of the repair will exceed the bike's worth. He also said it probably indicates that this bike was beat on and will have other problems - if not now, soon.

Is this repair really such a big deal? I'm use to working on muscle cars (I restore Mopars as a hobby) but never really messed around with my bikes before, other than basic maintenance.

Thanks again for the help and Happy Holidays!

PS - Approximately how much should I expect to pay for an '85 in good shape?

 

[shawn kloker]

I'm looking to buy an 85 Max locally. I'm still trying to set up a date to take this beast for a test drive. In talking with the current owner, however, I know that 2nd gear is shot. I called my local Yamaha dealer just to get an idea of how expensive this repair would be. He told me that he would pass on this bike as the cost of the repair will exceed the bike's worth. He also said it probably indicates that this bike was beat on and will have other problems - if not now, soon.

Is this repair really such a big deal? I'm use to working on muscle cars (I restore Mopars as a hobby) but never really messed around with my bikes before, other than basic maintenance.

Thanks again for the help and Happy Holidays!

PS - Approximately how much should I expect to pay for an '85 in good shape?

The motor needs to come out of the bike and the cases need split to get to the tranny.And 2nd gear going out does not mean that the bike is beaten.
$3000-$3500 ? for the bike?
The tranny can be fixed for around $300 if you do it,$1300 or more if a shop does it.Mine did this and I had all my gears back cut instead of just replaceing the bad ones with new.2nd and 5th had to be welded then back cut on mine.
Your gear selector segment behind the clutch basket could be worn too should be replaced with the newly designed version.I feel that this is the cause of most 2nd gear issues on the older bikes.

How much is the guy asking?

Can you post pics?

You'll find almost any vmax in working order going for around$5000 unless it is a basket case or a deal of a lifetime.

If you are mechanically inclined already and the price is good I would buy it and have it ready for spring.It is not that hard to repair.

 

[Dreamster66]

The motor needs to come out of the bike and the cases need split to get to the tranny.And 2nd gear going out does not mean that the bike is beaten.
$3000-$3500 ? for the bike?
The tranny can be fixed for around $300 if you do it,$1300 or more if a shop does it.Mine did this and I had all my gears back cut instead of just replaceing the bad ones with new.2nd and 5th had to be welded then back cut on mine.
Your gear selector segment behind the clutch basket could be worn too should be replaced with the newly designed version.I feel that this is the cause of most 2nd gear issues on the older bikes.

How much is the guy asking?

Can you post pics?

You'll find almost any vmax in working order going for around$5000 unless it is a basket case or a deal of a lifetime.

If you are mechanically inclined already and the price is good I would buy it and have it ready for spring.It is not that hard to repair.

at 2,700. mine was the deal of a lifetime then huh?

worth more than that to me tho....I wont give it up for anything!

 

[maxcruiser]

If you really like the overall physical condition of the bike, than next step in determining if it has a good solid engine - a compression test - if it passes that then on to second gear issue.

Is it a big job? yes it is - depending how bad the gear issue is will determine what needs to be changed in the tranny. Most cases, shift fork, shift drum, 2nd and 5th gear and engine gasket kit. To get to these tranny parts, the engine needs to come out of bike, flipped over on a bench and lower half engine case removed to get to the tranny parts. Obviously, I skipped alot of steps on how to do this, but between the service manual and web info - there's alot of info on how to do it.

The reason the dealer says that it expensive is because of all the labour time to remove/install engine, etc... one way to reduce cost is to remove engine yourself and bring to him or do the whole job yourself.

The dealer statement that the bike was abused, may not be true - 1985 models had an older style 2nd & 5th gear that has been replaced with better/stonger gears in later models. The older gears were prone to failure. What's the mileage on the bike?

I did the job myself on a 96 max with approx. 80,000 miles and recently sold the bike with 112,000 miles and it had no issues. It cost me approx. $600.00 to do the job myself and in my opion, if you have mechanical ability, that's the way to go.

If you decide to go ahead and buy the bike, we can give alot of info on how to do it.

Check the link for info on 2nd gear issue and how to do the repair and bulletin from Yamaha

http://www.venturers.org/Tech_Library/index.php?action=article&cat_id=001006&id=250

www.musclebike.com - hit the motorcycles icon - scroll to bottom of page and hit the tips and links icon - scroll to 2nd issue to get the yamaha bulletin

Good lock in your decision.

Mike

 

[shawn kloker]

at 2,700. mine was the deal of a lifetime then huh?

worth more than that to me tho....I wont give it up for anything!

They are hard to find for cheap!

 

[3BadBirds]

Thanks for all the info! The guy is asking $1,500 for the bike with 17,000 miles on it. Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time getting in touch with him to set up a test ride....

 

[odieoh24]

had to do this on my 97 couple of years back. bike only had 9000 miles on it. it was a very expensive job done at the dealership. i replaced everything in the tranny-parts 1600, labor 1600. almost killed me. unfortunately at the time i was not a member of the vmoa and didnt know about undercutting the gears till the following year. hopefully i wont have any further issues. i wish i knew how to do the work myself, but i really dont have time to do anything like this anyway. the guys here are quite knowledgable and will gladly help you out. good luck

later odieoh24

 

[shawn kloker]

Thanks for all the info! The guy is asking $1,500 for the bike with 17,000 miles on it. Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time getting in touch with him to set up a test ride....

Buy it as soon as you can.You can more than double your money parting it out on ebay! I'd buy them all day long at that price.Sean?

 

[Bill Seward]

I've been reading for years about this 2nd gear problem with the '85 Max.. I must ride the bike like an old lady, because I've never even had the suspicion that there was anything wrong inside mine...

BTW, 117K on a 96 is something to be proud of!
It took me since '85 to get mine up to 120K!!

 

[Laxfan]

had to do this on my 97 couple of years back. bike only had 9000 miles on it. it was a very expensive job done at the dealership. i replaced everything in the tranny-parts 1600, labor 1600. almost killed me. unfortunately at the time i was not a member of the vmoa and didnt know about undercutting the gears till the following year. hopefully i wont have any further issues. i wish i knew how to do the work myself, but i really dont have time to do anything like this anyway. the guys here are quite knowledgable and will gladly help you out. good luck

later odieoh24

You should be really :damn angry: at whoever told you to replace the whole tranny. This problem has been well known since the '80's and also well known were the fixes ....replacing the whole damn thing wasn't one of 'em.

$3200,wow, that hurts me and it wasn't my money.