Inside the guts of it there's a centrifugal clutch which is used at takeoff, and another clutch, a multi plate clutch, that's operated off the gear shift mechanism. The multi plate's there so when you change gears at a rev above the centrifugal clutches lock up speed, the gears don't graunch or be hard to slip in and out. The shift mechanism slips the clutch before the gear's start to move in or out of gear. That clutch operating is probably that "mushy" feel you detected (just an incidental bit of info). You should check the adjustment of that multi plate clutch. It's on the right behind the rear wheel, behind a bung. If it's not slipping enough they are hard to shift. The real secret to good changes though is in A: getting the torque load off the gears at the instant you move the lever, and B: synchronizing the speeds of the gears. The process when changing up is , give it a little extra throttle(more than you had been) just before the lever gets moved, so the bike is accelerating, then throttle off just as you move the lever. That way the bike and the engine are both under a sort of float condition, both are neither accelerating or decelerating. The process when changing down is throttle off till the revs are low enough to change down, then blip the throttle just at the instant you are moving the lever down a gear. The throttling on takes the load off the gears you are in, and then brings the revs on the lower gear shaft up to the speed of the other shaft and gears. Depending how fast you are going at the time and the gears being shifted you sometimes need to give it quite a rev, but at low speeds just a little rev.

Put it in two wheel drive, high ratio, and try rotating the rear wheels.. While you have it up.

Parham.. the idle jet(inside the carb) may need cleaning, or the mixture might need adjusting. You should try adjusting the idle mixture screw and see if that cures it. If the adjustment screw doesn't seem to make any difference, or if you have to wind it more than about one turn in either direction to get it adjusted right, it's a sign the jet is dirty.

Ok, I'll presume then that the lever only moves a short distance when the problem is happening. It gets a full travel for first and second, and then after that it only moves half the distance ? If it's traveling full distance but not changing then it will be a different issue. It probably just needs to have the output shaft turned more to align the higher gears. Try jacking the back end up and turning the rear wheels as you try changing. You might have to rotate the wheel several turns before it will change up into each consecutive gear. Try turning, and turning backwards. It's pretty much standard for a stationary bike to need rocking to shift gears, and they need rocking further for the higher gears.

OEM carb should say Mikuni on it aftermarket no writing at all , some oil may come out from the filter but always drain oil from drain plug on bottom of engine, choke plunger should just pull out of the carb if the threads on the plastic piece are stripped if not unscrew it mine are always stripped. Good job on hardwood floors. Thats next on my agenda. Oh, good job on the bearings ,they can be a bear sometimes.

Some of the fan's have a water drain hose, I've filed them up with wd40 through that hose before to shut them up. Most service manuals tell you exactly what model carb the bike should have.. It will be in a table of specs about the jet sizes and settings. You should use the drain bung I'd think.. though I don't know yammies. I think to get the new carb spring in you will have to take the butterfly shaft out.. it's got screws holding it that are splayed out at their ends so they can't come loose. If you try and wind them out it will bugger the threads in the shaft. Try to grind/file the ends back or pinch them into shape before removing, and it's best to have new screws to go back in.. and do re-munt the ends after they are in..

Yeah my wife was probably not thrilled that I have been working on the Kodiak instead of the kitchen but if we get that snow today, she might forgive me........Its really funny that the Honey Do List just keeps growing no matter how many items you knock off of it.......That is how God gave women the power to keep us boys out of trouble..

I picked up a Uplus EBZ7-3-2, 12v 6ah battery from Amazon for $24 shipped. Fits our ATA125-D Tao Tao and works good. Had to charge it before usewith my 1.5A battery tender, as it was low on charge when received. After charging, shows 233 CCA on my battery tester. Does not need the battery to run; just to start. I disconnected the battery after starting to verify.

I have it running pretty smooth after playing around with carb.The battery won't hold a charge and I have to jump start it, so I'm going to go ahead and grab a battery this week.

It ran when I picked it up, had to jump it then, so I was anticipating getting a battery. I was playing around with the idle screw on the carb, and it seems better, but there seems to be something else going on. I might need to try to clean the carb this weekend.