thats_a_five

I am not sure about your application but sometimes you can replace clipnuts like you show with nutplates. The plate gets pop rivited to in place and the nut portion can still move around to align with the fastener. You may find these at a local hardwae store search for them on the web. Google "Self-Locking Nut Plate, Floating"

I just had mine off and on recently ('94 JT25 - very similar to yours) with no problem. Shaft slid in and out easily once the tension was off things. A couple ideas for you: Remove or at least unbolt the skid pan at the rear. There is a rubber pad under the engine that can prevent the motor from going low enough for the everything to align. Remove or loosen the bolts from the head to frame mounting brackets to allow the engine to move around a bit. The shaft should slide freely in and out. If not, or if you grind a lead in it is highly likely that you will damage the threads when you force it in. Don't abuse it. As I remember the shaft is aluminum.

I would just grind or drill one end of the rivet away, drive out the remaining part and replace it with a hitch pin and cotter pin or bolt and self locking nut depending on clearance. That way if you need to, you can simply unbolt it and move it to another pedal.

My center muffler can not be disassembled either. I took it off the bike, soaked it and burned it out. Did not cut any access holes or attempt to replace the packing. Just burned it out and reinstalled on the bike. I have not see any posts on the Gas Gas forum other than mine but I have seen several on the Montesa forum.

Just for reference to riders from other parts of the world, yesterday in Oregon it was probably only about 45 degrees F (7C) and there can be a lot of elevation change riding the mountains nearby. What sort of trails were you riding? Tight, twisties or fast quad type uphills and fireroads? I suspect high speed, high RPM. Did the bike seem to be smoking more than usual? I would tend to agree with Lineaway on this about the center muffler box. I recently did some work on mine in my '94 JT25 (see other thread about this). When I took the box off it was completely black inside from years of accumulation. I could not even find any of the perforations in the inner baffle because they were clogged with gunk. I soaked it in diesel fuel for a day then burned it out. WIth my propane torch in one end, it got hot enough inside to burn off all the oily residue and it was like a blast furnace shooting out the other end. And lots of oily smoke. I could only imagine if this got hot enough to ignite when riding it would potentially burn the bike down! When I got done I could see all the perforations in the inner tube very clearly. Just a caution - my muffler is steel - if yours is aluminum I would not recommend getting it quite as hot as I did. I also replaced my old air filter that was pretty bad, making the bike run rich. I have not had the bike on a real ride since I did this but just around the yard the bike seems to run smoother and have more zip on throttle. Plus I feel a lot better that I will not have roasted nuts after a long ride!

Are you measuring the piston or the bore? Remeber there needs to be some clearance but of course a barger piston will not fit in a smaller bore without a very large hammer! I did some digging and in 1997 these sizes were produced: JTX200 66mm bore JTX270 74 mm bore JTR250 71 mm bore. JTX370 61mm bore ! I have heard that the jugs are interchangeable among the TXT engines (93 to '01) so someone may have swapped a different jug and piston. The bores are sputter plated with Nikasil, not regular hard chrome. When I seized my JT25 I had to send the jug to Rising Sun (US Importer) and they sent replacement jug with matching piston and rings. Not cheap but it runs like a new bike now. I am no expert. I found these by using Clymers Blue Book on line. It is a bit clunky to select year, and model but then it shows bore and stroke for all. http://www.clymerval...ake=Gas+Gas+USA Good luck.

I fixed it! Solution below. Thanks again to those who contributed. I checked your suggestions and everything was good. I tore the bike pretty well down, planning to split the cases. I do not have the correct flywheel puller and could not get the flywheel off (turned out to be a good thing!). I had ordered all 3 springs that are involved with the shifting system. The new ones are thicker springs and definitely have a lot more tension. The one for the neutral roller was really challenging to install. I ended up intalling it unhooked from the lever and then prying and pushing and using some "encouraging words" to get it hooked then fully tightening the screw. Put everything else back together and went riding today. The shifting definitely takes more force and it shifts firmly up and down through the gears perfectly. I really feel very confident that it is fully in gear with no chace of it popping out like it has occasionally in the past. WooHoo, I don't have to tear it all down and split the cases now! If anyone has an old bike and has to replace the shifting claw I strongly engourage you to replace a 3 springs while you are in there. It must be beer thirty right about now! Keep the rubber side down guys!

I typed a follow-up on my center muffler but I guess it did not post so here it goes again. When I took the denter muffler off the Gas Gas and looked inside it was totally black and I could not see any holles in the inner pipe. Some probing with a bent clothes hanger indicated there were holes but they were completley blocked. So, I sooked the muffler in diesel fuel overnight then drained it and lit the inside to burn off the diesel. It did burn and smoke for quite a while but I did not feel it had burned all the diesel and did not want it to start buring or smoking when I ride in the future. So, I took my propane torch and held it inside one end and it got hot enough that the oily goo inside got hot enough to burn really well. Note that the muffler is steel so I was not worried about getting it too hot like I would if it was aluminum. After quite a while it stopped burning. After it cooled I used the same coat hanger and all the small holes in the inner pipe are wide open. I am going to hold off on cutting windows to replace the packing until I have a chance to test it. I expect this should make a difference in the running because the gases will be able to expand through the holes as intended. I will report after I get the bike back together and test ride.

Hoggy, Have you repacked the rear silencer? When I did mine I found that the packing was badly soaked and compacted. I repacked with fiberglass fairly firmly and it did tone down the bike some. I have not gotten the bike back together after burning out the center muffler so can't really say what effect it will have. I had a TY350 a few years ago that was pretty loud even with good silencer. I welded an elbow on the outlet end that directed the exhaust down toward the ground and it really reduced the "crack." I did not detect any performance change.

I am doing some work on my old Gas Gas JT25 and when I removed the center muffler it feels very heavy. I read recently in a Montesa forum about people opening these up to clean out and repack. Is this something that makes sense on the Gas Gas? I guess some people split them at the seam and rewelded, while others cut "windows" in the sides and made cover plates. They said it improved sound and performance. Thoughts?

I drain the cooling system by removing the hoses from the water pump. Yes, clean the black stuf from the inside of the head. Be careful not to gouge or scratch the metal. I use carb cleaner or lacquer thinner and a rag.

Make sure you drain the cooling system first. Get new o-rings for the head. You should be able to get the gasket off without removing the piston but if you do remove the piston it is a good idea to replace the wrist pin clips with new ones. Check the sealing surfaces - particularly in the area where it was leaking to be sure there is no scratches or erosion that will cause a new gasket to leak in the same place. Remember that there are different thicknesses of gasket and that they are used to adjust the squish height which affects compression ratios and power. Some people just use the thickest standard gasket to make the job easier. This would lower the compression which will reduce both pinging and power. Don't drop anything down into the bottom end and be sure to use a torque wrench to tighten the head bolts. I like to use a good anti-sieze on the threads. Retorque the head after a few hours of running.

It looks like a 2003 125cc, except for the 200 sticker on the swingarm and the black rims. Go to the GasGasMuseum.com site and you can click on the year and then see the different models that were offered that year. The frame and radiator mount look exactly the same as the 2003 model.

Thanks for the input. I will keep that in mind. I have never split the cases. Does it sound like I will need to?

I am hoping for some help with my Gasser. Bit of history: Bike runs good, did have an extra neutral between 2nd and 3rd sometimes. In a recent event I rode between sections, stopped to walk one so shut off the bike. When I restarted I had nothing but neutral. Foot lever moved up and down freely. Got the bike home and pulled the clutch side cover and found broken shift claw. I figure it got damaged in a practice crash (If I keep practicing I should get good at crashing, right?) and finally failed during the event. Replaced the claw and rivet. Tested by hand with the clutch off and it shifted up and down OK. Put it all together and test rode. Shifts good first to 2nd, and 3rd to 4th. Big problem is shifting from 2nd to 3rd. Sometimes it shifts, sometimes the foot lever moves up but does not shift. By fiddling with the lever with my foot, it sometimes shifts. It acts like the shift claw is not reaching the pins on the drum. It shifts down through the gears perfectly. I took the clutch cover and clutch apart again and checked for any interference. None found. Soooo