Yeddy911 wrote:
You stated you are using ATF. There is some back and forth on the use of ATF in the transmission.
From what I've read on the Kawasaki Triples Resources site 80w-90 gear oil is recommended.
Personally I put the 20w-50 motorcycle oil in mine. It's supposedly designed for wet clutch systems.
Right, the current recommendation is to use 80w-90 gear oil, which is what I'm using in my H2 now. However I used ATF for 40,000 miles or so and recently took my transmission apart for the first time since it was built. There was no excessive wear anywhere in it, except for a 3rd gear circlip that failed and let the gear get out of place. I replaced one gear because its dogs were a little more rounded than I like. I think that was 2nd gear on the output shaft. I replaced the bearings, although the originals were not showing any signs of failure, and the shift forks were fine.
For me that negated the horror stories of using ATF, which I originally started using because I was commuting to the U of MD year round, and when I'd get on the H2 when it was 15 degrees out, shifting was pretty sluggish with whatever was in it when I bought it.
The 20w-50 you're using may be a little thicker than 90 gear oil, depending on where in the range each one actually measures, but it's not optimized for gears like gear oil is... it's made as a compromise between engine oil and gear oil. Again, I'd bet it won't hurt your H2 any more than ATF hurt mine.