Funny shifter.

Well it's actually not that funny at all. When i push my shifter down into first it stays there. I can pull it back into nutral but no second gear. I just had the motor out of the bike and turned every witch way but loose to paint it. What have i done and what should i be looking at? which cover am i going to have to pull

it won't go into second if its not running.

Usually, it won't go into second if it's not moving. This is normal, makes neutral a lot easier to find.

Thats good to know. Right now it functions as a two speed where the shifter is either down in first or up in neutral and makes no effort to return to its usual resting place. It functioned fine before i took the top end off of it. I did not remove any covers or change anything but the top end but i did drain it and turn it upside down to paint it.

taking the top end off could not cause this. By what your sayin is the shifter stays down when shifted to 1st and stays up when shifted to neutral. Thats wierd could be a shift linage problem if you removed it to remove the engine from the frame.

the model and year of your bike would help to.

Frank wrote:

taking the top end off could not cause this. By what your sayin is the shifter stays down when shifted to 1st and stays up when shifted to neutral. Thats wierd could be a shift linage problem if you removed it to remove the engine from the frame.

It is a 76 900ltd. The only thing i took off was the shift lever. It did start the first try after having the top end and carbs apart though.

One of the guys with more experience and knowledge will be more help but, the spring in this picture may have come loose. Well that picture sucks, resizing made it unreadable,

Post edited by: The Milkman, at: 2007/07/29 11:38

It's thee spring in my crude box.:laugh: :laugh:

brawnyrebel wrote:

Frank wrote:

taking the top end off could not cause this. By what your sayin is the shifter stays down when shifted to 1st and stays up when shifted to neutral. Thats wierd could be a shift linage problem if you removed it to remove the engine from the frame.

It is a 76 900ltd. The only thing i took off was the shift lever. It did start the first try after having the top end and carbs apart though.

Did you re-install the shift lever in the exact same position on the shift shaft splines?
Before removing my shift lever, I took a razor blade (anything metal and sharp, like a dental pick, will work here) and scratched a small line across the lever and shift shaft so that there's no question as to refitting it in the proper position again.

Re-installing it in a diff than original position would probably only affect the angle the lever sits at, but then again it could possibly be causing it to rub somewhere - is there a chance that you have the shift lever pushed to far onto the shaft, and it's rubbing/binding on the engine cover? :huh:

I don't think that rubbing is the issue. The spring is a viable option though. Is that behind the clutch cover ?

I know a couple of guys who experienced something like this after the bike fell over on the left side and banged the shifter on the grond it knocked the linkage out of whack.had to pull the clutch and line the levers back up on the drum or something like that.