3rd gear problem

[49Reo]

Definitely something you want to cure before calamity strikes. A friend of mine had that problem on his 1989 Softail; it would go between gears, finally it caught 2 gears, and scattered his tranny all over the highway; not a good end to a day of fun in the sun.

Good luck with it; let us know what you find out.

Regards and such,
49Reo

[Troll]

I could post a copy of the invoice for the repair of my trans, but it would scare you. The P.O. had bent the 2nd gear fork, and some other damage. To fix the trans, the cases have to be split. R&R, repair trans =11 hours...On the bright side, the dealer did what I wanted when he was in there, and now it's been working perfectly. Re-ring, check the valves, new clutch pressure plate, all new bearings, just like a new engine total cost just under $3000.

[GeoSeth]

Chief -

My 96 1500 carb had that problem when I bought it from the dealer. He said that had tried to fix the shifter for IIRC, but as soon as I drove it off the lot I could tell it wasn't correct. Going from 1st to 2nd would leave me in neutral 50% of the time. Took it back to them and (being a very good dealership) they had it back to me after 3 weeks of waiting for parts.

I was told that due to the torque and the way the shifter is set up that it is a more than rare occurrence for this to happen. If I would have to guess it would be a 3-4 hour job if you had all the parts ready to go. 

[chief]

Mine does that in first... likely because I have stomped it too hard and bent something... but its been doing it for about 4 seasons. I suppose I will eventually have to open up the box and fix it... I suspect its not a 20 minute job!!!

[plevine1]

I just began to notice a problem on my 1999 Drifter 1500. When I shift from 2nd to 3rd I find that the gear doesnt engage and leaves me in neutral. If I kick the gear again it goes right into 3rd. The bike never slips out of gear once engaged. The problem only happens when shifting into 3rd gear and only happens once maybe every 10 gear changes.

I typically shift into 3rd between 2700-3100 RPM. I havent found a pattern if I shift low or high RPM.

Any thoughts about the extent (repair) of the problem I am facing? I don't want to make the problem worse and money is tight to invest in what might be a costly repair.