Friend of mine has a 04 1200 sportster and all last summer he has put up with it jumping out of first gear unless he holds his foot down on the shift lever. Once it is out of 1st the other shift positions are not a issue.


I changed his primary oil last week and found metal slivers stuck to the drain plug. We changed the oil twice to be sure to get any other metal floating around out of the system.


With this problem as it is now,,, will this go from bad to worse ? and what can happen if it gets worse.


Needless to say the trans needs to be look at internally. With that in mind, does the engine need to come down to split the lower crank case or can the trans be serviced without getting inside the engine and dismantling it.


I have never messed with a sportster,,,that is why I'm asking.

 

Sounds like the dog teeth on the first gear pair may be worn. Yes you have to split the motor case and yes it get worse.

 

That is what I was thinking the problem was,,gear dogs,,,


What price range would this repair cost ? Just a price range. Reason I ask is because the bike has 42 K miles on it and this could be one of those value vs repair conflicts. The labor cost of removing the engine and taking it down to split the cases is the culprit.

 

Well labor rates vary but let's call it a 20-25 hours by the book. May find an independent dealer to do it cheaper but I can almost guarantee a Harley dealer will hit you for that many hours.