So I was coming home from a day trip,about 200 miles.When I approached the exit from the highway I was downshifting,when I went from 4th to 3rd,it seemed to go into neutral,no indicator light,but 3rd wasnt there.Went to second and it hit 2nd okay.Upshifted and passed the exit to test again at the next exit and the same thing happened,no third from 4th.Got off the exit and headed home,so I didnt hit 4th again and it goes into 3rd on the upshift fine.Not making any noises that I can tell.I will take it out on the highway tomorrow and see if it does it cold or if it has to get good and hot to happen.Anybody got any ideas before I take it to a mechanic?

 

Sounds like a bent selector fork from here. Can be checked by taking the lid off the gearbox and watching what happens as you shift up and down.

I have also seen the weld fail on the selector rod where it joins the selector arm....yours might be loose.

 

Wouldnt that make it unable to shift into 3rd in either direction,up or down?

 

A bent selector will bend in one direction and that would make it bad on one shift, and possibly better on the other.

If the shaft weld is stuffed it may catch one way but not the other....either way you need to take the lid off but just double check that your shifter rod adjustment isn't out, or the joints worn and that the mechanism isn't colliding with something on the bike and stopping you getting full travel on the gear lever.

 

Thanks for the advice,Spanner.I checked the fluid level in the tranny and it was low.But it must have been low since I changed it back in November.Topped it off and took it out today.It seems to be shifting fine now.I dont think it was the low fluid so I guess I'll have to chalk it up to "just one of those things".Perhaps it was because I wasnt kicking it down hard enough?I ran it up to 5th and back down over and over for about 2 hours running up and down the highway,up to 4th down to 3rd up to 5th etc without any incident or any strange noises.Just wondering,tho,wouldnt the scenarios you describe cause it to go right to 2nd from 4th,not seem to be in neutral and then go to second from there?Oh well,Ill keep my eye on it,its gonna be on my mind every time I shift,at least for the next couple hundred miles.Thanks again.

 

Gearboxes don't always follow the laws fo physics and bent selectors manifest in varous ways....if the fluid was too low it could cause shift probs...I use spectro gear-guard in Big Twins....makes them shift a bit smoother.

 

I suppose the low fluid could cause a problem,I put Redline with Shockproof in it last year in November and put a couple hundred miles on it before putting it away for the winter and it seemed fine,as it does now.We'll see how things go.