Ok What am I looking for?

just to reiterate I have never had gears grind and no problems getting neutral. I pull the clutch in to shift into 3rd and and the shift lever just doesn't what to move

 

Loose, damaged, or missing rivets.

Not saying that it's your problem just that it's easy to check.

 

Your gonna need to pull the top cover and visualize if the drum and shift forks are ok... Sounds like a shift fork is bent or possibly 3rd gear is not sliding on the shaft..

 

You might want to get a small piece of window glass and check to see if your clutch pack plates are warped. Just one warped plate can cause this problem. The glass plate is the cheapest flat surface you can find. The thicker the better for a tool.

 

I'm at work now but if I remember right the SM says I need a special tool when removing the clutches. Can I get by with out it

 

You do need a special tool ... however, if you Google Harley Clutch Compression Tool you will find several results including how to make your own ...

 

found it!

pulled the clutch plates last night and the spring plate was missing half the rivets just as suggested. thanks guys

any suggestions on which kit to buy

 

Barnett Extra Plate kevlar set, which does away with the spring plate. I never did understand what purpose that served.

 

Once you get this all back together you will need to go through the entire clutch adjustment process ... once you have the clutch and cable adjusted you can use the cable adjuster to get the grab point where you want it ...

making the cable longer will move the grab point away from the grip ... making the cable shorter will move the grab point toward the grip ...

glad you found the problem ...

 

ok I have ordered the Barnett clutch mentioned on the previous post. I had a bitch of a time getting the last several plates out. Only thing i can see
that might be causing this is a slight grove in the clutch basket where the spring plate was. Hope this isn't going to cause problems with the new clutch???