My bike is a 98 dyna lowrider. I had rebuilt the transmission because I was getting neutral between 3 and 4 gear. I used a Baker rebuild kit, N-1 shift drum and their shift pawl. That was about a year ago. Problem is it still has the same issue.
I have to purposefully shift from 3 to 4 to avoid the neutral, sometimes when I forget and hit neutral and let off the gas, it goes into 5 by itself, all other gears shift nice. The shift forks are stock and were checked with a straight edge for flatness and the gears looked ok to me.
According to the power flow chart in the FSM 4 gear is 1 and 4 mainshaft gears locked together to make 4 gear. I was thinking maybe 1 gear dogs or the 4 gear slots they engage in are worn out causing this. I can't figure this one out. To anybody that knows the 5 speed, whats your take on this? Any advice would be much appreciated, Thanks.

 

That is a false neutral, it can happen in any gear but between 3rd and 4th is the most common. Check the shift detent plate and detent arm, maybe the spring is going weak.

 

Thanks for your reply. If what you are talking about are parts of the shift drum, all that is new. I have the Baker N1 drum in it. Also been on the phone with them countless times with Baker going over adjusting the shift pawl. No matter what I do it doesn't change.

 

Have you looked at the condition of the shift dogs on the gears?

 

Hey Dan89FLSTC, thats the part I'm unsure about. I don't really know what a good one or a bad one looks like. None of mine were chipped or anything like that. Should the edges be sharp and square or rounded? If memory serves me right I think they were a little rounded.

 

Rounded would make it easier for the dogs to disengage.

 

The baker shift arm should have corrected over-shift. It did for my 2000 FXDX. What Dan says is a possibility. Rounded dogs could cause over shift. I would check shift pawl adjustment first. The trick is to look at the pawl clearance while up shifting and down shifting. With the rear wheel off the ground. shift from 3rd to 4th but keep holding up on the lever. Lift the pawl up and look at the clearance between the pawl claw and the pin. Do the same down shifting from 4th to 3rd. They should be the same. Also make sure the shift pawl pin in the right location. It can be adjusted one of 2 ways.

 

My Bike is a 1998 FXDL, about 42,000 miles with 3500 on the engine that was totally rebuilt by Hillside cycle with their stage 2 heads. Transmission was done by me about 300 miles ago. Its had this shifting problem since I bought it in 2014.