Hard Shifting Sportster

jeri

I have an 89 sporty, with the stock 4 speed trans. the shifter lever seems to get stuck, and the bike won't shift from 1st to neutral, 1st to second- gear to gear is just ...hard. requiring to much pressure on the foot lever.

i have pulled the trans. the clearances (.04-.08)are good. the shifter forks are good, with no wear. everything appears tight, and no wear. i replaced the cam follower, cam follower springs, and finger rollers. the dogs on the gears are okay. on the bench, the trans shifted fairly easily even with the loose play in the unsecured fork shaft. once installed in the bike housing, shifting was downright smooth as i turned the splined shaft for the clutch in the normal ccw motion. it went from gear to gear with real ease. i am borderline high on the mainshaft clearance, good on the countershaft. once i installed the clutch and fully re-assembled the bike - the shifter lever seems to stick. hard. i have to really push and pull hard to get the bike to shift from first to neutral, first to second. second to first, second to neutral lso hard...higher gears are easier. any ideas on this one, guys?

glider

You mention once you reassembled the bike that the shifting was hard. Was this with the engine running or off?

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jeri

hard shift after the bike was running. bike off, lever goes into first and neutral easily. for second gear, lever goes up easily but it doesn't sound like think it shifted internally into second gear.

glider

Sounds more like a clutch adjustment is needed to me. The second gear thing may be because the gears/cogs aren't engaging when it's off.

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