Draggett
Member
Recently, I had an issue with my 1978 gl1000. I've had it for over 15 years with no problems, just routine mainenance. I had loaded the bike into the back of my truck, and when I got to my destination and took the bike out, it wouldn't go into gear. I checked the shift lever to see that it wasn't stripped or loose. It was fine. Put bike on centre stand and rotated rear tire by hand. Still wouldn't go into gear. Pulled the output boot off the driveshaft, everything working as designed except still jammed in neutral. Pulled the rad, water pump cover and front transmission cover off. Everything inside worked, nothing broken or disconnected. Still no joy. Pulled the clutch cover, removed spider and springs, still no problem. But when I tried the shifter again, voila, I could shift all the gears, up and down. Put it all back together and it seems to work fine. Wasted a whole day and, while I'm pleased that the bike is now behaving, having not found a cause leaves me a bit leary. Is this common? Is there a known cause? Is there something I missed that I should have fixed while things were apart? I really don't want to pull the motor and go inside unless absolutely necessary. Any advice?