Gear Shift Mechanism Problems???

[Ovrman00]

I am not a mechanic, so I will describe what has happened / is happening to my bike as best I can:

My 1966 CB77 (5500 miles) was having issues changing gears. Basically, when I shifted into 2nd, and sometimes even 3rd, my bike would shift into neutral on its own. I thought this was happening because of an issue with gears. I went to a mechanic so that he could check it out, but he didn't think it was a gear issue because the bike has so few miles on it. While at his garage, on a test run, my bike locked up when I tried to move up into 2nd. The gears would change and the crank shaft would rotate, but the rear wheel would not rotate while in gear and the kickstart would not kick forward. Something felt locked. Thinking it was still a gear issue, we took the engine out and flipped it over. While in the process of taking off the Clutch Casing and removing the Gear Shift Mechanism parts, my bike got fixed. We don't know what we did exactly, but after messing with the GSM everything on the engine was working as it should.

To make an already long story short...

We put the engine back on the bike and now it is having the same exact issue. I figure that if we messed with the Gear Shift Mechanism once and it seemed to fix the problem, but it happened again, than the Gear Shift Mechanism itself MIGHT be the problem.

Does anyone have any experience with the problems that might come about with a Gear Shift Mechanism and can you offer any suggestions or help? Thanks and sorry for the really long explanation.

[paperslammer]

Hmm mine kind of does the same thing. I haven't taken anything apart yet to see what's happening.

When I am shifting down to get to 1st sometimes it kicks into neutral and won't want to shift out of it. I have to roll around a bit, but finally I can get it back into gear. Hasn't been a big problem yet, but it's on the list of things to look at...

[Spargett]

Old transmissions are prone to quarks like this. I can't tell if these are quarks or actual problems.

It's not too uncommon to land on a false neutral while shifting through an old transmission. Sometimes they need a little finesse here and there. If it's slipping out AFTER shifting, the dogs could be worn on the gears. Regardless of the miles on the bike, a previous owner could have worn them out with mistreatment.

When the gears "lock up", are you shifting through them at a standstill or riding? Did you try shifting up, then back down to jar them into place.