Lowrider transmission kicks into neutral when downshifting

[tractorhunter]

Just got my new 1978 Lowrider on the road and noticed that when you downshift especialy into 2nd gear it seems to kick into neutral. If you rev up the motor a couple times it will kick into gear. All the gears seem ok and it upshifts fine. Any ideas of what is going on? thanks, TH

[80FXS80]

Since it's only occuring in one direction it is probably a bad shifter pawl in the ratchet top. (part of the indexing unit inside the stamped steel cover on the side of the ratchet top). There are seperate pawls for up and down shifting. Could be as simple as a broken spring in there. Very inexpensive fix. I was unable to find an exploded view of the mechanism. you'll need a parts book, or to go to the dealership to identify the specific part numbers.

[tractorhunter]

Thanks 80, The inexpensive part got my attention. I have the manual so I guess I'll be pulling my first transmission apart. Runs sweet and handles great, shame about this but if I didn't want to work on a bike I'd have a new lowrider or dyna. Thanks, let you know how I made out. TH

[Lady Godiva]

You might try searching on shifting into neutral or something similar - I know I saw a thread awhile back about a similar problem that ended up being something fairly simple & you might be able to get some other ideas. Good luck!

[tractorhunter]

Thanks Lady, I'll try that.