Gear Selector Shaft Bent?

[iancp5]

I finally worked out why I couldn't get my gear shifter in quite the right place - the selector shaft seems to be pointing down slightly!

Surely it can't be bent? It looks like pretty substantial steel and I would expect the shifter or the case to break if it received a hit big enough to bend the shaft? Thoughts?

I assume I'll need to completely strip the engine to fix this?
As it all appears to be working with no oil leaks I'm thinking I may as well do this season then do a complete overhaul. If I do a complete rebuild is there anything that should be automatically changed on the bottom end or is it a case of just checking for wear. Although with the sparse information in Gas Gas manuals how do you know if something's worn?