stuck in 3rd gear!

[AZRickD]

Wouldn't you know it, I'd be cursed again?

This time I took a slider in some loose doll head rocks in yesterdays tight-and-twisty hare scramble in Globe, Arizona.

I bent the shifter causing it to bind with the plastic stator cover. I had to coax the shifter to move back into re-set position with most shifts. I had 1st and 2nd gear reliably and occasionally a positive stab into 3rd.

I'll take it off, heat it, and try to bend it back into shape. I have spares, if need be.

[TheLetterJ]

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but it was right on topic. My '01 EC300 got stuck in 3rd after stopping on a trail, no crash, no grinding, it was working fine and I shut it off to watch the kids run around for a few minutes and when I fired it back up it wouldn't shift. There was tension on the shift lever and it moved up/ down and returned to center, but still stuck in 3rd.

I took the side cover off and saw the "scorpion" stuck in the retracted position, a gentle tap with the back of a screwdriver and it was free. I don't see any wear/ grooves/ broken welds etc. so I'm concerned about why it stuck in the first place because I don't want it to happen again.

If I pull the shifter off of the shift shaft can I then just slide the shaft out (and reinstall just as easily) without internal parts coming loose? Looking at the parts diagrams, it looks like it should be that simple, but I wanted to be certain. I'd like to polish all the small parts up to make me feel better... or should I just put it back together and pray to the moto-gods that it won't happen again?

[AZRickD]

Yes, it is easy as pie.

Take care to remove the dirt from the left side because you could drag some of that in, I suppose.