Hi everyone, the other night I was on a joyride, while slowing down on an exit ramp my bike would not downshift properly. It did what seemed to be a half down shift which (while still holding the clutch) caused a sound that seemed to be gears grinding. I instantly shifted back up to 6th and it stopped. Once I had the bike pulled over I tried to shift it again, no matter what I try it will not downshift, it only does this half step. So after I walked the bike somewhere around 3.5 miles back to my house (hand cramp from the clutch was terrible btw) I toyed with the external mechanism thinking maybe it jumped a couple teeth or something but had no luck.
My thought is that I have myself a bent/damaged shift fork. From what I have seen of exploded engine views it looks like splitting the cases is necessity should I replace it. This terrifies me haha. My question is is it possible to change the fork without splitting the cases, perhaps through just removing the oil pan, pumpetc.? And if not is there a way to manually force it down to fifth so I can take it down and make it driveable (without OD)? I am already planning on a rebuild come winter, and would really like to avoid having to start it during riding season.
Side note there is someone locally selling a working motor with carbs from a nighthawk 550 for a steal, would the 550 motor mount in my 650 frame, that way I could still ride while doing the rebuild?
