My Harley 883 Sportster (1995) suddenly became stuck in 5th gear, while I was out riding. When I tried to engage 4th gear, it seems to go in, but then immediately jumped back into 5th gear.
The bike is low mileage (approx 2500 miles).
No amount of force on the gear lever will budge it from 5th.
I had to ride home by slipping the clutch in 5th, which was horrible, particularly on take-off, fortunately the journey was only a couple of miles.
I could hear occasionally some 'new' clunking noises from the gearbox on the way home, I just hope this hasn't caused much damage inside the gearbox.
More than likely the shifter pawl has broken. Breaking in 5th gear is kind of unusual however, they usually break between first and second.
You'll have to remove the outer primary cover to look at the shifter pawl. It's partially covered by the clutch assembly.
Testimonial: "Thankyou for your help, I have been looking at an exploded drawing of the Sportster gearbox, so I can see what you mean."
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