I am having a problem with my 1990 883's transmission (7240 miles) . I was wondering if anybody could help me out. As I was down-shifting into 1st it made a loud clunking noise then it was stuck in 1st. I tore it down and checked it out. The cam detent follower (H.D. part#34063-84b) was broke into five or six pieces. I ordered a new on along with the springs H.D. part#29980-84. I then checked out all other parts of the shifter and shift forks. Everything looked good, no wear marks or anything else. I cleaned all the shifter parts and trans. gears to remove any metal particles and reasembled everything. The trans. shifted great, better then it ever has since I owned it. For about 30 miles that is, then "clunk" the same thing happened again. What I want to know is what part or parts in the shifter could cause this part to break repeatedly. I have a repair manual and followed it's instructions as to checking out parts for wear or warping or heat marks etc. I talked to the local dealer about this problem, and he just gave the standard answer. "bring it in and we'll look at it" but could not (or would not) tell me anything as to what part could be causing this problem. Any ideas ?
THANKS- HARLEMAN1990

How did ya go with this did you find out the problem..

Sorry man.... I've never seen one break so I don't know...

I have heard of a few breakin tho, just never seen one.

Look for a forged follower not the stock cast one. also check the shifter paw for sharp edges that could dig into the follower and break it.