It has to be plastic because of the neutral safty switch. The plastic breaks contact until the drum is in neutral where a pin sticks through the plastic grounds the switch and turns on the green light on your dash.

I'm not sure why the plastic wads up. We over heated a bike on the circle track big time and melted the washer or at least softened it up alot so when pressure was applied to the shift drum it gave up. I have only seen a couple others do this.

 

Thanks MisterHP. That makes sense. I wonder what kind of plastic it is made of? There are some pretty impressive plastics today, but they arent cheap.

 

Scoundrel, Yeah I'm sure I could do it, (I'm a mechanic by trade) I just don't have the time. Work, Wife (with Baby on the way), Work and oh did I say Work.

Mr. HP -- "I have only seen a couple others do this." Wow, I'm a member of and elite club. :-)

That sounds like the problem, I lost a coolant hose and it got pretty/REALLY HOT. Also the neutral light would stay on, too bad it has to come apart. Is there anything else I should have John look at that could have gotten hurt/weakened from the heat ??

Thanks for the help. Dave

 

my neutral light stays on all the time, could this be my problem?

 

I personally would replace it with OEM. It is probably a fail safe thing. If the motor overheats, it fails first and all you have to do is replace it. On the other hand, if it doesn't fail, you'll keep riding until the whole transmission and engine siezes before you know you had a problem.
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Well it seems the pin that MR HP was talking about, the one that comes into contact with drum for the neutral light, got bent. I would recommend to every one to put gauges in, it looks like my thermostat stuck, popped a hose, let all the water out of the motor and it got really hot. The RED light never came on and the fan would shut off, so I didn't know anything was wrong until it was too late.
Thanks for all the help. Dave