Squealing from the gearbox

[Sidk]

Ive just had the chance to post after a rather difficult couple of months,

Beginning of July Tiger bites it. Friend lent me his BMW cruiser trying to exit a closed underground garage, throttle sticks sending me into the Garage door and the bike and garage door on top of me (fortunately only minor scrapes and bruises and a bit of limping for the greater part of a week)
return the bmw and he advises oh yeah... i forgot to tell you the throttle sticks some times. (would have been useful information)
spent the remaining days of july commuting with a Xiaomi electric scooter, (if castration had wheels that would be it) finally ditched the escooter after i got two flat tires on the same day.

anyway back to the important stuff.

While dropping off my son in early july, the steamer started making a squealing sound while in 2nd gear, engine runs still has torque in first, but the second i put it in second, its like something is squealing.

took it to my long time mechanic, and he basically told me its not worth the $$$ to open up the engine and see what it is..
I know not a lot to go on.. but has anyone got any ideas before i put it out to pasture.

[Nick Calne]

It really has been a year to forget. Bad luck chap.

[ssevy]

Can you keep shifting up to 3, 4, 5 & 6?
Does the shifter feel differently than in the past? How about each upshift or downshift - same feel or different?

[Sidk]

Yes i can upshift and the feel of the shifting is still the same as it was in the past power seems to still be there, but i dont want to push it in fear of having something totally muck up in the engine.

[ssevy]

The fact that it is only 2nd gear seems to eliminate one of the shaft bearings. The question is what is mechanically unique about 2nd gear?
Having had the engine split, I'd say perhaps it has something to do with the shifter forks, or some piece of broken material that has gotten wedged in such a way that it only rubs when the bike is in 2nd gear?
This is a unique problem for sure, and will likely require the engine to be removed from the bike and the tranny disassembled. This is no small undertaking even if you have the tools and the time and knowledge, and once the engine is split, you then still have to find the problem and correct it, and then decide whether it makes sense to refresh other stuff like the rings and timing chain and do a valve job, etc., while everything is apart?
If you are in love with this bike and want to keep it until they walk slow with you, then you may opt to go for it. If you look at my engine rebuild thread in the stickies, you'll get some idea of what is involved. Parts are not cheap.
Lastly, since it is a drive train issue, I wouldn't ride it, because if something in the tranny seizes up when you are at highway speeds, it would really ruin your day.
If you lived near me, I would tear it down for a winter project just out of curiosity. Maybe you can find someone who would do that just for the experience and not charge you?
Sorry for the bad news. I hope someone else has a better idea and a cheaper suggestion!

[Nick Calne]

How about picking up an engine of ebay?

[Nick Calne]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153973661845

[Sidk]

thanks for taking the time.

i have a lot of thinking to do as what is the best course of action, since it is not a project i can do on my own.