[VintageGuy]

Final results:

Split the cases today and low and behold nothing broken inside. Awesome! However, there was one "uninvited guest" lodged down in the corner near the shift drum. After close inspection we, my brother and I, determined that this little shouldered bushing was not a resident of the transmission but in fact an intruder.

We logged onto the Honda parts web site to try to determine where this small and slightly broken shouldered bushing actually belonged. It turns out it came off of the shifting linkage assembly on the right side of the motor. The part number is 24322-HA0-000 and they call it a shifter collar.

I thought back to when I first pulled the clutch out of the bike last Saturday and inspected the linkage assembly. I specifically remembered that this bushing/collar was not in position like the Honda Parts Finder shows, basically outside the part with the spring loaded pawls, where it guides the shifter linkage. How the hell it was not where it belonged or how it got into the gearbox we'll never know. My guess is the previous owner either split the cases himself or had somebody else do it and they never got that collar back in its proper location. We've had the bike about 1.5 years without ever pulling that side of the motor apart. Weird...

So, we re-assembled the motor as far as we could and headed back home. Once I order some new gaskets and a replacement shifter collar I'll complete the re-assembly. Inspection of the transmission components showed nothing but perfectly conditioned gears, shifting forks etc.

Gotta go order parts, more to come!

Thanks for everyones help, especially my brother, and the information as well.

Bob