Transmission stuck in first gear

I have been searching for this same issue among all of the other transmission problems and have not seen this one yet. I was riding home the other night low speed leaving downtown when everytime I rolled of of the throttle it slipped out if first gear. Did this a few times . When I tried to shift into second it was like the shifter hit a solid stop. I wasn't too far from home so I decided to limp it home in first . Blast it to 50 mph pull the clutch in and coast. Hell it got me home. When I got home the shifter lever is completely frozen . Now the motor and trans sound fine no grinding or clunky sounds even at redline. The only issues leading up to this event for the last year or so the return spring has felt weak and the neutral indicator light has been intermittent. I'm going to remove the front engine cover today . Who has suggestions after that . Do you have to pull the engine to do further investigations ? The bike is a 2005 Rocket III with 87,000 miles . Had the upgrade done at 51,000. Would like a link to the tutorials for engine teardown and removal if anyone has them handy.
Thanks
Carl

At 87000 miles a lot could be wore out. Pulling the front will let you inspect clutch basket and the stuff in there. Could be the culprit. I think you can drop the sump pan and access the transmission with engine installed although access is sorta restricted.

More than likely and hopefully it's just a broken detent spring which is visible, accessible and repairable via the engine's front cover, so you can repair it yourself or about it'll take about $400 if you have a stealer do the job.

If this is a loosened nut on the shifter arm inside the engine case, well, you gotta' pull the motor and split the case to repair an assembly line boo-boo from the factory and that's much bigger and stinkier cheese to put right.

Others will be along shortly to help you diagnose the issue more precisely...

Good luck!

I'd say your on the right route it could be a detent spring problem. If mot then I would leam towardgear change actuator arm bolt. Most drop free but I could see it getting in a bind as it dropped out. You'll know more once the front cover is off and you get a look at the detent hardware. There is not real short cutts although if you put a towel over the fender and be carefull you do not have to pull the wheel and fender. In fact you can pull the fender up and out with the wheel on, if your worried. The whole idea is not to damage the paint when pulling the radiator.

Deja vu! Don't know what's worse, floppy, or hard going no where.