Tempermental Shifting 81 XJ750 Seca

I'm not sure if anybody else has had this problem, but I recently got an 81 xj750 and have been restoring it. Never been laid down (to my knowledge) shift lever is not bent, and only has about 20,000 on it. But for some reason I am having problems shifting it. I drained the oil while ago because it was sitting for a while before i purchased it. So its dry right now, which I am not sure if that's a big factor.

But here is that problem: Some days (and its not running yet but only because I am cleaning the carbs right now) it will shift in to all 5 gears and neutral, then a couple days later, I play with the shifter (again not running) and it will only go into first a second and not neutral. So i take it all apart and look at it, then when i cant figure out whats wrong, i put it back together and then it shifts into first second third and neutral, but NOT fourth or fifth. Then after giving up, I try shifting it a couple days later and its fine, no problems. I am hoping its just because it is completely dry of oil but I am not sure.

Does anybody have any insight? Thank you!

 

Nothing is wrong. In order for the gears to mesh easily one of three things must occur:

1. The rear wheel spins the output shaft, allowing the gears to mesh.

2. The engine turns the primary drive, which allows the gears to mesh.

3. The gears just happen to line up correctly so that they can mesh (this is uncommon).

Static gears will bump into one another, preventing shifting from occuring. Have you ever driven a 3 speed manual transmission?
Same = same. No synchronizers.

Tun the rear wheel as you run through the gears, and put some oil in there. The internals aren't completely dry, but moving things around for very long will wipe away what little oil is still on the rotating assembly.