Need help.. 1981 xs1100

[Treefoolio]

I just bought a 1981 xs 1100 midnight special and I knew ahead of time it had an issue when you release the clutch it makes a gear skipping or gear grinding noise along with a vibration. So I assumed it was in the middle gear box. I got that removed and from what it appears inside the gears are not missing any teeth and turning by hand it doesn’t bind up. Should I be looking elsewhere like the final drive? The noise sounds or sounded like it was coming from middle gear area. Any help would be appreciated and if this has been covered I apologize I have spent some time looking through the forum for an issue like this thank you.

[DiverRay]

It's probably the transmission gears. Look up "2nd gear fix" and you will see it is possible to do most repairs without pulling the engine and splitting the cases.
You can put the bike on the center stand so the rear wheel is off the ground and try different gears. If it is ALL the gears, the cases will need to be split. If it's first/second gear, you can probably do the fix without splitting the cases. I DO have one bike I'm working on that the PO was able to break the teeth off the main gear from abuse. I'm slowly putting that engine back together with some new and a lot of used parts.

[jetmechmarty]

ANDY’S MOTORCYCLE OBSESSION on YouTube has documented the 2nd gear fix working under the bike. When I did mine, I did it with the bike upside down as documented by TopCatGr58. I did the washer move and that can make the reinstallation of the countershaft a bit more challenging.

[Socer4m]

Maybe try to adjust the clutch topo and bottom inside the cover,,,,,if that doesnt help,,,take apart the clutch discs and see if they are in the right order,,,,,,,,,,,maybe an hour max to check and adjust,,,if that doesnt work,,,go with Diver Ray and the tranny gears...maybe preivious owner messed up putting in the clutch plates or they are shot..........keep us informed,,,Mike in San Diego and Pa

[Radioguylogs]

Does this happen in neutral?.....Or any particular gear when your are riding it?,... Or in all gears when you are riding it?

If it happens when you are riding it, is it worse with more throttle?

Welcome to the forum.