I've got a 96 Heritage softail. I was going for a ride yesterday and put it in first to go and it started to stall because it was not warmed up enough, so I put it back in nuetral, warmed her up and went to go again, but when I tried to put it in first again I got nothing. It's like the linkage is not hooked up, but it is. Everything on the outside is conected and right. I'm thinking the shifter arm inside the tranny may be broke. What do you think?

 

Check your shift pawl first because it is easy to open the top. It could be a lot of things but start at your shifter pawl and work inward. Does the lever return when you shift it up or down?

 

No, the shifter lever on the side of the tranny feels like it's not connected to anything at all. It just flops back and fourth.

 

KBF is right, you have to remove the top cover on the transmission, it sounds from your description like the shift return spring is broken. Don`t run the engine until you check it out.

The spring is on the shifter pawl.