Transmission Shifting

Funny question.

When my bike is just sitting and I pull the shifter lever(just the arm on the trans) it does not "fall" into gear.

I had the trans opened to replace a few leaking gaskets and put everything back as well as I could, and the same thing.
Is this a normal occurrence? Even rotating the drive gear did not help things.

In order to "shift" the trans though its gears to try and confirm that everything was back together I had to remove that "spring loaded detent" that stops the selector plate at each gear.

Rotate the input shaft (mainshaft) as if driven by the engine. Then it should change gear ok if all else is in the right place. Hold the output sprocket while doing this, it sometimes helps.

Yes doing that helped.

But still worked much better with that plundger removed.

shafts MUST be turning slightly. Otherwise there is a 50% chance the dogs will not align.

I have a two stroke project which is based on an H1 Kawasaki motor in an Egli frame. I've pulled the motor apart about three times trying to get it to change gear. I know I need to try it with the rear chain on the bike while turning the rear wheel. However I still persist in believing the internal gears should line up if I keep turning the output sprocket by hand. Quite often you need to sit on a bike rocking it backwards and forwards with your foot on the gear lever to get it to drop into gear. Much easier when the motor is running.