Gear shift Shaft

Evening all,

I posted on here a few weeks back regarding a wee problem with the gear changing on my '02 Curvy 650. Basically, I was having trouble shifting down and the general consensus was that I needed to take out the gear shift shaft and give it a good greasing.

Im finally going to be able to do it this weekend- woo- and I had a close inspection today, and the problem is that the gear change lever isnt returning to the position it should after Ive changed gear, its just staying 'down' as it were. Is that the general problem people are experiencing?

Having looked at my Haynes Manual, it says that to get into the mechanism properly, I need to drain my engine oil and remove the clutch. Now, Im just wondering if theres a simpler to tackle this? I dont mind doing it, just not being very experienced, it will take me hours if I need to and Id be a bit miffed if there was a simple way to get that shaft greased up!!

Aaaand finally, i noticed that the spline that runs from the gear change lever to the shaft ( or number 19 http://www.alpha-sports.com/suzuki_p...FQsJ3wodzR5Buw on here) is bent slightly. Is this how it is meant to be, as I cant really tell in the manual?

Cheers!