Engine - Drivetrain

Oh and it's on a trickle charger and the battery is brand new so it's not the battery.  

I just got this machine Sunday with it being a non-running wheeler and missing all the plastics so as is, I have not been able to get it running yet.  It was only $700, and with the miles/hours worth my time as a project for my son and I to wrench on I was hoping.  All the bolts still have the factory marks on them and have not been removed across the entire machine, it's actually super clean for the year.  It wanted to run and coughed a few times like it was about to with gum cutter but I just decided to start with a carb rebuild.  Also I took off the fuel tank and flushed that out and put some fresh gas in, the petcock value is not functioning well so have another one of those coming in, also the fuel gauge must not be working because even with 1/2 a tank the light keeps blinking empty so I ordered a new one of those as well.  Threw a new spark plug in and tested that with my light it's getting spark, tested all the fuses they are good to go.  So it has spark, air, and fuel.  At this point before I spend over $1000 on body parts and all that I want to get it running and can't do that without the thing in Neutral.  I'll jack the rear up again and try turning the engine over with the front brake lever pulled and see if a couple rotations will help at all.  I read something about the shift motor going bad, could that cause this or a short?  Are their relays on this thing?  

Welcome aboard.     Have you ever had this machine running?  Any evidence of anyone else being in the engine?   The shift shaft that is turned by the gear linkage goes through the engine from front to back, and the shift drum/ forks/ gears are behind the rear engine cover.   Point being, you can access that without having to split cases.   You can also pull the right brake lever and the machine should start in gear, so I'd put it up off the ground, see if it will start in gear, and see if it will shift out with the engine running.   Something definitely doesn't sound right, but if it won't come out of gear with working the engine while it's running, you'll probably have to pull the rear cover and see what you find.

I know you're thinking this is a new guy with another 2005-2011 model year Rubicon shift issue, please go easy on me!  I just purchased a 2007 with 1,300 miles in Adventure Green that doesn't run and is missing basically all the plastics except the back fender, otherwise it's in good shape.  I'm rebuilding the carb today and also have a cheapo one that I bought from Beso's so I hope to have at least the fuel part figured out.  Tuesday I moved the gear shifter from Neutral to Drive and then to Low and now it's stuck in Low gear.  Like it won't move out of Low gear at all.  I've rocked the machine back and forth, jacked the rear end up, took the shifter itself off and nothing is obstructing it.  For some reason it is just straight up STUCK, it's acting like it's in between gears because when jack it up the rear tires will spin backwards but not forwards and when I move the linkage with a little light force the rear wheels move both forward and back.  I've spent hours and hours searching and have not seen this symptom on any forum or post so I figured I'd drop it here in the event anyone has encountered this or has any ideas.  I can't get this sucker started, and now I can't get it in neutral to even try to get it started when I slap the carb back on.  I also have a 2007 Rubicon in Camo with 1,700 miles so I know how the shifter should work, she is a beast and so I'm hoping to get this one running as well as my Camo one!

I am going to clean and check all the grounds again. The frame ground was cleaned with a roloc Scotchbrite on a die grinder, it is like a mirror now, I got all the wire eyelets too. I will pull that ground off of the engine and clean it also. It is tight. I don’t see any others besides the battery ground. Am I missing any on this thing? One other question, why do you believe my multimeter is nuked? Seems to still be working fine.