I'm in the same situation with a 2000 speedster. My plan is to pull the oil pump driveshaft and plug the hoses going to the 3 gallon tank (probably remove it and add a second battery).
I thought about buying one of those cameras that are the diameter of a pencil on a flex shaft from the home depot and try to inspect my worm gear without having to tear into the motor, but I'm still scared of failure.