Has anybody had this problem? On my 2007 FXD, the rear shift linkage arm keeps wanting to vibrate off the shaft. It actually came off a couple weeks ago, but luckily the top crosspiece? arm? (don't know what to call it) kept it from falling off the bike.

I was able to slide it back onto the shaft with my hand, and continue on home.

Now, here's the weird thing: I looked up the torque number in my shop manual, and torqued it to spec - BUT it still seems loose, although not quite as loose as before. The splines on the shaft itself look OK.

I'm thinking about pulling it back off and putting red Loctite on it, but I thought I'd ask around first.

Here's a couple of pics so y'all know what I'm talking about:

 

i would put loctite on it for sure

 

Loctitie for sure, but I would use Blue as Red is extremely difficult to get apart and that is a tight area to work in. If you find that it still loosens up with Blue you could then try Red.

 

Loctite alone isnt going to fix it. I've been able to salvage a few of these by pulling it off, and chasing the threads with a tap, then putting a new bolt in it. If you try to tighten the bolt to close the arm against the splines, you'll snap the bolt. And this is dependent on whether the splines arent worn out.

 

Loctite helps for sure. FYI you should check all critical fasteners regularly, they do come loose even lock tight is there, we all know!

 

Agreed. Red is basically permanent on threads smaller than 1/2". You can get it off, but you run the risk of breaking the threaded shaft or bolt. Blue LocTite is plenty strong enough for this application.

 

Thanks, y'all. Blue Loctite, it is.

The thing I can't figure out, though, is why it's still loose when the allen bolt is torqued correctly. The shop manual shows a groove running around the shaft, but when I had the arm off, there wasn't a groove...

 

Perhaps the splined shaft has moved into the casing?

 

A riend of mine had this problem with his hi-mileage bagger. We fixed it by puttig a new arm on the shaft. The old one had wallowed out and couldn't hold the shaft tightly anymore!

 

^^ The shaft itself seems fine - not much play, and it sticks out the correct distance.

^ My FXD only has about 20,000 miles...