I just purchased a 91 lowrider and when I down shift to a lower gear it won't click each time I press down. If I'm in say 5th gear I can down shift to 4th ok but then if I try to go down again it won't go into 3rd....... I have to press down anywhere from 3 to 5 times b4 it will click into gear. This will happen in any gear that I'm in not just from 5th to 4th. No issues with up shifting. Any idea what might be wrong?

 

What kind of bike did you have before. How long you been riding this new one.
You might be trying to down shift to many gears at to high of rpm. Coming from croch rockets were at 100mph and like 6-7000rpm I could downshift just about into any gear I wanted except first. Now with my dyna I can't just downshift. I have to be going slow enough to downshift. Otherwise it won't go down to the next gear. It don't matter if I'm going from 5-4 or 4-3 or 3-2. And don't even try first you will go right into neutral. Then have to slam it into gear and get that nasty grinding crunching sound as it goes in. Or just lock up the rear tire. You have to downshift each gear. Or very low rpm and speed.
You can pull the clutch lever in. let the rpm drop. downshift. But if your going to fast (mph) when you let go of the clutch lever you will lock up the back tire. It took me some getting use to these low rpm that Harley's have. I had troubl up shifting and down. I would redline on up shift all the time. My last bike redlined at somewhere around 14-15000rpm

 

This is a bike I just bought for my son. We have mabe 200 miles on it. I myself ride a road king and I don't have this issue. ...... I've also owned softail and sportys and never had this issue.

 

Do you have any issue getting it into neutral at a stop??

 

No.... it actually goes into neutral nice.

 

Any slop in the shifter? Side to side play on the lever at the trans? Do you have a little spring tension on the shifter, front to rear? In third gear is the tension equal? Has the clutch been adjusted properly?
Inquiring minds want to know!

 

You need to check the amount of travel on the shift lever at the transmission. The movement from upshifting should be the same amount of travel as downshifting , in another word it should be centered. There is a lock nut and adjusting screw next to the shifter arm on the trans that will allow you to center the lever... Real bitch to get at though. If you have a manual it'll help...

 

Check the linkage first make sure nothing is binding or hitting if you are good there then it sounds like the shifter pawl needs to be adjusted. By the book.

 

If you don't have a manual watch this video from the 13:50 mark for the shifter pawl adjustment.

 

hi hdoilcan, i am experiencing the same issue on my 91 softail. did you ever get this resolved? and pointers are appreciated. thanks!