Anyone ever have problems with the shifter mechanism seizing on their Fat Boy?

 

if you are talking about the forward shifter binding and not popping back, the problem could be the pivot on the shifter. take off the forwaer and rear shifter and the pull out the pivot shaft. clean it and reinstall with some bearing grease, it worked on my 2007 fatboy

 

Clean and lube the pivot point like bovo said, its a very common issue with Softails of all description.
One tip I can give you is to mark the position of the heel and toe levers with a Sharpie on the shaft end as your slideing them off.
That way you'll save time and effort putting them back on in exactly the same position without any guesswork or 'do overs'.

 

There are several threads on this issue. Make sure to lube the heim joints on the linkage too, they can get gummed up with road grime. The linkage should be part of your regular lube routine.

 

Ive had it happen on my FXDC but never on the Fat Boy, As the others have said, clean the shaft and lube, try to get it as clean as possible to prevent further problems.

 

+1 on lubing the pivot shaft. I thought I needed a new shifter spring inside my tranny which would have cost big $ to replace a 5 dollar part. Took bike to my mechanic and it was the pivot shaft. He took it apart, wire wheeled the rust off, greased it up and it shifts like new. Some of the older bikes actually had a grease zerk on the shaft

 

My shift linkage had gotten really squeaky recently (not binding) and I greased the heim joint the other day and it si gone. I realized that since I got new wheels all the washing of the bike had most likely washed all the grease off the heim joint.

Drew

 

Thank's guys, consensus seems it needs to added to a regular clean/maintenance routine.

 

While pivot shaft IS an issue, its not a big bad problem and even a semi regular oiling with a decent grade of lube should keep it working properly.

One thing that has been mentioned is the shifter rod and especially the ends, in plain English, they suck.
If you want to make sure they never give you trouble consider rplacing the entire shaft with a better one.
Harley actually makes/markets a really good one for a reasonable price, whoda thunk that?
Its made of polished stainless steel with real Heim joints, looks good and is less than $60 or $70 bucks, think I paid $49 for mine from Chicago HD or Zenottie's.
Its well woth the investment in more positive shifts and lower mainenance, looks really good too.

Here's a pic of mine with the new polished SS version installed and the ugly old stock one laying next to it.



There's is a noticable difference between the two, and did I mention it looks a lot better too?