hey all, thanks for looking!
long story short, when down shifting to 1st, there is about 3 inchs of play running or not running. no play 3rd through 6th.

i am working on a 2005 road king custom 1500.
when i go to shift into 1st, shift lever goes all the way down to the foot peg, a good 3 inchs of play. i have to use the back shift lever to go into 2nd which is about 4 inchs high off the back of the peg.
once shifted into 3rd, shifting is good, no play, its also possible to use the front part of the shift lever.
when down shifting from 6th seems to be ok, feels not quit right.

allen bolts are tight on shifter shaft.

there is a allen wrench in this harleys bag.
thinking this problem has been on going.
not sure maybe its 1st gear going out.
guy died, so can not find out what the allen wrench is for. pretty sure its to adjust this shifter.
thanks for looking

 

Sounds like a lot of movement.There are a few things to check.

Of course that the shifter levers are tight on the splined shaft, there are 3 spots here.
Both shift levers and the arm the linkage rod goes to, all 3 are on the forward shift shaft.

Now the other is at the opposite end of the shift shaft, it goes down behind the inner primary, take a light and look down there. You may have a loose arm or worse if it has been going on a stripped splined shaft.

 

thanks for the info bigheadted. looked where you said, found a leak. changed the trans oil, found lots of sludge. the clutch is really hard to pull in. thinking this trans maybe going or almost gone.

when i got the bike to work on, there was a half quart of oil black and ran like water. this harley is looking like it has been rode hard and not taken care of.

thanks, pretty cool site!

 

Shift shaft seals out of the trans leaks are unfortunately common, someone makes a double lipped seal , can't remember who.
You should probably also look into a better lever, you will have to pull the inner primary to change the seal, but if the seal wasn't leaking the better lever is 2 pieces, and you can change them without pulling the inner.
All that being said, you might get lucky , and be able to tighten the rear lever that is on there.

 

hoping i have the same problem as namato1. he had a return spring break.
need to put a new seal on this road king anyway. play in the shift lever only happens when the bike is being down shifted.
thanks , i am looking for double lipped seal.
thanks for all the info, site rocks!

 

shift linkage on tranny shaft is slipping, tightened the bolt and the slipping got worse. the shift levers just flop around with no resistance now.
it does still shift. time to get a ninja

 

look at betterlever. I used it to fix my stripped shaft. bought my current bike used and PO did not check stuff like I do so being there were no bad leaks I took this route.https://betterlever.com/

 

there is a tiny leak. looks like a better way to go with the better lever. thanks again bigheadted.

 

If it's not that then there is a possibilty of the shifter fork letting loose from the shaft. Happened to my neighbor. That was a pull the tranny apart. You can see it from the top acess plate if the linkage checks out.

 

holy ****, $225.00 for a shifter lever!