Heel/toe shifter
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Intermediate
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 25
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From: Ohio, USA
Heel/toe shifter
I was traveling through Knoxville on the way to pigeon forge on my street glide special. Pulling away from a stop light, I wasn't able to shift out of 1st gear, so i pulled over to inspect the bike and found that the shifter shaft was slipping. I was able to shift the bike with the shift linkage and made it to smoky mountain HD. The replaced the shaft and sent me on my way. Another guy in our group also had a street glide special and his shaft broke a few days later. How many of you guys have had this issue?
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 10,090
Likes: 5,330
Some of these threads might apply to your problem:
https://www.hdforums.com/forum/searc...rchid=30115500
https://www.hdforums.com/forum/searc...rchid=30115500
Grand HDF Member
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 3,721
Likes: 372
From: Tonopah Az
I just had the shifter shaft do that last weekend Mama and I went for a ride and mine came off the shaft twice. I tool the parts into the dealer and thy gave me new ones under warranty said there has been a rash of this happening.
Happened to me too. Shaf stripped on the inboard side, it was slipping on the vertical lever that goes to the linkage. Limped it home, told the dealer to come get it. They did, fixed that afternoon. Rode my BMW to work that day :-)
In my case, the pinch bolt was tight on the shaft when the splines stripped.
6th Gear
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 14
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From: Mason Michigan
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Cruiser
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 136
Likes: 3
From: NE, PA
I could not get mine tight, regardless of how much I tried. Shifters would vibrate and eventually come loose. Put some silicone on the splines and they have been tight ever since. I think the silicone takes up the slop and acts as an isolator for the vibrations of the bike.
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Advanced
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 71
Likes: 1
From: virginia
Shift linkage breaks at highway speed on I40 in TN mountains
I just turned 10K on my '14 FLHTK and the linkage came apart and was dangling in the air. Myankle was the only thing that was keeping the shifter mech from falling of and bouncing along the road.
I could not fix it with the tool that comes with the limited and got towed Smokey Mountain HD in Pigeon Forge, TN. They fixed it in less then 30 min from the moment it was off the tow truck.
From the research (twitter/facebook/this forum) I have done this is a VERY common problem.... why has this not become a recall? It appears that MANY have suffered from this problem and it could be a safety issue. Lots of folks are performing their own engineering to fix a problem that appears to be a design flaw.
BTW, I do not stomp on my heel shifter as a regular practice
I could not fix it with the tool that comes with the limited and got towed Smokey Mountain HD in Pigeon Forge, TN. They fixed it in less then 30 min from the moment it was off the tow truck.
From the research (twitter/facebook/this forum) I have done this is a VERY common problem.... why has this not become a recall? It appears that MANY have suffered from this problem and it could be a safety issue. Lots of folks are performing their own engineering to fix a problem that appears to be a design flaw.
BTW, I do not stomp on my heel shifter as a regular practice
Last edited by ijustwant2ride; Jul 7, 2015 at 10:04 AM.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 157,551
Likes: 57,095
From: Michigan 15 Minutes East Of Hell
There are two problems with the shift linkage and while the Hiem Joints is the resolve to the "linkage ends" ( and yes it should be that way from the factory ... probably couldn't find them in China ) the lever that attaches to the shaft out of the trans is the more difficult ( and costly ) to repair. As "Ijustwanttoride" shows the lever becomes loose then wallows ( splines gone ) out and you're in trouble. The "Better Lever" is a viable option to repairing the problem, however it comes with a hefty price tag. If you're not mechanically inclined it's kind of a task. Removal of the inner primary is required to replace the lever with a stock unit. I have found that many times the loose lever can be repaired by simply removing the pinch bolt ( even though the bolt seems tight ), getting a new bolt and use it and a bit of lubricant to clean out the threads in the lever, clean the threads with a bit of brake clean, apply some loctite to another new bolt and torque it down.