After taking my bike out for a nice test of the new drop in Dual Rate Works cartridges for the front forks and RSD Preload adjusters I got within two blocks and went to up shift and holly crap, No Shifter! I look down and the foot shifter is sitting on my foot board. WTF? I get the bike home riding in second gear and pull into the garage and my gear shifter linkage shaft is simply laying there. It had fallen off. I looked and the securing bolt was still in the lever. I look down and the gear shifter shaft splines is shinny on the outer section however the bolt grove and inner splines are dirty indicating that the shifter lever had never installed correctly. It just happened to stay on for the past two years because it was tight. I looked at the shaft and the cheap-as* OEM gear shift linkage shaft was corroded and as I attempted to remove the securing bolt the ball tip simply snapped off. I bought a new aluminum gear shifter linkage shaft with hime joints which is a much better design.
Has anyone else had this happen? Imaging if this happened as I was entering a curve and attempted to downshift to help reduce my entrance speed and set up the correct engine speed for exiting the apex? This could have resulted in a crash.
Bob

 

Seems you were fortunate on many fronts on this one. What gear shift linkage did you install as a replacement, I was thinking about changing out my stock linkage after hearing of similar issues by others.

 

there should be no way for the linkage to come loose, if it were installed properly at the factory. slap it on and hit it with an air wrench at the factory...usually works...if not the dealer will catch it at make-ready and properly secure it!! this has been happening for several years--remember the parts are furnished by the low bidder and the guy on the assembly line has a quota to meet. the porter at the dealership usually does the final assembly and making sure it is washed and polished is his main priority.

i had to ride mine 400 miles to the nearest dealer stuck in 4th gear when it came loose on a trip out in west texas. the moco would rather do it quick and cheap, rather than spend a couple of bucks to do it right the first time. most don't fall out during warranty period, after that it is just another source of income for dealers on repairs.

 

You guys do know, that checking that kind of **** is a part of maintenance and if you do your own maintenance then you're at fault right?

 

Really????


You mean to say that in 400 miles, you couldn't figure out how to tighten a stinkin' bolt on your shifter?




Pathetic is the first word that comes to mind.







It's as simple as that....

 

Happened to a buddy of mine on a ride in Sturgis. Another rider carried a tool kit and had some zip ties in them. Used 2 zip ties to fix the lever to the shaft (the ball end had worn through the metal) and it worked well enough to get to the nearest dealer. I dont always carry a took kit, but there are always zip ties in the bottom of whatever bag I have. Better than duct tape IMO.

 

Perhaps I didn't explain the problem clearly enough. The Shift lever attaches to the end of the Linkage shaft and to the splined shifter shaft coming out of the tranny.
#1 This is something you can't see unless you are specifically looking directly at it.
#2 This is pretty much a no brainer installation. A splined shaft has a grove cut into it and when the shifter arm is installed correctly it is slid fully onto the shifter shaft spline so that when the bolt is installed it resides in that grove and tightened down after the threads are treated with Loctite. There is no way for it to come off unless the bolt backs out.
In my case it was obvious that at the factory during assembly the shifter arm was never fully installed onto the splined shifter shaft before the bolt was installed and tightened down, proof of this is the bolt was still installed on the shifter arm.
Should the dealer PDI have caught this, well short answer is yes, however this is such a situation normal deal why the hell would a tech even check it? One would assume that the factory would have done the installation correctly so I am positive this it not something on the PDI check list.
Sort of like the tires, no one checks to see if the bead was set correctly, however, especially on forged and cast wheels more times than not they are not which causes the tires to be ruined and cause a specific type of wobble at low speed.
The reality is sadly no PDI catches everything whether you are talking motorcycles or even the most expensive Maybach so unfortunately warranty coverage is left to deal with the rest.
In my case I blame the factory for doing a suck job on QC.
Bob

 

Yes HYPR! It happened to me about 4 years ago, maybe 40 miles from home. It snapped in third gear while trying to boot it into fourth! I reached down pulled the linkage up and managed to shift into 4th and rode ther rest of the way straight to my dealer. Talk about luck, no redlights and he had one in stock! So I have had this one since!

http://www.harley-davidson.com/store...-07-3484809--1

 

So....After 2 years of riding around with it working fine, it is somehow the factory's fault that you never checked the linkage or the pinch bolt that holds the shift lever?


Seriously?


I hate to break it to you but, it is a regular part of maintenance to inspect linkages and check and tighten bolts.

 

greezy rider...seems that you have to pull the primary cover to get back in there to fix it properly. the dealer in el paso spent a couple of hours on it, told me it should get me to california and back home, but to have my dealer fix it properly when i get home.

what is pathetic is someone that was not there offering their opinion of how to fix it. maybe with a handful of tools and a jack to lift bike, i could have jammed it back on and gone on my way...assuming i could lay on my back in the dirt, not burn my hands on the hot engine/exhaust, had some locktite with me, and the necessary replacement parts. as it was, i was stopping for gas when it happened. filled up, slipped the clutch to get rolling, hit the interstate and stayed in 4th gear to van horn...gassed up and rolled on to dealer in el paso. i could have also called my insurance company as i have unlimited towing and trip interruption insurance. the way i did it was quicker and easier.

a 3 month old motorcycle should not have the shift linkage falling off--poor *** quality control on the assembly line and at the dealer make-ready. i do not want to work on my motorcycle, and pay the dealers a lot of money to take care of it and properly service it. the mechanic at the dealership told me that they had seen several bikes with the same problem---wow, do you think they should have started checking for this at make-ready? a few weeks earlier, the voltage regulator(moco changed suppliers to save a couple of bucks per unit) crapped out and left me stranded in big bend near terlingua...which ended in a 250 mile ride on a wrecker to the nearest dealer in odessa---i am sure you could have jury-rigged it and gone on your merry way...being an expert handy man that carrys a lot of tools and parts with him.

the problem is the moco does not care about the people that buy their bikes. they use the lowest bidder and cut every corner they can get away with. hopefully, your bike will not break down during warranty, and they can make big bucks on repairs when it does break down.