Street Bob forward control question
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Tourer
Joined: May 2021
Posts: 274
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From: Reading Pennsylvania
Street Bob forward control question
On my 2017 Street Bob does the primary have to come off in order to take the mids off and install forwards? Also are there hiway pegs that attach to the frame somehow if I decide to go that route? I don’t have a crash bar on it to mount pegs.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Aug 2017
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From: Albuquerque, NM
It depends. You can leave the inner primary on, but you'll have the shift shaft sticking through, and it will just flop forward and back between the engine and primary, which may cause problems shifting into Neutral. On the other hand, if you take the primary off, and remove that shaft, you have to figure out how to plug both inner and outer primary holes where the shaft went through, or you will likely leak a little oil out those. Also, the shifter rod that is between the primary and engine/tranny for the forwards is a bit taller than the one for the mids, and, again, if you don't change it out, you may have troubles shifting into Neutral. At least, I did. It isn't that difficult to do. I switched from mids to forwards in an afternoon. However, I decided to keep my mid pegs for another position for my feet on longer rides. Then, when I found I never used them, I took them off, too, and just have the forwards on. To each their own, though.
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 2,372
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From: NW Kentucky
You don't have to. When I installed the FLD kit on my 2012 Super Glide which had mids I left the shaft in and zip tied the inner shift lever down at about 90 degrees where it couldn't move around The forwards come with a longer linkage so you get rid of your original linkage. The shaft coming through the primary you can buy a cap from ebay or any of the parts suppliers to cover it in chrome or black. If you decide to go back to mids everything is still there. Not that hard.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 14,148
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From: San Diego, CA
You don't have to. When I installed the FLD kit on my 2012 Super Glide which had mids I left the shaft in and zip tied the inner shift lever down at about 90 degrees where it couldn't move around The forwards come with a longer linkage so you get rid of your original linkage. The shaft coming through the primary you can buy a cap from ebay or any of the parts suppliers to cover it in chrome or black. If you decide to go back to mids everything is still there. Not that hard.
I recently bought a 2016 Low Rider... I have a couple softails and a bagger. I hadn't dealt with mid controls since my 1980 FXS....
I searched for 8+ months trying to find the best bike, deal for me...
I was surprised to find that in all that time and looking at all those Dynas, that of the bikes with mid controls switched to forward controls, the vast majority left the shaft in place through the primary. They just put a cap on the shifter mount on the outside of the primary, leaving the shifter lever in between the inner primary and the engine case...
The first couple I saw like that, I just figured it was a short cut taken by some who were too cheap and/or lazy to "do it right".... Then an independent motorcycle shop told me that many people do that on purpose, so they can/could convert back to mid controls if they wanted to...
After seeing how many chose to do it that way, I figured there must be more to leaving it than just being lazy... After reading the Dyna section here for the last couple of months, I can see many threads about switching back to mids... so the switching back & forth is done more than I would have guessed...
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Tourer
Joined: May 2021
Posts: 274
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From: Reading Pennsylvania
You don't have to. When I installed the FLD kit on my 2012 Super Glide which had mids I left the shaft in and zip tied the inner shift lever down at about 90 degrees where it couldn't move around The forwards come with a longer linkage so you get rid of your original linkage. The shaft coming through the primary you can buy a cap from ebay or any of the parts suppliers to cover it in chrome or black. If you decide to go back to mids everything is still there. Not that hard.
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Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 14,148
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From: San Diego, CA
IMHO.....
Leaving the shaft in place shouldn't affect anything in the primary, or the shifting...... The shaft just passes through the primary cases...
Unless the the shift lever between the inner primary and engine case is interfering with the forward controls new shift linkage, I don't see how leaving it in place it could affect shifting..
I would suspect any sudden difficulty with finding neutral would have something to do with the new linkage...
Last edited by hattitude; Jan 26, 2023 at 08:59 PM.
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 2,372
Likes: 250
From: NW Kentucky
No. The inner shift lever will not interfere with the new if you tie it down like I described. It won't leak oil either. I put over 6500 miles on a 2012 Super Glide like that with no issues at all. When done right most people never know you changed anything.
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