Ken -- no twinkie gearset...that one's still original to the bike (def has some wear, but nothing was broken / chipped so it went back together. not sure if the gearset itself would be any sort of upgrade?

I did do the baker drum (not the shift-kill variant, still wondering if that was a mistake....might revisit that with a momentary switch on the left side of the bars to activate it when i'm feeling froggy)

also did the baker pawl (definitely a MUCH more solid unit), as well as a set of billet shift forks (found i'd bent one, still not 100% sure how, as NOTHING else was tweaked)


long story short, I still have false neutrals between 2/3 and 3/4. tried adjusting the bias on the pawl towards the upshift, but didnt make much of a difference.

only thing left to try is the upgraded bearings that johnjzjz mentioned. wish I knew about those when I was in it, but saw his comment after i'd finished assembling the gearset back into the case with a buddy of mine, and wanted to ride more than I wanted to order / wait for more parts

 

My early Twin cam gearset will be here some time soon. I purchased it from Ebay for $157.00

Im planning on throwing it in my 1998 Road Glide and also installing a Baker drum kit to include shift pawl. I'm sure looking forward to seeing the difference.

One too many false neutrals for me!

 

So... here's what I've been doing with my 1998 Road Glide with 140,000 miles.

Updated to a 2000-2005 Twinkie 5 speed gearset that I found on Ebay dirt cheap and looks brand new, what a score!

I replaced every single bearings that were on the case and seals.

Updated the Twin cam shift drum to a Baker version and also purchased their upgraded shift pawl and link.

it is a great upgrade to say the least. The Trap door bearings are significantly larger than the ones on my 1998 (Evo) and the shafts are bigger also.

I thoroughly measured everything and it is a direct form, fit & function replacement.

I also had to purchase a newer neutral safety switch.

I can't believe the difference between the Evo and Twin Cam trap door bearings.

In addition if you don't purchase the Baker upgraded shifter drum and Shift pawl you're taking a chance of the OEM HD (Twin Cam) breaking.

The shift drum from the twin cam has a detent and spring with a lot of tension on it the only thing holding that spring together is a shouldered 1/4-20 screw.

Baker makes it much beefier than HD, if the HD 1/4-20 bolt breaks off its going directly into the gearbox (not pretty).

On the one I purchased it appears that the shouldered bolt is already showing signs of stress and sagging.

Ain't no way in the world I'd be installing that thing into my bike!

 

Jasper86,
I looked for "johnjzjz" post about his bearings and how it improved his transmission and shifting but couldn't find it anywhere.

What exactly did he recommend? I'm waiting for a few items before I can button up my current project.

I did see that there were INA bearings in both my 1998 gearset and this 2005 gearset, I wonder if he installed Torrington bearings? Those are full rollers and no cages in between the rollers like the INA ones.

Out of curiosity I did contact Baker and inquired about the INA bearings and they said that they were good bearings so I guess time will tell.

I did manage to put 140,000 miles on my old transmission that had INA bearings throughout the transmission and it held up well.

I'm really impressed with the early Twin Cam gearset and trap door upgrade.

I'm also STOKED about this baker drum kit that I bought. Money well spent in my opinion.

It seems like a much improved upon design over the Twin Cam's.

Kenny Wise

 

Are you saying the Twin Cam shift drum came with the straight slot screw holding the spring (they did not), or is that the Baker shift drum, your description is hard to follow because you interchange the words screw and bolt..?

The shafts are not bigger.

The mainshafts are the same part numbers, from 1991 to 2006.

Countershafts are the same part number for all 5 speeds.

The `99 and later trap door bearings have a larger outside diameter, but the inside diameter did not change.

 

Yes, the trap door bearings are significantly larger than those of my 1998 Evo.

The Twin Cam shift drum looks mulched improved upon however, there is a very big spring which is held in place by a smaller shouldered bolt.

The Baker one doesn't rely upon any such bolt and looks a lot stronger than the HD version.

Sorry for the crappy photos. It's hard to capture what I'm saying but given the choice I'd say the Baker version is significantly better.

The shift Pawl that I ordered is similar to the HD one but only different in one small part.

 

I have never seen or heard of a failure of the OEM shift drum...

 

it's the one that has the shiny black shift drum and slotted area where the spring passes through it.

 

Here's a short video of the differences between the Late Evo and Early Twin Cam Trap door bearings and shift pawl and drum.

 

Thanks for taking the time to put together the video.