Loose shifter
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Joined: May 2008
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Loose shifter
Just bought my 75 sportster and of course I have to modify it before I ride it. Ebay has been my friend lately...
My left side shifter is loose, there is about an inch of play on the forward control before it shifts. I can hold the shifter arm on the right side near the front sprocked and feel the play in the shifter lever. Anyone have any ideas, or a good picture of the linkage?
Thanks
My left side shifter is loose, there is about an inch of play on the forward control before it shifts. I can hold the shifter arm on the right side near the front sprocked and feel the play in the shifter lever. Anyone have any ideas, or a good picture of the linkage?
Thanks
Tourer
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 388
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From: West Tennessee
RE: Loose shifter
Welcome to the half-assed job that HD did to accomodate the gov. in mid 75. I have a 76 with the same setup and I have the same problem. I have worked and worked and worked on that to try and resolve the free play with it and it's still there.
Part of the problem is the crappy design of the conversion from the right side to the left. No matter how much you adjust the pivot end there will still be some free play because of how the shifter link and lever match up. Look at parts 13 and 6 in the above picure. The other problem is the design of the faulty forward controls for the 75 and 76's. The shift arm that is on the left side that sticks up by the primary has not splines on it, they are all flat on the inside. So because of that they don't actually catch with the splines of the cross shaft arm. I had to drill a small hole through the shift arm and the cross shaft and put a bolt through it to hold it in place which severly limited the amount of freeplay but there is still some there.
Part of the problem is the crappy design of the conversion from the right side to the left. No matter how much you adjust the pivot end there will still be some free play because of how the shifter link and lever match up. Look at parts 13 and 6 in the above picure. The other problem is the design of the faulty forward controls for the 75 and 76's. The shift arm that is on the left side that sticks up by the primary has not splines on it, they are all flat on the inside. So because of that they don't actually catch with the splines of the cross shaft arm. I had to drill a small hole through the shift arm and the cross shaft and put a bolt through it to hold it in place which severly limited the amount of freeplay but there is still some there.
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Joined: Aug 2006
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RE: Loose shifter
I had the same prob.After I changed the shaft bushings it made a world of diff. although there is still some slop but very little.Another thing.Make sure that the crossover shaft is pushed all the way left.Hold leftward pressure from the right as you push your shifter arm on.If you don't it by itself will create a 1/4 in of slop.Also had the same prob with theforward controlshifter arm not being splined.What I did was cut off the stock hd shifter arm drilled a hole in it for the linkage bracket andmachined it flat and on the top where I cut it off Imachined it to a round radius.Works perfect..
[IMG]local://upfiles/16695/3096DE225565441A8D5EC8015CAAB11A.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/16695/B4BF48C954D94F238427170A153EA030.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/16695/3096DE225565441A8D5EC8015CAAB11A.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/16695/B4BF48C954D94F238427170A153EA030.jpg[/IMG]
Tourer
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 388
Likes: 0
From: West Tennessee
RE: Loose shifter
Thats a damn good idea right there. I may have to pick up a couple stock shift arms and do that myself. Seems like I remember finding a guy on ebay that sells them for around 10 dollars.
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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 99
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RE: Loose shifter
If you do make sure you drill your hole the exact size as the hardware.Also the length of the lever is very important.
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Tourer
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From: West Tennessee
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