Yesterday, I had a problem with my shifter. It's not returning. when I press down (heel toe) I have to tap the front part to make it returj so I can shift again. I used a little WD40, but I don't think that's it. any ideas??

 

It needs to be greased they use to have grease fitting on them ????? Why they stoped I dont know.I took mine apart and ground the shaft down a little works great.

 

I'm still new to this bike...is there a way without taking anything apart?

 

I think jhe means he pulled the shifter levers off and greased the spline. It's one bolt per shifter lever. Pretty simple.

 

look at the forward part of the shifter assembly. the linkage connects to an arm, the arm connects to a shaft that goes through a housing, the shaft connects to the shift arms. where is goes through the housing needs oiled. if you got dirt or rust you may have to take it apart and clean and lube. that's where my problems was. I sprayed it out with brake cleaner several times and lubed with some liquid wrench. I have not this the problem in the last year and half.

 

Not really, inside were the shaft goes through it dries out .I dont think its a closed seal you maybe able to spray something in there. But it will come back.

 

I had this same problem with another bike. The shift linkage is connected to the shift lever which has a seal at the housing. This seal...gets grit in it. I just did this on the harley. I lubed all of the joints...it's still sticking. I guess I'll have to take the shift linkage off...if it still doesn't return..it has to be something other than the shift linkage.

 

Gents...thanks for the help. I removed the linkage..and the snap was great. This told me it was the linkage. I see now what you're referring to...later on I'll remove the shifter...and clean the shaft with some sandpaper and maybe even mill it a little...there is no grease fitting so maybe it just got fed up with the dirt..and revolted :-)

 

Don't bother with the tranny end, your likely to do more harm than good fooling around at that end.
If I were you I would just pull the shifter apart to clean things up with some emery cloth and consider adding a grease fitting.
Getting rid of the original shift rod for a new one with Hyme joints on the end isn't a bad idea either.
I haven't had a problem with mine, yet. But I already replaced the stock shift rod with the polished stainless steel version Harley has in their catalog. It made a noticable difference in how it feels when your stifting gears.



Doesn't look bad either.
When the bike is clean anyway.

 

i used some good cable spray lube on mine