I have a 09 FLHT, the heel shifter seems loose to me.
It slides side to side about 1/4 of an inch. The bolt is tight and I can't slide it off. Is this normal ? The toe part is tight and doesn't move.

 

should not slide around. R U sure it is tight. I am sure others will give you some advice that are more mechanically inclined than I.

 

It won't slide off because there is a slot the bolt goes into. But it shouldn't be loose. I removed mine as soon as I got the bike because I can't stand the heel shift. Kuryakyn sells a nice heel eliminator.

 

don't worry about it. it has to have some play.

 

only if you want to strip out the splines

 

You need to muscle that bolt, it will tighten. Since the bolt goes thru a slot, it needs to be centered before tightening, otherwise it will come loose.

 

are the splines stripped????

 

I have seen one heel toe shifter that had a flaw in the space that was suppose to draw together. I removed the burr and it tightened up.

 

My heel shifter actually fell off Saturday morning. i have 2500 miles on my 09, heard a clunk, looked down and saw it was missing. I stopped and went back and picked it up and the bolt was still in the shifter and tight. I was by the dealer so I drove over there and they reinstalled with red loctite. Ii checked it and it was still loose so I had him retighten until there was no play. I had never checked it before it had fallen off, just assumed it was on right.

 

Mine fell off a few weeks ago and I hadn't been using it at all, so no worries now that it's gone.