All of a sudden my shifter arm went limp....the heel/toe shifter on my 03 electra glide classic became useless. it would not allow me to change any gears. The bike would just stay in the gear that it was in before something broke. When I would grab the rear shifter shaft with my hand I could get it to go into the various gears, but the front shaft (toe shifter) would do nothing. I got the bike home in 4th gear, fortunately I was not far from home, but now wondering what is going on with the transmission. Looks to me like it the front shifter shaft....it turns, but does nothing to change gears. It does seem that the transmission will go into the 5 gears if I rotate the rear shaft by hand but the front does nothing. Any ideas what is going on or what repair bill I may be looking at? Thanks

 

If you can move you trans into gear by using the arm coming out of the trans then look to see what has happened to the shaft going through your inner primary. see if you can move it by hand & check the splines on the shaft. Is there a pinch bolt going through the front/rear shifter. Just a few suggestions off the top of my head. Get back to us & let us know what the problem was. Good Luck

 

Not sure I understand the problem correctly, but one problem on the FLH's is that the shaft in the trans is hardened and the piece that rotates it is not. Over time the splines on the shifter wear out and will not rotate the shaft. Keeping the mechanism tight over the years will help, but it will wear out eventually.

The design is the shaft lacks about about 1/8 inch clearance from the case, so will not remove for repair unless you remove the case - about a three hour job. Not difficult, but time consuming.

Had this happen to me: 2.5 hours from home a few years back. Got it into 5th and made it back on seven shifts after fussing with the shifter arm (it tightened up one last time).

This read exactly like mine acted when it happened. Best guess if I understand what happened correctly.

 

The pinch bolt is tight and does not seem to be the problem..The front shaft that the heel toe shifter is on does turn, but it doesn't seem to do anything..That seems bad to me..I think something broke inside where that front shaft goes....guess I am going to have to bite the bullet and take to a dealer.....I really hate that ....I can feel my wallet being emptied.

 

Just because the pinch bolt is tight doesnt mean the shifter is not worn . I have to agree w/Meathook and check splines. Hopefully its the shifter arm worn and not the shaft in the trans. Good Luck.

 

If it's the transmission shaft look for a big bill from the dealer. The primary and gear assembly in the transmission has to be removed to get to that shaft.

 

Just to eliminate a easy fix to a problem that is not too uncommon. Pull off the shifter and push out the front shifter rod. Give it a dab of lube to free it up. This happened to me one time and the shifting was all messed up. Might not be your problem but just something i'd check before ya drug it to a shop

 

Sounds like the same thing that happened to my 01 last year. Ironically I was just getting off an interstate exit to stop at a dealer. My front shifter had previously loosened and I tightened it thinking I was okay but dealer replaced shift lever and spline in about 45 minutes. Can't remember total cost but was not much. If you remove your levers you may well find the same problem and can do the job yourself. If this is the case I highly recommend using blue Loctite on the Allen heads of the shift levers and crank the snot out of them. I hope your problem is this simple.

 

I stripped out the shifter rod before. Seems that the spline was a fine tooth gear and over time, the pinch bolt loosened up and the spline stripped. I was in D.C. at the time. I took it to H.D. of Washington. They had me in and out of the shop in about 2hours. Harley later fixed this problem by going to a coarser spline. Total cost for the fix was around $150. I would have tackled it myself if I'd been home. It wasn't rocket science.

 

The pinch bolts bind up and seem tight but you need to take them out and the levers off and check the splines. You'll probable have to replace the shifter rod but first try applying blue locktite and use a socket allen wrench to tighten the bolt so you can get some torque on the bolts. It's a good idea to take these pinch bolts out each year and retighten w locktite. The rear transmission allen bolt should be replaced with a regular bolt so you can tighten it up with a socket even though your problem seems to be in the front levers and shifter rod spines. I've seen an 08 one even fall off. While your at it you should replace the ends on the shifter rod with heim joints. I'm surprised they haven't broke on your 03.

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