Same on my 16 RGS splines were fine; some red locktite and torqued the sucker back on and been good ever since

 

I never cared for the heel shifter so I took it off. Now it's in my saddlebag in case I should lose the front one. But I also put the shaft cover on the shaft. Looks better and helps retain the toe shift arm.

 

Lost mine on I80 just east of Omaha, if someone finds it, ITS YOURS!

 

An update to the original problem.

After the first instance of a loose shifter, I tightened everything up and blue-loctited it all. Next 600 mile ride it loosened up again! Now, this all started to happen after I put on a extended heel shifter. Guessing the extra weight was causing some funky vibrations and/or my boot is riding against it also. Anyway, I removed the heel shifter completely and have not had any more instances of looseness after a few thousand miles.

 

I've had an extended heel shifter on all my bikes and had this problem on my '13 Limited and then again on my '15 Ultra. I do not believe that an extended shift lever is the cause. I think HD found a cheaper supplier, using inferior materials, to manufacture the shift levers and shafts. Because on both failures that I have had the shifter shaft (that passes through the primary) had galled and shredded splines on the shaft. The toe shifter stripped out on my '13 and had never been off before it failed. On my '15 the lever on the enginie side of the shifter shaft stripped out and screwed up the shaft and the lever. Again, this part had never been removed before it failed.This is turning into a common problem on the Rushmore bikes.

 

Just wondering what the ratio of stripped splines are between the people that use toe shifter vs. heal shifter. Just curious

 

I am a heel shifter, and I have an extended rear shift lever arm. I found my shifter to be loose before i added the extended rear lever.

My guess, as far as heel shifting is concerned, its only real effect would be if one really puts their weight into the shift and one is trying to find "7th gear." If the rider is in sixth, and by habit tries to up-shift again, and does so with force, there is really no where for the mechanism to go. When the shift lever rod is as frail as it is, with the fine knurling it has, with a potentially loose retention bolt, stripping is gonna happen.

But the same could be done with forceful downshifting into first.

Ride Safe!

 

This seems to be a reoccurring problem! With as many mentions on this forum (just do a search) surprised there has not been recall.

this happened to me while doing 70+ on the interstate in the Smokey Mountains during a long motorcycle vacation! Very scary when you got to go down an off ramp and limp to a stop at a gas station. Let alone call and get the bike towed to the dealership for repair.

I wrote a blog post on this incident https://ijustwant2ride.com/tag/shift-linkage-problem/

 

Mine came loose at the rear on my Wide Glide, just about 60 miles west of Lincoln on I80 last week. Just took a random exit with nothing around to get off and walk around/rest, and noticed my shifter sitting on my mini boards. Luckily I didn't lose anything. The allen wrench key set I had with me was just barely long enough to tighten it back down.

I test drove a '17 SGS and RG this past weekend and it looks like I'll be adding a SGS. Though that heal shifter is coming off pretty quickly, just felt weird to me.

 

Put a pair of vice grips in your tool bag. When those shifter shaft splines strip it makes a handy shifter.