This is my first bagger and my first bike with this many miles on clock 30K.
The shift linkage arm is loose on the tranny shaft and keeps riding over on the primary cover. Had this on plain shift levers over the years, just re-tighten maybe add Loc Tite. This appears to be narrow the arm can't come off but rubbing on the primary cover is not cool. My questions:
Will extra washer on top of lever put enough extra "squeeze" on shaft?; Will I need to cut out some material from the "slot" in lever to be able to tighten bolt more? Is there enough room to pull lever off with tranny still in place?
Thanks!

 

I don`t think you can get the shifter lever off without removing the inner primary cover, I know for sure it can`t be done on my softail...

You have nothing to lose by trying to remove some material from the shifter lever so that you can squeeze it tighter with the bolt. I would go for it...

If if stays loose too long then it will wear out the splines on the shifter shaft in the transmission. Then you will learn how to remove the inner and outer primary covers,clutch,compensator,mainshaft bearing,pulley nut,front pulley,gearset...

 

Had the same problem on my 02 RK. Best advice I can give is to remove the bolt and replace with a new one, tighten and it should be fine. The problem on mine was the threads were worn and would only tighten to a minimum. Hope this works for you.
Jim

 

Thanks, I'll try that for sure.

 

Get the bolt out and buy one 1/4 inch or more longer (allen head) Put a nut on the bolt and run it all the way to the head. Then put the bolt in the lever until it goes all the way thru. Tighten the nut down - tight. It will apply a lot more pressure than the bolt will by itself.

Mine broke the bolt at 12,000 and left maybe 3 threads in the lever and I used this fix. 90,000 miles later it's still tight and I've even had the inner primary off and left it alone!

 

Thanks ALL. Lots of good info. I had the time late Friday night to take old bolt out. It was "semi-stripped" in the middle. Got new hex head grade 8 bolt (couln't find allan head) and slid lever back against tranny and tightened her up. Logged 250 mi. Saturday in mountains-still tight. Will keep an eye on it for a while.
Thanks again!

 

Nice info guys, I got the same problem with my shifter linkage so I will definitly try this out!

 

My 03 EG Standard also @30 K miles has had the same problem the last few weeks. I tightened the allen bolt and within a distance of 40 miles it loosened up again and I would have problems down shifting and had to up shift to find a gear. I removed the bolt and did not see any sign of wear on the threads. I replaced the bolt also with the recommended grade 8 hex head and used loc tight. With the hex head I felt like I had increased torque without the fear of stripping out the previous allen. 200 hundred plus miles and all remains tight and shifting is smooth.

 

a year and 4K later, mine was loose again, no thread damage, just loose bolt. Tighten with Loc tite and wait till next year. I can live with that. If i ever strip the threads in the lever I'll go the long bolt and locking nut route.

 

I had mine fall out a few years ago. I now use 2 sip strips and lock tight to hold it in.