I have an 03 Ultra (FLHTCUI), and my shifter is very loose. When I pull on the shifter arm, there is about 1/2 inch of play.

Since the hex bolt is tight - I assume the problem must be a loose shaft in the gear box.

Is this a hard fix?

also, I could not find any instructions on how to tighten the shaft in the Service Manual.

Any ideas?

Dave

 

Common, try installing one of these: http://www.jpcycles.com/productgroup...=Harley&page=1

[IMG]local://upfiles/4811/EEF5E913057A47098F448C94D9DA70D1.jpg[/IMG]

 

Well I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it sounds like your begining to have the same problems that im in the middle of. My bike is going through the same thing. Last year I stripped the shifter arm outbehind the primary (where it hooks to the tranny) part #33715-85a. I had to pull the whole primary off and replace it. Last week I did it again. My bike is in the garage tore down right now, and I posted something a few days ago about it. https://www.hdforums.com/m_692637/tm.htm
turns out Im not the only one having this problem. After callin about 6 dealerships and 4 local shops including J&P and all the big catalogs, Ive found 1 only 1 thats claimed to be made of steel, and Im waiting to hear back from them.A v-twin part (closed on weekends)
http://www.zoomcyclellc.com/Docs/229.pdf#search='3371585'
Best way to find out is stick your head back in on the left side and you can see the shift shaft come out of the tranny and see if the arm moves only or if the shaft is moving too. GOOD LUCK

 

I had the same problem on my 1998 FXDWG and I have found out that, if you take the stock shift paw (piece that comes off the Tranny) and grind out the opening so it does not bottom out when tightening the bolt! Take about an 1/8 to 1/4 out. What seemed to be happening with mine was that you would tighten the bolt and it would bottom out. This way when you grind down the opening it can't bottom out. This is an easy fix, but if your dead set on spending more money, buy the above part. I will say that once you have the bike down this far, pull the gears out and replace the neutral shift spring. Its a whole $1.50 but gets weak over the years.

 

I'm confused (my normal state).

I've been researching threads about loose shifters on FLH (and other models) but frequently it appears that some folks are speaking about the arm on the shift shaft coming out of the transmission and others (often in the same thread) are speaking about the shaft which passes through the top forward area of the inner primary case. This shaft has the foot activated shift level (or shift levers for heel and toes setups) on the outside and another arm, connected to the shift rod, on the inside.

On my 1995 FLHTCU the second shaft I described is loose in the bore of the boss on the top forward part of my inner primary. It is loose enough that it rattles audibly at from idel (1,000 rpm) to about 1,500 rpm. I'm inclined to install bushings and spring washers on each end and replace the shift rod end with some (qualtiy) heim joints.

FWIW, the arm that attaches to the shaft coming out of the transmission, appears to be tight and in good condition.

So... am I confused or am I on the right track here?

 

No you are not confused. Just two separate issues. What you describe can be remedied by using the anti-rattle kit I posted. Try it. It cured my rattle.