Ok this is the second iron i had, and for those of you who have read my story the first bike like this was a lemon and caused me tons of trouble. HD finally replaced it free of charge after riding it 5000 miles. i had the sifter seal replaced twice in it too, the thing is i start my bike over the winter and just warm it up a some, dont idle it reAL LONg , just long enuff to warm it up. Well, i got it out yesterday and road it too the end of the road, look down when i got home and the shift seal had seaped a little oil out. Well had it changed last year cause i got it out and it done the very same thing. By the time i got it too the dealership it had stopped , but i made them change it anyways since it was still under warranty. Do any of you guys have this trouble after your bike has sit for the winter. The mechanic at the stealership said it was a pretty common thing , but he is talking to a man that walked into a dealership and bought a brand new bike that had to have the engine rebuilt due to factory problems. Just wandered how many of ya have this happen with your sporty. there is a local harley guru and he is good but not open on the weekend so i wanted to try and get some info before 2morrow.
Thanks alot!
Even on the lemon bike i had 2 shift seals put in it and one in this one.

 

I replaced mine late last fall.2009 Nightster with only 510 miles and it was leaking.

 

It's still about 30 degrees here where I am. I had my bike out the other day and when I got back I noticed it had a small drip coming out of the shaft as well. I went up to harley to get a new gasket and my buddy that works there just said to hold off for right now. He said some seals won't seat properly when it's super cold out. I don't know if its true or not but I'm just gonna wait it out and see what happenes when it warms up. The bike is under warranty still but I was just gonna replace it myself. It's about a 5 minute job. I like to keep my bike outta the dealer as much as possible.
Once it warms up I'm gonna take it for another ride and see what happens.

 

Do you need to pull the case to change it?

 

No,the primary case does not need to be removed to replace the seal.

 

I have the same issue now. Don't you just pull the shift level and replace the black o ring up against the primary cover?

 

Yes,I used a deep well socket to tap the new seal in place.

 

i'd let it be until you ride it in warm weather. my temp oil tank cap will leak for the first couple of rides after an oil change then it will seal up. might have something to do with very cold temps and would expand and seal in warmer weather.

 

I remember one day I seen a very small drip from the shifter seal, I wiped it and never seen it again, not sure why it never came back. I did notice it was right after I changed the oil, starting to think I may have overfilled it a hair?

 

An oil change would not have anything to do with a shift shaft seal unless you are referring to changing the gear oil in the primary case.