Long story short, my shifter shaft splines failed while on a road trip back in Sep at 16,500 miles. Dealer on the road repaired under warranty at Chattanooga Harley Davidson.

During the past month I began to get an annoying rattle in the shifter mechanism again. I examined the linkage and everything seemed tight but the shaft appeared to have too much play where it goes through the inner primary housing.

After some research, I concluded my shifter shaft bushings wore out. I don’t think there’s a specification for this since it’s not a critical part. I contemplated taking it in for repair under warranty but a chromed inner primary kept coming to mind. What the hell, the new bushings come with a new “Chromed Inner Primary” right?? I convinced myself the upgrade was the right time.

Bought the parts and completed the swap Friday night, took a couple hours at a very relaxed pace. Turned out very nice, nice tight shifting mechanism again. Not sure what caused the bushing to wear out at 23,000 miles. Was it something the initial repair of the stripped splines caused?? Or do I just shift excessive hard?? I’ve been riding Harley touring models for about 10 years now and this is a first for me, I don’t think it’s my shifting style.

Anyone else experience problems with the failure of these bushings??

 

That's a new one to me especially with that little bit of mileage. I have heard of the splines wearing out, but never the bushings. It doesn't take a lot of pressure to shift gears. Maybe try using a little less pressure. Maybe you had a bad casting on the inner primary

 

Years ago the MOCO put a grease zerk on the housing so giving the shaft a squirt of grease on every servicing was quick and easy. I added one to my 08 Road King and noticed the difference in easy shifting with adequate lubrication in that area. The splines only wear out if the pinch bolts aren't tight enough. Every new motorcycle I have seen (limited number) have needed the pinch bolts tightened by the 5000 mile servicing, with special attention on the lever on the transmission shift shaft. The next weak point you will discover is the ball joints on each end of the shift rod. They are prone to fail starting at about 25,000 miles, sooner if you are hard on the shift linkage. Replacing them with Heim joints seems to be the "for ever" fix.

 

Mine has the zerk fitting and 16 years and 154,000 miles later I've never had to service the bushings. (Damn you MoCo!)

 

I've just replaced those bushings and the shaft on my '90, owned from new. It had the grease nipple from new. Haven't ridden it yet, but it certainly feels fine once more! As for the splines, I have had problems on other bikes and it sounds as if the lever hasn't been clamped tight, unless there is something else amiss with it. I've had a replacement shift rod for years, with spherical joints, which helps make shifting smoother. There are several weak links in that system, although nothing is difficult to put right!

 

Yesterday, I was traveling through Northern VA (on Route #66), on my way home. Trying to take an exit to gas up, I wasn't able to shift down, so I pulled over to check the bike and found that the shifter shaft was out of places. I shift it using linkage (on 3rd gear), and made it to local HD dealership. Two others guys at the dealership also had a Rushmore bikes, and they had their shaft broke as well. Checking the forum, so many had this issue, but why is not a recall?