After reading all the threads on here about stripped shift levers, I thought I was a lucky one...until this morning. On my way to work I went to downshift and my toe shifter goes all the way to the floorboard. Heel does the same thing. I got it to downshift one gear (into 3rd) by rattling it around by hand. So I limped it home, took it apart and found this...



Went to the dealer and bought a new one and new shaft. It is fixed, but the parts are exactly the same, so I know it is going to happen again. I've seen the replacement part from betterlever.com, but $235?! Has anybody tried the one from Drag Specialties? At $36 it might be worth a try.

 

I check my fasteners frequently, and of the few I have found loose, the shifter has NEVER been loose. But come to think of it, I have not found a "Repeat Offender" among the fasteners, and that tells me the shifter may enter into the rotation.
My approach to this is an attitude of "Something is loose, and I'm gonna find it".

 

Weird thing is that none of the fasteners were loose, especially the pinch bolt for the lever. It was certainly tightened to the new spec. When I was riding yesterday I thought that the heel/toe shifter looked a little floppy, but everything worked as normal. Was going to have a look at it when I got home from work. Lesson learned.

 

Years ago, I had a Honda 750 as my only way of transportation for over a year. During that time, my shifter stripped off. I put a piece of beer can around it, clamped down, and bought a little time until it stripped again. Then I clamped down a big pair of channellocks on it, and rode it that way for several weeks. Finally got the shaft replaced.
I feel your pain, crap happens. Sorry for the issue.

 

I had my toe shifter strip this past Friday on my trip to Tombstone. The toe shifter went to the floor as I was down shifting, I may have got to fourth before it went down to the floorboard and locked back into the splines locking it from downshifting any further. Had to stop due to traffic and take off again to get it out of the traffic lane which overheated the clutch and burned it up before I realized what was happening. After eight hours of trying to find someone who had a clutch assembly and a 90 mile trailer trip to the Harley dealer for the clutch replacement found they also replaced the shaft and not the shifter(s), nothing wrong with the shaft so I guess I'm buying new shifter assembly now.

 

How hard are you guys stomping on these shifters that you are stripping the splines?

 

 

Just normal shifting, what I saw on mine is the shaft groove where the thru bolt goes has a lot of slop in it allowing the shifter to move on the shaft and the soft aluminum spline of the shifter strips on the shorter side. I was able to slip it back on the unstripped spline and it got me home but if it moves it will slip again. Going to replace it. The bolt was tight when I removed it but the aluminum is so thick I don't think it clamps down on the shaft very well, if I were to tighten it more I think the threads would strip. I think it should have a steel spline pressed into the aluminum and or closer tolerance on the groove for the thru bolt. JMO

 

Bought some cool looking aluminum slotted shift levers. Worked well for 2 years. Stripped both in a matter of weeks this year. Thought the shaft was strippped. Nope. Nothing left to each lever. Installed a through bolt. Nope. Still. Stripping. Put OEM on. Has worked fine for 2000 miles. But maybe strippkng those cool looking levers was a good thing. Maybe just keep a spare i the bag.

 

Exactly. I guess they do not know how to bump the clutch when needed, just stomp them to submission.