there was a guy on another thread who drilled through the hole in the shifter lever, so he could put a grade eight bolt in it which increased his clamping forces to the shaft by using a nut on the other side. sounded like sound advice and if my 08 sg shifter starts doin the hokey pokey shuffle after it's out of warranty, i'll try that trick. heck i got two levers to go through first though, as i only use one of them, took off the rear one.

 

Thanks for all the info, guys. Seems like people chimed in on all of the "solutions" I've read online. I should probably try each of them one by one to see what works best. Luckily for me, they all sound easy.

Do you apply a generous amount of green loctite to the spline, then put the shifter on there immediately and tighten it down? It's not like you need to let the loctite cure a little bit first or anything, correct?

 

Loctite cures in the absence of air, so you get a long time to work with it. What works for me is to clean all the pieces first with brake cleaner and compressed air, then apply enough to cover the male splines of the shaft and also put a light coating for the female splines on the shifter shafts themselves. Install normally and wipe off excess, then tighten down the bolts. I let it cure overnight, then just go riding. It's held up great on the 'Glide and the same solution has also held up on my Quads shifter shaft as well. The quads shifter sees a lot more "use and abuse" than the glides, so you should have no problems.

While your there - it's also wise to check the Trans shifter shaft and make sure there is no play or wobble, if there is, it's worth taking off the bolt, sliding the shaft as far twoards the inner primary as possible, spraying it all down with brake cleaner and using compressed air to get it as clean as possible and then applying the green locktite to the splined shaft on the tranny and pushing the shifter back flush and reinstalling the bolt.

Replacing that particular shifter on the tranny is not hard, but it is a complete and total pain in the ***, since the inner and outer primary have to come off to fix it.

 

Actually, I've replaced numerous 5 speed shift shafts and return springs *without*
taking the primary drive off... Think outside the box, you'll figure out how I do it..
if not, I can explain it to you....

Hogdoctor

 

HogDoctor,

Please throw me a bone regarding that trick. I've tried to wiggle that shifter shaft off in the past and could not get it past the primary.

89FLHT

 

I fixed mine just the other day. Was riding and the shifters (toe and heel) became loose. The hex screw was already tight. Looked around , talked with my guy at the dealer and bot a new spline. Went home and removed shifters , then came the hard part.
I used a hammer and tapped and wiggled (yeah i said wiggled) the spline out and replaced it with the new one. New hex screws and all is well. Good luck.


2008 SG
Vivid Black
Arlen Ness Big Sucker
21/18
Bumppin' Sounds
Lots of Chrome

 

I took mine off without removing any primary part.
Take the inner shift arm lever fastener off and Viola.

 

I'm sorry for the confusion. I thought HogDoctor was referring to removing the shifter shaft that attaches to the Transmission and his trick for getting that off without removal of the primary. My inner primary on the 89 has a protrusion cast into it that makes removal of that shifter shaft difficult.

The front heal and toe shifter, the shaft assembly and the inner bushings, I have all replaced / repaired without removal of the inner or outer primaries. Thanks.

 

The transmission end shift shaft/arm/return spring can be removed without touching the primary. Remove the transmission top and side covers, shift drum and forks.
remove the trans shift arm screw, push it all the way against the primary housing, and get a hook into the snap ring holding the shaft into the case and rip it off the shaft.
Now you can slide the shaft into the transmission somewhat, maybe enough to get the shift arm off the shaft. If not, take the next step.
remove the mainshaft and countershaft retainer nuts, and pull the side door off the transmission while pushing the shafts out of their support bearings. the tool to do this
is out there, or you can make your own. Once the side door is off, remove the first
gear from the mainshaft, then one snap ring, and the next gear. Then you can slide
the entire countershaft assy out. Now you have room to get the entire shifter shaft
out of the transmission to replace it. Assy is the reverse of disassembly, except when you slide the new trans shift shaft in halfway, put a new clip on it, then the shift arm, then shove it all the way in and push the clip to it's groove with the shift arm.
It's tricky, but it's a *lot* faster than pulling the whole primary drive off.

Hogdoctor

 

go to the auto store and buy a oil drain plug neapreme gasket and put it between the
shifter and the rubber spacer that will take up all the slack in the shifter rod, I did that to my ultra after replacing the bushings in the houseing. and all is tight.

Leon