Well, I just combined a few suggestions together to see if I could fix this annoying loose shift lever. I cleaned everything with solvent, put blue loctite on the spline (didn't have green), swapped the toe and heel levers, put a small amount of grease on the tip of the bolts (to keep them from hanging), put blue loctite on the other part of the bolts, then tighten the sh*t out of everything.

I just now finished and everything is tight. Much tighter than before! No levers are loose at all. Now the real test is to see if this will last. It's waaaaaaaaay too early for me to say I fixed the problem, but it looks promising so far. I'll report back after a month or so.

Thanks everyone!

 

I just did a quick run around town and the bike actually shifts much smoother... Like, alot smoother. I'd get alot of "clunk" before in all gears, but now it's real smooth with just a slight "tick" or something.

Hmmm... Did the loose shifter cause that? Must've been. Strange.

 

so how has it held up ?

 

New shifter shaft... $17. 15 minutes or less time. Riding without the toe shifter dropping to floorboard... PRICELESS!

 

A couple replied on other threads.

Transmission Lever:
My buddy was having trouble shifting into neutral, 1st to 2nd and 3rd. Naturally the first thing was a loose heel shifter lever but the lever that attaches to the trans shaft was really loose and couldn't tighten with the allen head. Also had another friend have his fall off on an 08 w 12K on it. Talked to Indy and he said to get it out and replaced it with a hex bolt 5/16 -24 1" fr. Home Depot and was able to tighten it and problem solved, he said it works most of the time. I remember reading about this somewhere but when I did a search most answers said we would have to pull the inner primary so I hope this saves someone time.

Shifting Levers:
The key is to remove and put locktight on the bolts. I've tried to tightened them with a T handle and they seem tight and then when put a ratchet and allen socket on them was able to get another half turn or more. I encourage everyone to take these bolts out every spring, locktite and retighten them w a ratchet allen socket vs. T-handle or alen wrench.

 

I tried Home Depot and Lowes last night - no fine thread grade 8 bolts of any kind
going to stop by the squeeler today and grab a replacement OEM and re tap the threads and use locktite, hope it holds up for a while.

 

I would not re tap the threads unless you are removing old Loctite or if the threads are damaged.

 

Not sure I'd use the green/red loctite combo. If you ever need to remove that heel shifter (which you will) to pull the primary cover you're in big trouble...

 

Not strange at all as things are working as they are suppose to. Now get the heim joints for your shift rod and you'll really take the slack out. Too many of these break also, HD engineering that they can't fix for $7.50.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Heim-...Q5fAccessories

 

OK - wanted to post I fixed mine last week , took out the old bolt, it was semi stripped, had metal in threads part way down, bought a new grade 8 bolt from the squeeler and a tap at the hardware store and some red loc tite., retapped the threads, cleaned up with brake cleaner and compressed air, red lic tite all over gear coming out of trans, all over the old shift rod and in the thread hole and the bolt, bolted her up and left sit for 12 hours, put 700 miles on her since with no issues.

Eventually I will need to take the primary off and not only replace the shifter rod but also the gear because the slop cause by the previous owner's shift linkage install really b!tched up those threads. But then I will have everything off and can apply heat to get her off and throw all the old shiz away.

Cause of problem - incorrectlky insatlled Harley heim joint shift linkage, not only was the long rod on the opposite side of the front shifter, casuing an outward torque, but the rear heim joint was also cocked causing even more angled stress on the poor weak shifter rod.

FWIW - I returned the $20 sumthin dealer partr which is cast aluminum (weak link) and bought a $12.99 stainless steel rod off of ebay, way stronger, heavier and already shiny - no need for that cheap **** chrome cover for the rod.

Hoping it gets me thru the summer - time will tell

peace