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Shift Linkage broke today going to work

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  #21  
Old 02-07-2009, 04:21 PM
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Ordered my new ends this morning from:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#

(Thanks for the link Dawg)
 
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  #22  
Old 02-07-2009, 04:33 PM
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Originally Posted by honestbob
25K and you feel good that the linkage lasted that long? Are they that bad? I haven't heard about this problem before. My last bike (Dyna)I kept for 90K and no probs. I've got 18K on my FLHT, should I be worried?
Sounds like you've had good luck with them Bob.

As for me I had the stock links fail on me twice within a year. Not sure why this is so common but it appears to be so. Obviously I switched to Heim.
 
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  #23  
Old 02-07-2009, 04:55 PM
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Originally Posted by HogFather
Honestbob, I would be very concerned about yours. I did some reseach on this condition and most quoted 15 - 20k miles when the ball comes out of the socket. One interesting entry called the Harley a piggy bank for the MOCO. They always keep you coming back for more stuff.
I must have a world record, as my last bike's joint broke at about 100k miles on the original. It broke 50 miles from home and on a remote backroad, and it was fortunate that a friend had some wire ties, something I never thought about carrying with me. I limped home and bought a new replacement for very little money, then looked for two heim joints.

When I bought my '07 one of the first things I replaced were these lame joints with heims, and I had a nice-looking SS rod a friend gave me. I wasn't going to bet when those new stock ones would break, so better just replacing them.

FWIW, you guys don't need to spend $150 or more on the high-$$ HD linkage just to get a decent-looking rod with two heims. There are quite a few on Ebay for $50-60, or just buy two heims (5/16" x 24 female) and put them on your stock rod or a no-frills chrome rod.
 
Last edited by iclick; 02-07-2009 at 06:54 PM.
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  #24  
Old 02-07-2009, 04:57 PM
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I just bought a flame design one today. Way too much money but I had gift certificate the dealer sent me for half of it. That made it hurt a little less.
 
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  #25  
Old 02-07-2009, 06:08 PM
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I changed mine to an HD Bar and Shield heim joint shifter. I carry the POS stock shifter in my saddlebag in case some one's POS OEM shifter breaks during a ride.
 
Last edited by russl179; 02-07-2009 at 07:10 PM.
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  #26  
Old 02-07-2009, 06:59 PM
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Originally Posted by russl179
I changed mind to an HD Bar and Shield heim joint shifter. I carry the POS stock shifter in my saddlebag in case some one's POS OEM shifter breaks during a ride.
Great idea! I have several OEM POS joints lying around and I'm going to take one and put it in the tool kit right now.
 
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  #27  
Old 02-07-2009, 07:05 PM
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I made my own out of 303 stainless and stainless rod ends from McMaster-Carr.
 
Attached Thumbnails Shift Linkage broke today going to work-dscn0436.jpg   Shift Linkage broke today going to work-dscn0437.jpg   Shift Linkage broke today going to work-dscn0438.jpg  
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  #28  
Old 02-07-2009, 07:05 PM
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Well, you guys talked me in to buying a new one with heim joints as soon as possible. Thanks for the heads up!
 
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  #29  
Old 02-07-2009, 11:08 PM
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I have been thinking of converting to a heim joint shift linkage and while searching for a supplier of stainless steel ones I came across a company that makes both heim and ball joint type rod ends. I am going to look at the stock setup and see how it is made and do some failure analysis to see what may be going wrong.

http://www.midwestcontrol.com

Attached is a pic of their stainless ball joint.
 
Attached Thumbnails Shift Linkage broke today going to work-195.jpg  
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  #30  
Old 02-08-2009, 05:30 AM
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Originally Posted by vzts4q
I have been thinking of converting to a heim joint shift linkage and while searching for a supplier of stainless steel ones I came across a company that makes both heim and ball joint type rod ends. I am going to look at the stock setup and see how it is made and do some failure analysis to see what may be going wrong.

http://www.midwestcontrol.com

Attached is a pic of their stainless ball joint.
I predict that your analysys will reveal that the problem is that they're made from cheap Chinese crap!

Keep us posted.

John
 
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