I was out riding today. Had the bike pointed in the direction to go home, but wasn't planning on going straight home from there.

I was leaving a town from a 4 way stop, and started running through the gears. I made it to fourth gear and the shift lever went limp. I kinda grinned a bit and told myself I shouldn't have put off buying the heim joints. I just KNEW that one of the ball joints failed on my 2008 FLHX with almost 20,000 miles.

I decided to head straight for the house and my tools. I figured it wouldn't be that tough to get there in fourth gear and get out of the heat.

What happened was good news, but very unexpected. The ball joints on the linkage were fine, but the arm that actually goes over the splined shaft coming out the tranny had came off the splined shaft.

Once I saw that, I assumed the bolt that clamps the arm to the splined shaft had loosened up, probably fell out and the arm slipped off the shaft. The bolt was still in place and was tight. The splines on the shaft and the internal splines on the arm show no signs of excessive wear. All I had to do was remove the bolt, slide the arm back on the shaft, put the bolt back in place and tighten.

I am glad it was an easy fix. Only thing that was harmed was my day was cut a bit short, but it was really hot and I enjoyed the afternoon in the pool as much as the ride today anyway.

I believe that the arm was not fully seated on the shaft from the factory. Even if the bolt was loose, as long as it was still there, the arm probably wouldn't have fallen off the end of the shaft unless the bolt and splines were excessively worn. My guess is the arm was halfway on the shaft at the factory when the bolt was installed. The bolt was just beyond the end of the shaft instead of in the groove in the center of the splines where it was supposed to be.

Oh well, all is well that ends well. A fix that doesn't cost anything is a good fix.

Dennis

 

Good info, glad it was an easy fix. I was out today too and it was a hot one. I rode about 130 miles and it was nice to get home out of the heat.

 

You aren't that far from me. I am about 30 miles due west of Effingam. I had a few good buddies from your area back in the days that I was in the 2 1/30th inf our of Effingham.

Dennis

 

I'm sure the dealer would tell ya, "that's normal".

 

how do you crack that bolt mine is on there like its frozen what type of allen tool do you use to loosen it my arm slides back and forth a bit and slides out and in but bolt is tight as a bitch cant loosen it with a little alln wrench with a adjustable wrench on the allen do you use a socket style or somthing?? if so what size is it on flh road king 2006 thanks any help apreciated im having awfull time with it ! id like to try that loosen up then slide it on further re tighten ????? im a bit worried it isnt gona be a easy fix

 

that they get away with this stuff from factory and we get stuck with it! and usualy after warrenty expires is when it gets worse before hand they tell u its normal and they all do it , it wont get worse! yah right any other fixes for it if that dosent work or is it a case of primary comming off and all im almost wondering if jb weld around it would work or would that mess up **** for future grrrrrrr