Mine rattled on the splines and I tightened it twice to specs and still it would start to rattle, third time I put some blue loctite on the splines and reinstalled the shifter and it has not rattled since that was 4-5k miles ago. BTW I learned that from an answer here.
My heel shifter fell off on a road trip north of Dallas and the Kan. City HD replaced it under warranty. (2009 Streetglide) I know 2 other guys who's shifters fell off also on new HD's. Pays to check it regularly.
My shifter assy more less fell off. The HD stuff just does not last. Probably Chinese. Regardless, I purchased a Pingel shifter shaft from Dennis Kirk. Stainless steel. Comes fitted with a grease zerk. Much better quality than stock. The splines on my toe shifter were shot. But the heel shifter were fine. Flipped that to the toe shifter position. I then purchased an aluminum spacer from Pingel. This allowed the shifter in the outboard most position and the spacer takes up the slack. Lots of room on the floorboard. I like the idea of using a longer through bolt with the lock nut. I will give that a try if'n I need to. However, the Pingel stuff seems to have been the cure for my itinerant shifter assembly. And..the Pingel stuff is made in the good old US of A. None of this MOCO Chinese made crap.
Mine did the same thing. I'm driving along and the toe shifter just falls forward to rest on the floorboard while I was driving. It got to the point where I couldn't get it tight enough to hold snug. The splines inside the original toe shifter and the shifter shaft finally wallowed/flattened out, so I pulled it off and rotated the heel shifter to the toe, bought a Kuryakyn spacer, and mounted the to shifter on the outside position. I prefer driving without the heel shifter anyway... it limits my boot room too much.
I agree... those shifter rods and the shaft are just another example of more MOCO junk. My dealer told me it would be cheaper to replace the shaft myself than pay the $50 deductible on my extended warranty.
Mine was loose and I mentioned it to my tech. I think the book specs 39 ft/lbs??? I let the tech tighten it incase the stud broke. Let him screw with it if he did rather than me. I think he took it to 80 ft/lbs. lol
I like my heal shifter about 1/2" lower. It's a common problem.
Before you tighen the thing to some crazy foot pounds try Blue Loctite on the splines and the bolts, let it sit over night after you put it back together so the Loctite can set, it has worked so far for me.