Riding home from a 300 mile trip today. Almost home, go to downshift and nothing is there!. Get the bike pulled over and see the down shift rod has come loose and has fallen down, resting on the frame near the floorboard.

I tried to tighten it with a T27, but getting the rachett in was hard due to the large nut on the kick stand. It does seem pretty tight though.

Anyone have this happen? What was the fix? I have a center stand - is it easy to take the kick stand off?

 

Sounds like the teeth either on the shift lever, or spindle it attaches to, or both, have finally worn down and are stripped. New spindle is less than $15. New shift lever is anywhere from $35 to a couple hundred....

 

Are you sure it's a torx head bolt? You ought to be able to use an allen key not a torx. Remember also if the bike's on level ground you can depress the shifter or lift on it to change the angle and clearance around the bolt.
Tighten that sucker DOWN TIGHT.
Yes I've looked down and seen what you saw on my bike before.

 

The original fastener was an allen head. Never seen one with a torx head.
And yes, it is a very common thing to lose those shifter arms. Many people complain of them vibrating off, most of them loose them on the road some place. As big a problem as it is, you would think the MOCO would have re-engineered that part long ago. They have known about it for years because they have been selling that replacement part for years. By looking at the parts replacements every week, they get an idea real quickly what fails and what does not. As with many things at the MOCO, common sense does not appear to enter into it.

 

This happened to me - turned out the teeth on the toe shift lever stripped but the shaft was fine. I took the heel shifter off and turned it around and I am using it now as the toe shift until I get around to replacing the lever. I hear it is better to get steel shift levers because they last longer than the aluminum.

 

Happened many times. Finally replaced the shaft and lever. Used the heal lever since I took it off when I first bought the bike. Also check the rod connecting to the tranny, had to replace that at about 30k miles.

 

Can the spline be replaced without removing the primaries?

 

My toe and heel levers were loose from the factory, as was the arm on the transmission. The factory seems to use some sort of lock tite which makes tightening the bolts difficult, perhaps fooling some that they are tight. If you never have, check front and back levers for tightness before this happens to you. If PROPERLY tightened, the factory levers will go the life of the vehicle. The entire front lever/shaft assembly can be serviced or replaced without having to remove any of the primary case. Some people have removed the front shaft and drilled a hole in the shaft support tube and installed a grease zerk. Years ago, the factory put zerks there.

The shift rod ball joints are notorious for failing somewhere around the 30,000 mile mark. Numerous "war stories" have been written about coming home from a trip with a cable tie holding things together. Either do a pro-active ball joint replacement or change to heim joint rod ends. My parts guy found the heim joints and the different mounting bolts and spacers needed to make them work. Apparently the heim ends came from the factory on one model or there was a kit he knew about. Sorry I don't have the parts list any longer or I'd post it.

 

Thx for the information

 

Every new bike I ever bought had this problem. The shifter would vibrate loose and fall down or off. Seems like once it's retightened, it's good for the duration.