here's what happened. was taking the bike to work, thought i heard a noise, go to down shift and couldn't get first gear. thought it odd, so i turned around. i found the bike will actually hit all gears, but i have to toy with the heel-toe shifter to get the next gear to engage. parked the bike. after work i found nothing loose in the heel-toe shifter, but i did notice the play on the lever going to the trans was about 5 inches and was moving freely. any ideas? (before, when i shifted, the heel-toe lever would "reset" between shifts, now it does not.)
1991 flhtcu trans problem
- Thread starter locutus
- Start date
If I understand your post (photos always help), the shift lever on the transmission is loose and moving "freely". If this is the problem, look down between the primary and the transmission and see if the allen head cap screw is still in the shift lever. If not, go get one (1/4-20). If it is, then position the foot shifter in its normal position (toe shifter about the "10 o'clock position), and then position the shift lever on the tranny at about the 11:00-11:30 position depending on where you can find the splines aligned. Get an allen socket or tee-handle into the allen head cap screw and tighten it "pretty tight". Don't strip it, but make it tight. See if that works.
I am afraid that even if this works temporarily, the shift lever may be pretty stripped out. These are sacrificial to make sure they go and not the shifter shaft in the tranny. You should probably plan on having to replace that shift lever soon. So see what other projects you should do with the primary off the bike. If yours is like mine, the primary HAS to come off to change the shift lever. I have had to do three of these on my bikes - '03 UC, and '91 Dyna.
TQ