free website stats program hard shifting, hard neutral | Harley Davidson Forums

hard shifting, hard neutral

mondofxr

New Member
Variety of posts here on this great forum solved my problem on my normally reliable 87 FXR (35,000 miles)

The problem? After a bad mechanic changed my belt, he left me with a leaky primary. So I tightened up the cover and changed the primary oil and tranny oil -- using HD F+ in the primary and the tranny.

Following owner's manual directions, I topped off the primary at the inspection opening with bike vertical and not leaned over on the jiffy stand.

Well, that's when the shifting problems started. Tough from first to second, mainly, and neutral difficult to find at these warm Southern Cal stop lights.

After reading the forum I did the following:

* Drained the tranny and went with Mobil 1 75w90 gear oil. I used a nylon washer and pipe tape on the drain club, by the way.

* Went with HD Syn3 in the primary.

While the shifting eased up a bit, I still had the problem, and also noticed some clutch slippage at the top rpm when I really wound it through the gears. Then I rememberd a post saying that the primary fluid -- unlike what the owner's manual says -- should just be to the bottom of the clutch.

With the bike on the jiffy stand, I removed the inspection cover and let the excess primary oil drain out. When I did put the bike vertical, I noticed this gave me the exact level at the bottom of the clutch as the post had recommended.

I closed the cover and tightened everything back up and eureka! It's shifting better than ever. Like butter. Neutral no problem.

I hope this helps solve any problems others may be having with this issue.

And again, thanks for the posts.

:D
 
Glad you got it corrected.

That's one of the biggest reasons for the problems you had , overfilling the primary.
The synthetic oils are not the best in the primary either. They can lead to clutch slippage in high mileage clutches. Best bet is the Formula+ from the dealer in the primary and a good gear oil like you used in the trans.

This is the point that the primary oil should be up to when refilling the primary. The bike should be upright and level when doing it.

Starterdrivefill.jpg
 
I saved the F+ when I drained it it from the primary. I'll drain the Syn3, and put the F+ back. Thanks for the tip.
 
Back
Top