free website stats program Heel Shifter Fell Off | Page 5 | Harley Davidson Forums

Heel Shifter Fell Off

The same thing happened to me. I called the dealer that I bought my bike from, who told me it wasn't under warranty and that I was more than welcomed to come to the New Rider class to learn how to do the pre-ride check. I thought it was a bit condescending, but hey, if that's their policy, oh well. Shortly after that, I visited another HD Dealership about 20 miles away who told me that it was indeed under warranty and replaced the entire shifting unit without a problem at all. Guess who's getting my business from now on.
Gotta go both ways on this one.........on a NEW bike that's under warrenty the Dealer should fix this, BUT, every one of us should know that The Shifter takes a beating and needs to be check and tightend regularly. On a trip back to Sturgis 2 years ago, we had 2 failures of the shifting levers, on different bikes, 1 fell off and 1 stripped the splines out. I carry a spaire lever when I go on long trips now.....just in case. Oh and check your linkage connections while your at it!
 
Mine fell off twice so i drilled a hole in the shifter shaft and added a screw which i bottomed out (so it wouldnt come loose) and put an e clip between the screw head and the shaft to hold the lever in place even if the clamp screw came loose. Got tired of being on my knees on the hiway. Too old for that action. Hasnt happened again. Lousy spline job on the lever, looks tapered.
 
The last time I removed mine on my 05-STC I thought the splin had cut out grooves for the screw on the front and rear levers. So the only way to remove the lever is to remove the screw completely. This keeps the lever attached to the shaft until the screw falls out. If this is correct then red Loctite on the screw should do it, unless you strip the splines.

Don't listen to all those heel shifter haters, I love mine. :p
 
The second thing I did was to take the shifters off ,reposition them and put blue lock tight on the screws . I did that because I know my dealer lol .Took a while to get used to the heel shifter , but now I love it . Haven't had any problems . If I do I'll ride 90 miles to Shreveport instead of using local dealer.
 
The last time I removed mine on my 05-STC I thought the splin had cut out grooves for the screw on the front and rear levers. So the only way to remove the lever is to remove the screw completely. This keeps the lever attached to the shaft until the screw falls out. If this is correct then red Loctite on the screw should do it, unless you strip the splines.

Don't listen to all those heel shifter haters, I love mine. :p

Oh my gosh - I wish mine Would fall off - would save me the time and trouble of having to remove it myself. (JUST KIDDING HERE!!!):s:s:s:s

Bill (not a heel shifter hater)--- bet you cant say "heel shifter hater", "heel shifter hater" 3 times in a row fast!!!!!!!!

Bill again
 
Went down to my local dealer and before I finished my sentence, the service manager knew exactlly what I was going to say and wrote it up and replaced the shifter rod under warranty. I was in and out in 20 min. He told me this was common on newer bikes and recommended checking the screw after every long ride just to make sure it's tight on the rod to avoid this problem.
 
Mine has fallen off once and almost came off early this summer. Now I try to make it a point to check on it every once in a while just to make sure it isn't coming loose.
 
Weird but my friends just fell off too? His is a 2008 Ultra. One thing I noticed different from his to mine is the location of the screws holding it on? On my bike the front and rear shift levers are different . Both of my screws go in from the top. His levers are identical (front and back) so one screw is facing up (front one) and one screw is facing down (rear one). I believe with gravity and vibration and the fact that it may not have been tightened properly by dealer at some point, the screw worked itself loose. With facing down , the screw just kept loosening until it dropped out and then the shift lever followed shortly thereafter? I guess they saved money by using the same lever on the front and rear shifter?? Just my two cents.
 
Weird but my friends just fell off too? His is a 2008 Ultra. One thing I noticed different from his to mine is the location of the screws holding it on? On my bike the front and rear shift levers are different . Both of my screws go in from the top. His levers are identical (front and back) so one screw is facing up (front one) and one screw is facing down (rear one). I believe with gravity and vibration and the fact that it may not have been tightened properly by dealer at some point, the screw worked itself loose. With facing down , the screw just kept loosening until it dropped out and then the shift lever followed shortly thereafter? I guess they saved money by using the same lever on the front and rear shifter?? Just my two cents.

My '05 STC They are exactly the same lever. The front shift lever is on first with the screw facing down ( no issue if it falls out) The outer lever, the screw is facing up so it should only get loose but not fall out. OK I just took 2minutes and removed the outer rear lever. There is a groove cut radial in the shaft to capture the screw. I had to remove the screw completely to remove the lever. When the screw is loose the lever moves around so I would notice it well before the screw somehow jumped out of the hole. If your splined shaft has no grooves, then the MOCO is trying to save some money on machining.
I would have no problem with drilling and tapping the shaft for a small screw as suggested above.
 
I noticed on these newer touring bikes they use the same exact shifter for both front toe and rear heel making the heel shifters bolt go in from the bottom therefore if you don't keep up on it it may fall out and you might lose the shifter. The older touring bikes had the heel shifter threaded from the other side so both bolts were put in from the top. Guess cutting expenses has its problems. For the change reason alone I'd insist they replace it free.
oops looks like I should have read all the posts 1st.
 
Back
Top