I figured it out. The locking screw needs to come all the way out, as the spline is grooved to lock onto the edge of the screw. Using a large screwdriver I was able to ever so slightly spread the cut that the screw tightens up on and the shaft with the shift levers pulled right out. After my modification I lubed the shaft with some white lithium grease and reassembled. All's good now.
New guy with '09 FLHRC could use a hand
- Thread starter marvkaye
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- exhaust help flhrc
Good job.
Breeze3at
Experienced Member
Have you completely removed the bolt? The shaft is grooved so the bolt is part of the attachment. Put the shift lever back on and carefully pry on it between the primary boss to get the splines to start pulling out of the inner lever, or with the shift lever as far on the splines as possible, tap the inner lever towards the engine case. Generous use of PB Blaster may be helpful.
Thanks for jumping in... and yes, as I mentioned my Tuesday (10/1) post above, I learned that the screw needed to be completely removed and managed to get the part out. Reason behind this... I was always struggling to find neutral. After watching a number of YT videos I learned that Thrashin' Supply makes a shorter front shifter arm that addresses that issue, so I ordered one. Unfortunately they were backordered a number of weeks on that part so I decided to modify the stock one in the interim. As you can see in the photo, I machined a new flat and drilled a new hole for the linkage 1/2" closer to the pivot. It seems to have worked as intended... while I'm still not finding neutral first try every time, I'll get there eventually. Before the modification I could never hit N downshifting from 2nd to 1st, but almost immediately after doing this mod I now can.
I also replaced the original stock rear air shocks with a pair of #412-4076C chrome ones by Progressive Suspension (from Amazon) and couldn't be happier. What a huge improvement to the ride, and, more importantly, no more rear suspension bottoming out going over holes. Finally, my replacement OE mufflers from Joel are supposed to be here tomorrow... hopefully to be the last of my modifications for awhile. Time to ride, not wrench. (Actually, that's not quite true, I'm waiting for a pair of extended shift levers from SoftBrake.. I'd like a bit more room between the toe & heel shifter pegs along with the ability to upshift with the toe if I want. Been toe shifting for 60 years, hard habit to break.)
Oh yeah, one other thing. I picked up a Black Widow motorcycle jack from Discount Ramps. Excellent investment ($139 MSRP). As far as I'm concerned it's an absolute necessity for that shock replacement project. It made getting the distance between the shock mounting holes a total no brainer. I actually completed that swap during my lunch break, and shudder to think what I'd have had to do without it to get the job done. It's going to make keeping the bike clean and shiny much easier as well.
Mike Ramsay
Member
Even with the screw out the lever may not have released from the spline. Go in from the other side with a long flat head almost same size as the gap and give it a gentle twist to break any oxidized layer. Then a bit of penetrating oil before you do it again. It should walk off.
Just so everyone knows... I finished all the shifter upgrades, couldn't be happier. Thrashin' shortened front shift lever, SoftBrake lengthened foot levers, Arlen Ness linkage (shifter rod??). I can now upshift either toe or heel and finding neutral is much easier. I added a 3/4" bushing between the rear of the shifter linkage/rod and the trans shift lever so the linkage was parallel to the plane of shift motion. I also had to machine away a bit of the bottom front of the linkage to clear the rib in the primary housing... didn't take much, it was easily done on a belt grinder. Anyway, all that is done so all I have to do now is ride. I'll take it. 
Good job, thanks for the update.