Shift Lever Replacement
- Thread starter glider.
- Start date
kemo
R.I.P
Where are we talking about. Is it the front shifter shaft going through the primary case or the rear shaft coming from the transmission. If it is the front shaft a wee bit of side to side is ok. My front shifter arm stripped on me, I took it off and opened up the slot and then reinstalled using red lock tite on the splines and tightened the pinch bolt. I am sure that it is just a patch job for now. I change a friends heel toe shifters, the toe shifter was worn on one side of the spline so I just swapped the heel shifter for the toe shifter. Another patch for now, I am sure.
kemo
kemo
Jonas
Junior Member
My shift lever was getting so loose that I couldn't shift from neutral to 1st anymore - had to go to 2nd and then back to 1st. Only a matter of time before I was going to get stuck on the road. And I'd just had the primary off a couple months back to replace a drive pulley (went with the Baker) at a local shop and they'd been unable to tighten the shift lever because they said the shifter shaft splines were worn.
Ordered a "Better Lever" last week, picked it up yesterday, installed it last night. Had watched the videos posted on the betterlever.com website and it was a pretty straightforward 2 hr job done sitting on a milk crate in my garage. Most of the time waiting for my little hobby Dremel tool to chew through the old lever.
My Dremel tool came with the flexible cable attachment (always wondered if I'd ever use it), I attached a little cutoff wheel - you can't go too big, Conrad recommends about a 7/8" wheel. Cut off the lever first, realized I had cut if off too high and then cut it off again closer to the bottom. Then I used a pair of needlenose pliers to hold the remaining lever collar to one side or the other while I made the crossways cut so it would fall off the shaft. Pried the cut with a large screwdriver - as shown in the video. Top half broke off and then a tap on the bottom and it fell off too. No need for a magnet, everything just falls to the floor on my FLHS. From there just bolted the new one on with blue loctite on the threads. 3/16" hex bit with an extension and wobble on a 1/4" drive ratchet. The 3/16" Allen socket on my 3/8 drive wouldn't fit in the close quarters of the lever. Easy. The lever is tight now. A day's riding today and still tight. Now there are two bolts (front and back) in the grove on the shaft to hold it in place. Did I say tight yet? As in does not move on the shaft at all.
Oh, and I mentioned HD Talking on the order, but no discount or free shipping, so I guess that intro deal is over. And the videos are no longer posted on his website for some reason. Maybe he didn't black out a HD logo on the bike he was working on.
I'm happy with the kit. Saves pulling the primary, and if the shifter shaft is worn it saves you pulling the tranny apart to change it. And for all you guys torquing on a 5/16 x24 thread 1" bolt with a 1/2 drive wrench and cheater bar to get the old lever tight, just think what you are doing to the shaft bushing and seal. No thanks.
karmutzen
Ordered a "Better Lever" last week, picked it up yesterday, installed it last night. Had watched the videos posted on the betterlever.com website and it was a pretty straightforward 2 hr job done sitting on a milk crate in my garage. Most of the time waiting for my little hobby Dremel tool to chew through the old lever.
My Dremel tool came with the flexible cable attachment (always wondered if I'd ever use it), I attached a little cutoff wheel - you can't go too big, Conrad recommends about a 7/8" wheel. Cut off the lever first, realized I had cut if off too high and then cut it off again closer to the bottom. Then I used a pair of needlenose pliers to hold the remaining lever collar to one side or the other while I made the crossways cut so it would fall off the shaft. Pried the cut with a large screwdriver - as shown in the video. Top half broke off and then a tap on the bottom and it fell off too. No need for a magnet, everything just falls to the floor on my FLHS. From there just bolted the new one on with blue loctite on the threads. 3/16" hex bit with an extension and wobble on a 1/4" drive ratchet. The 3/16" Allen socket on my 3/8 drive wouldn't fit in the close quarters of the lever. Easy. The lever is tight now. A day's riding today and still tight. Now there are two bolts (front and back) in the grove on the shaft to hold it in place. Did I say tight yet? As in does not move on the shaft at all.
Oh, and I mentioned HD Talking on the order, but no discount or free shipping, so I guess that intro deal is over. And the videos are no longer posted on his website for some reason. Maybe he didn't black out a HD logo on the bike he was working on.
I'm happy with the kit. Saves pulling the primary, and if the shifter shaft is worn it saves you pulling the tranny apart to change it. And for all you guys torquing on a 5/16 x24 thread 1" bolt with a 1/2 drive wrench and cheater bar to get the old lever tight, just think what you are doing to the shaft bushing and seal. No thanks.
karmutzen
Jonas
Junior Member
Thanks for posting. I'm going to do this in the near future. My bike shifts fine, but the lever is loose. Ain't going to get any better.
ShagNasty
Active Member
I posted a few weeks ago that I had purchased the Better Lever. do a search for (Better Lever). I commented on what I thought was an excellent product and Conrads excellent customer service. The hole project took 4/5 hrs working off and on till finished. Conrad called me within 45 mins of me ordering the product and give me the HD Talking discount. I was very please with the product and not having to pull the primary. I received comments on that is probably the best way for someone mech challanged. Truth is, I have been an avaition mech 35 years now and seem to know my way around the tool box. It was a choice, cut / or pull, I chose to cut with no regrets. The bike belong to a friend of mine, he was very pleased. My 2 cents, the Better Lever is a better product than what come on the bike.
Jonas
Junior Member
Question about old arm removal.
My Theory.
Loosen old shaft.
Rotate Arm around. So threaded part is up.
Use a longer bolt and a stop. Big Rachet
Could the arm be opened enough to get it off the shaft.
I was talking to a friend with this loose shifter issue. He uses the same local indy that I use. They grewup together. The Indy told him he has a way to replace the shaft from transmission side with out removing the primary. But still involves quite a bit of labor. But the advantage is if the shaft itself is also replaced so any damage is taken care off. The shaft is around 80.00 from Harley and the lever around 20.00(What my friend said). Plus three hours of labor.
My Theory.
Loosen old shaft.
Rotate Arm around. So threaded part is up.
Use a longer bolt and a stop. Big Rachet
Could the arm be opened enough to get it off the shaft.
I was talking to a friend with this loose shifter issue. He uses the same local indy that I use. They grewup together. The Indy told him he has a way to replace the shaft from transmission side with out removing the primary. But still involves quite a bit of labor. But the advantage is if the shaft itself is also replaced so any damage is taken care off. The shaft is around 80.00 from Harley and the lever around 20.00(What my friend said). Plus three hours of labor.
As loose as my arm was, it wouldn't rotate around the shaft. We can all acknowledge that from the universal problems encountered with the arm that it is a flawed design. Further compounded by the surrounding design flaw that requires 3 hours and $100 of gaskets, seals and replacement fluids to remove and replace the arm from the primary side. You can limp along, or improve and forget.
The primary case is too close to the end of the shifter shaft to allow the lever to slide out on the shaft far enough to get it off. I don't know how you could possibly pry the arm open far enough to fall off the shaft while it is installed. I suppose you could try it on an arm held in vise first and see how it works out, then try it for real in the confines behind your primary. The whole point of the Dremel cutting is to make it easy.
I've done the tranny-side alternative when I changed the shifter springs and shaft: removed the exhaust, removed the right tranny cover and the top cover. Carefully tapped out the carrier plate with the two shafts in it, then pulled out the gears in sequence until I got to the shifter shaft. Loosen the shifter arm. Somehow deal with the lock ring on the end of the shifter shaft behind the lever and pull it out, shifter lever drops to the floor. Reverse to reassemble.
vs an hour with a dremel tool......and a technical/design improvement. PM me for pictures.
The primary case is too close to the end of the shifter shaft to allow the lever to slide out on the shaft far enough to get it off. I don't know how you could possibly pry the arm open far enough to fall off the shaft while it is installed. I suppose you could try it on an arm held in vise first and see how it works out, then try it for real in the confines behind your primary. The whole point of the Dremel cutting is to make it easy.
I've done the tranny-side alternative when I changed the shifter springs and shaft: removed the exhaust, removed the right tranny cover and the top cover. Carefully tapped out the carrier plate with the two shafts in it, then pulled out the gears in sequence until I got to the shifter shaft. Loosen the shifter arm. Somehow deal with the lock ring on the end of the shifter shaft behind the lever and pull it out, shifter lever drops to the floor. Reverse to reassemble.
vs an hour with a dremel tool......and a technical/design improvement. PM me for pictures.