The Harley shifter system as a whole has been faulty for many years now but the Harley-Davidson Motor Company remains silent about it. However, every Harley dealership mechanic who's been around more than a week will readily tell you that the Harley shifter system fails routinely and is problematic for many riders. (see video below)
Many Harley riders I know have had this issue while out on the road riding long distances and you can guarantee when it fails it will be in the middle of nowhere. In this video, I show you how to properly inspect the Harley shifter system and all the failure points. If you already have a shifter issue, I show you how to repair it. I had a Harley shifter arm failure outside of Cheyenne, Wyoming on my 13 state trip last year and I don't want it to happen to you.
Issue #1
Up at your Harley toe/heel shifter is the shifter shaft they connect to with a clamp/bolt type system. There are splines on the shifter levers and shifter shaft. That shaft then goes through a housing to the inside of the primary housing. On that side, the front shifter arm bolts to the shifter shaft, again both having splines. At the top of the front shifter arm is where the shifter linkage attaches. And that shifter linkage then runs back to the rear shift arm that then goes to the transmission. 
Where the shifter shaft goes into the front shifter arm is where things go bad. Even if the front shifter arm clamp bolt is plenty tight, the splines slowly work against each other over time due to too much play and improper tolerances in my opinion. The splines eventually strip out and fail, thus you can no longer shift. There are no big warning signs leading up to this unless you get down and inspect your Harley shifter system.
Where the bolt goes through the front shifter arm clamp there is a channel in the shifter shaft that the bolt must align with. Over time, those threads on the bolt will actually wear and align with the shifter shaft splines and then the front shifter arm will fall off the shaft. There will be visible mashing of the bolt threads if this happens. Replace that bolt if that happens.
Issue #2
The stock Harley shifter linkage will fail on you at some point. I strongly suggest you replace your shifter linkage as soon as you by a Harley with a quality aftermarket shift linkage. There is no warning to this and your linkage will just fail at some point.
The cheap stock linkage is a system of balls that pivot in the ends of the actual shift linkage shaft. The shaft presses onto the balls, which pivot around and overtime just wear out. At that point, your stock Harley linkage will fall off the rear, front, or both, and will not press back on. I have seen this happen to many riders on long road trips. Carrying our Cruz Tools Emergency Roadside Repair Kit from our online store, some zip-ties, and some duct tape will get you on the road until you can replace it.
The quality aftermarket shift linkage uses Heim joints and actually bolts on to the front and rear shifter arm. This is a much more robust system and removes the failure points.
Additionally
Make sure all the bolts are tight on the shifter clamps and arm clamps and use blue thread lock on all of them. Also, when you put your shifter shaft back through the housing, make sure to put a bit of anti-seize grease on it.
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Linkage failed during a ride on my 15 EG with 8,500 miles. Luckily still under warranty, however it was frustrating having to reach down and shift by hand.
2014 Ultra Classic. 66,000 miles.
The capture bolt on the inner side was still secure, but bell crank fell off.
Inner spline stripped, I flipped shaft 180 degrees. Put inner bell crank back on and toe shifter lever. Splines are identical on each end.
Cheep ball and socket fell apart. Bailing wire held together till I could replace assembly. $25 for new cheep assembly.
2001 heritage, 62000miles,2014 street glide 33000 miles, wife’s 2005 deluxe 58000 miles when traded. Never had a shifter problem that includes a 2003 superglue and 1994 sportster.
Lucky! Make sure to check that 2014 SG. Ryans went at 30 miles.
~ Matt Couchman
Law Abiding Biker™ Team
Helping & connecting as many bikers as we can worldwide!
2015 Ultra with 20,000. Went while on the way to a large rally. Carry spares now.
2015 RGS. Once around 8.000 miles in my driveway, once around 17000 miles, I co-sign it before it failed took it to dealer in Orlando, FL they fixed it. I have 40,000 on it now and no failure since. ( I fortunately ever gut stranded.
My 2015 with 47K went out within a week of this video coming out. Thanks for the video.
Jim,
Good timing. Glad we could help.
~ Matt Couchman
Law Abiding Biker™ Team
Helping & connecting as many bikers as we can worldwide!
Inner lever came loose on my 14 FLHXS at 24.9k miles. New shifter shaft was $30. New Inner lever wasn’t available so I ran a file to sharpen the splines and off we went.
Great content as always! Missing WA but lovin HI. Keep the shiny side up!
-Randy
Mine stripped out 2 and half hrs from home today while enjoying Memorial Day!!!!!! 2015 Road King with 13,000+ miles. Cheap ass parts!!!!!
mine went out at 13k on my 15RGS, I was able to to the parts from my local dealer for 70 bucks.
really helpful video keep up the good work
I remember the incident during your 13 state tour video. Thanks for the reminder! I’m going to change mine out on the 2017 Heritage. Quick question: why do you recommend blue loctite/permatex rather than the red? I used blue on the flange nuts on the header studs when installing V & H Short Shots on my son’s Roadster, torqued to spec and all four fell off within weeks. I called Vance and they said to use RED. It’s been a month and so far so good. I’m sure you have a reason for recommending blue but would appreciate knowing the reasoning. You’re doing a great service using your talents to produce this content. Happy be a patron! Keep up the good work 👍👍
Thanks Peter!
Awesome video and very helpful now knowing the factory set up is junk.
Wish I would have found before today. LOL.
Lost ability to shift on 2015 Ultra Limited with 27,000 miles 3 hrs from home in middle of nowhere of course. Our typical Sun run.
Had old lady with me so very hard to use clutch and reach down with right hand.
Towed to a dealer 21 miles away. Nobody home to bring my trailer. What a long frustrating Fefen day.
Will be replacing stock linkage arm with after market per your video when get bike back and carry extra parts in case happens again. I am handy which hurts even more having to be towed.
Thanks again for the great information on your video.
2003 Road King 100th Anniversary Police edition, 58,000 miles. The shifter well off on me 3 times before I found the sense to figure it out. Until then, I rode with zip ties around the shift arm and forward foot shift to keep it on.
Before finding your vid, I watched another mechanic do the replacement, and I missed the part about replacing both pieces. After replacing the shaft, the falling off problem had been cured, but within a few shifts the shaft started stripping through the shift lever.
All better now, after replacing the shift arm as well as the shaft.
LOVE YOUR CHANNEL!!
2003 FHTI – Replaced shaft and lever per your awesome video, nice work! The HD dealer told me the front lever part number has been superseded. The box shows 33718-82B and the new lever has 33727-00A stamped on it. The new part is a littler heavier than the original and is slightly larger in certain areas. I assembled the new shaft and lever, connected the linkage per your video. The bike will not shift because the new lever contacts the inner primary and does not allow enough forward movement to allow a downward motion shift. I’m not sure what to do since the dealer has told me this is the new part and there is no other. The splines on the original part are too warn to assemble to the new shaft. Is there a way I can send you pics of this issue? Thanks in advance!
Kenny,
You can email us at admin@lawabidingbiker.com
Ride Safe & Ride Often!
~ Matt Couchman
Law Abiding Biker™ Team
Helping, connecting, entertaining, and inspiring as many bikers as we can worldwide!
2015 Ultra Limited out on a ride with the wife and went to shift and noticed the pedal had dropped to the floorboard cause the inside lever fell off. Was able to get it reinstalled, but very frustrated.
Video was very informational.
I have a 2014 Street Glide special with on 11000 miles. This just happened to me just before I was going on a ride.
Thanks for the tutorial it was very helpful,
U betcha!
Have a 2014 Ultra Limited. Happened at 11,500 miles. So what is the torque specifications for the shifter arm bolts? Already snapped one off. @#$^&*%%#. Anyway it’s all better now.
Good video.
Thanks so much for the video! I rode out to Sturgis with my brother and his shifter malfunctioned about three days in. Thankfully we had just gotten off the 90 and were close to our rental place. I remembered back when you first posted this so we brought it up, took a look and were able to get his bike back on the road. Thank you for providing all the content that you do.
Dan,
You are most welcome my friend. We hope all is well with you and yours. Glad to hear our video was helpful.
Several of our guys are carrying extra shifter shafts these days.
Ride Safe & Ride Often!
~ Matt Couchman
Law Abiding Biker™ Team
Helping, connecting, entertaining, and inspiring as many bikers as we can worldwide!
Harley part #s Please. thank you 🙂
Frank,
The one we used was part# 33849.97. Make sure to confirm this will work with your year and model.
Ride Safe & Ride Often!
~ Matt Couchman
Law Abiding Biker™ Team
Helping, connecting, entertaining, and inspiring as many bikers as we can worldwide!
Had the shifter fail while on an inner city ride. Contacted my mechanic who advised me to resecure the linkage with zip ties, which I thought I had but didn’t! Asked a passing police officer if had any, he said no but he would get some from his headquarters and return.
Truly a man of his word, he returned with several- I was able to jury rig the attachment and rode my ‘12 Electraglide Classic to my mechanic who repaired it. I have since ordered the Kuryaken aftermarket shaft and will be installing it soon.
Thank you!!
Zip ties and/or Gorilla tape will generally get you home. That’s awesome that the officer took care of you.
Ride Safe & Ride Often!
~ Matt Couchman
Law Abiding Biker™ Team
Helping, connecting, entertaining, and inspiring as many bikers as we can worldwide!
The spline part on my inner shift arm/shift shaft (always seen it called different things, smh) broke right off without warning taking my shift lever with it luckily I had just rolled down my drive way and went to tap it in to first gear and realized I had no shift lever. I was in a predicament so I drilled a hole in to the shift shaft put a thread in there and bolted my shifter down to that. It worked like a charm and never gave me an issue. I also jimmy rigged an old kick starter to the shift linkage above the primary with some hose clamps incase my bolt on shift lever broke but both of them never failed on me when I needed them until I got the part in. I only have the bike and had to get to work and what not. Good sketchy times.
I enjoyed the video content. I just purchased a new Road Glide Limited and have not had an opportunity to ride it yet. ( Michigan cold weather still )
Has anyone asked how to convert the new H-D’s that only come with a single shift lever over to the front and back shift levers?
I do plan on replacing the horizontal shift arm with a different stock H-D arm, #33814-98A.
Those ball joints on the standard arm scare me a bit concerning their potential wear.
2015 Freewheeler FLRT. Mine failed 120 miles from home. Luckily I had the right tools with me to temporarily adjust shaft and arm & ride home. Ordered parts and will fix asap. Thanks for video. Very helpful.
2015 FLHTK there was too much end play at the arm so it floated outward and wouldn’t shift except by hand if I kept pressure on it. Now the shaft won’t come out. It must have started to spin in the arm. Trying to either pry the arm open at that slot or keep banging on it. I will buy better replacement parts.
My 2002 Harley Davidson Electra Glide Classic Shifter Stripped while out ,I bought a new shifter rod and see the splines are Stripped on the shifter arm.can the spline be replaced or do I have to buy all new shifter arm,etc
Just had this happen on a trip in Wisconsin. Was stuck in 3rd gear on a ride. Luckily, I had tools with me and a buddy to help so we stopped in a parking lot, swapped the shaft around and used just a toe shifter. It was the last day of riding so I guess I was lucky in that respect.
Gotta order new parts and fix it.
Was in OKC this past weekend doing a ride for a fallen officer out of Edmond, Ok. Was on the highway, traffic came to a quick stop, downshifted to 3rd quickly and when went to upshift, heel shifter was laying on the floorboard, lost my shifter shaft (stripped out) rigged it to get back 120 miles. 2014 Limited Electraglide
Have a 2014 Electra glide ultra limited. bought it two years ago, just had my third failure. I have tried aftermarket and Harley parts and they both fail,I never had any problems with my 2004 soft tail. What aftermarket parts shaft and inter lever would be better than stock Harley
I had a 2016 Ultra Limited with only 14,000 miles and the shaft for my shifter rounded off and could not shift and it was on a sunday and on our way home , about 350 miles to go, so I HAND shifted it all the way home . I traded it in about two weeks later for a 2018 Ultra Limited , I will keep and eye on this problem , thanks for the tip !!
James Brown
2015 Road King… shifter shaft failure today. Fortunately just riding around town. New to riding.. Great video… I think I’ll try to replace myself
I had this happen over for times replaced everything but the inner Primary Note eve;n replaced the inner and outer bushings inside the inner primary and I still have this happening the design is defective and Harley knows it but wont correct it
2014 SGS 10K miles, had to replace the shaft pin and linkage arm twice already
Thanks for sharing.
Harley Davidson has Pissed Me Off with this Shifter Shaft S#IT !
2011 Road King FLHR, happened to me again. Now on my 3rd spline replacement. Got about 40,000 miles on bike, purchased it new in 2011. Some of this issue is my fault, shifting hard, but do believe the teeth on the spline should be larger which would help. Get with it Harley…..
Alot of great info but it don’t apply to my 2000 Ultra Classic.
I had to cut the shifter arm off the splined shaft .
There is not enough room to slide it off because the primary is to close.
I have an idea to cut the arm in half and thread one side of it after I drill a hole in it.
Have you heard of this dielma before?
Is there a after market part available?