Glide stranded me today.....Help!

NO! That is the rearward "TRANSMISSION SHIFTER ARM". The forward one will not have that little bend, and will be chrome plated. Look for the one that replaces the forward shifter arm assembly on touring models.
I found my old receipt from my 2003 ULTRA's shift shaft & arm failure. The correct part number for the forward arm is 33718-82B. As you can imagine, the dealers "usually" try and keep these in stock, but Harley, being Harley sometimes doesn't produce enough of certain parts that are common "FAIL" parts. When it happened to me back in 2006, I had to wait 3 weeks for a back order fulfillment.

Another suggestion...
Up North, you guys drive on salted roads a lot. Even long after winter, those contaminants remain in the asphalt. When the roads are wet, or dry, your front tire is throwing stuff up onto your operational components. When you get home after riding, you park your bike and all that "stuff" is just sitting there and working it's "EVIL". This causes corrosion, and often your steel shifter shaft "drags" against the aluminum case, and can eventually get hung up (Murphy's Law). Galvanic Corrosion, is when two dissimilar metals are in contact. Steel vs. aluminum, or any other dissimilar alloy don't play well together, especially when you are constantly introducing SALT in to the recipe.

Pingel makes a HIGH QUALITY "replacement" shifter shaft (not cheap) that is STAINLESS STEEL & has a grease zerk fitting which allows the shaft to operate surrounded by grease, thus preventing galvanic corrosion. The outer end of the shaft is HIGHLY SHOW POLISHED Stainless and looks "very nice" with your chrome heel/ toe levers. Anything you do to make your shift linkage operate more efficiently will keep you from being stranded.

http://www.pingelonline.com/harley-davidson-accessories/62142-greaseable-shifter-shaft.asp

Also, consider changing your shifter rod to a higher quality rod with aircraft quality heim joints for a more positive shift experience. Those goofy little "wobble" bolts with the rubber cover on the OEM rod are junk. The upgraded rods that Harley sells aren't "JUST FOR BLING". The one I have was $87 at Boardtracker Harleys on-line site. Free shipping and NO TAX.
GlideLife Smooth Bar & Shield Shifter Rod.jpgGlideLife's OEM Shifter Rod.jpg
 
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Back in business!!!
028fbebbda9d748662bfc1812ade1a7e.jpg


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Cool. Apply some grease to that shaft before you stick it in. Always helps. Thats part of my 10,000 mile maintenance since my "fail" in '06. I may just get that PINGLE one even though it doesn't snow down here... It's just a high quality piece. The only salt down here is around the rim of a Margarita glass and in the Atlantic or Gulf. I still use a product called Corrosion-X on all the exposed metal parts on my bike. I'm sure your thread will help others. It's a fairly common issue.
Stay safe.
 
How about a picture.

I'll see if I can find a pic of them. But to get a mental picture, you have your vise grips and take a piece of flat stock or something you can use to make a peg and weld it to the handle of the vise grips.

Kindah what I was talking about. Except in this photo (not mine) they made it to where you could bolt the peg on the tab.
 
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Quick question. Is it the shaft or the arm that fails, or both? I'm only at around 5000 miles on my bike but I'd like to be prepared. Also someone said the shift rod was junk and I can see that but how do you make the shifting assembly bullet proof?
 
Quick question. Is it the shaft or the arm that fails, or both? I'm only at around 5000 miles on my bike but I'd like to be prepared. Also someone said the shift rod was junk and I can see that but how do you make the shifting assembly bullet proof?

Its usually the arm that fails. There's a reason it is made with softer metal and is the weak link in the shift mechanism. Because some have a heavy shifting foot, they would rather that fail than something inside the transmission....its easier and cheaper to replace. There are replacements out there that are made of harder metals but beware of why MoCo chose to use "cheaper" materials...there sometimes is a method to their madness.....if you're worried, then carry a spare or like Mudflap, carry some alternate way to shift. Me, I just reach over with my toe and move the shifter rod back or forward and into gear...it gets me to my destination.
 
Astars,
As Aviator says, it is indeed "usually" the forward shifter arm that fails. However, the OP of this thread had both shaft & arm fail. I also had both of those fail back in '06. I had a special custom HIGHLY POLISHED Stainless shift arm put on my Ultra at the dealer before I took delivery...Bling was my Thing back then.Lol. (BIG MISTAKE...As Aviator said, the stock arm is made with slightly weaker steel almost like "pot metal" for a reason). It also didn't help that the tech that installed my "Custom One", put it on improperly, and it was straining both the arm itself and the shifter shaft. I thought it was pretty cool that the dealer admitted "Their Bad". They were willing to pay for the more expensive Stainless Arm, but I opted to go back to OEM after some "counseling" from an older, more experienced Harley Tech. The system is NEVER going to be totally "bulletproof". BUT... There are things you can do. First, routine maintenance should include a check (inspection) of the pinch bolts, on not only your forward arm, but also the rear arm attached to your tranny shaft, as well as both shift levers and the shifter rod. These parts rarely, if ever "suddenly" decide to go. It is pretty much ALWAYS an "over time" failure and you learn about it when it's already TOO LATE. The tranny, (or REAR) arm is tougher to get to, but if it fails, you are in for a rude awakening and lots-o-cash flying out of your wallet. Warranties are great, but most guys don't stop riding or get a new bike after the warranty expires (MOST guys). I use a special 1/4" drive extension and also a modified 1/4" drive allen socket (ground down to fit in the tight location) and a very bright LED mini work light to check tightness of the tranny arm pinch bolt. More often than not, failures are caused by what I (& my dealer's service dept. shop foreman) call "SHIFT STOMPING". You should NOT have to stomp on your shifter to change gears, but I see it all the time. It's like they're training for a UFC match. Lol
A lot of Harley guys wear big heavy boots, and hammer the shifter lever peg (or pads) like they're trying to drive the shifter through the footboards. NOT NECESSARY. ...especially if your tranny has good "specially formulated tranny fluid". My tranny shifts like butter, and I've learned, over the years. that a very light touch works just fine when shifting (up or down) and your components LAST LONGER (I happen to wear lighter Alpine Stars boots).

I really don't wanna' get in to the "which oil is best fiasco", but, I personally use RED-LINE V-TWIN TRANSMISSION OIL WITH SHOCKPROOF (has what they call "Shock-Proof" additives). It has made a world of difference in how smooth my tranny shifts. Just some thoughts from an old geezer.
Ride Safe
 
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Astars,
As Aviator says, it is indeed "usually" the forward shifter arm that fails. However, the OP of this thread had both shaft & arm fail. I also had both of those fail back in '06. I had a special custom HIGHLY POLISHED Stainless shift arm put on my Ultra at the dealer before I took delivery...Bling was my Thing back then.Lol. (BIG MISTAKE...As Aviator said, the stock arm is made with slightly weaker steel almost like "pot metal" for a reason). It also didn't help that the tech that installed my "Custom One", put it on improperly, and it was straining both the arm itself and the shifter shaft. I thought it was pretty cool that the dealer admitted "Their Bad". They were willing to pay for the more expensive Stainless Arm, but I opted to go back to OEM after some "counseling" from an older, more experienced Harley Tech. The system is NEVER going to be totally "bulletproof". BUT... There are things you can do. First, routine maintenance should include a check (inspection) of the pinch bolts, on not only your forward arm, but also the rear arm attached to your tranny shaft, as well as both shift levers and the shifter rod. These parts rarely, if ever "suddenly" decide to go. It is pretty much ALWAYS an "over time" failure and you learn about it when it's already TOO LATE. The tranny, (or REAR) arm is tougher to get to, but if it fails, you are in for a rude awakening and lots-o-cash flying out of your wallet. Warranties are great, but most guys don't stop riding or get a new bike after the warranty expires (MOST guys). I use a special 1/4" drive extension and also a modified 1/4" drive allen socket (ground down to fit in the tight location) and a very bright LED mini work light to check tightness of the tranny arm pinch bolt. More often than not, failures are caused by what I (& my dealer's service dept. shop foreman) call "SHIFT STOMPING". You should NOT have to stomp on your shifter to change gears, but I see it all the time. It's like they're training for a UFC match. Lol
A lot of Harley guys wear big heavy boots, and hammer the shifter lever peg (or pads) like they're trying to drive the shifter through the footboards. NOT NECESSARY. ...especially if your tranny has good "specially formulated tranny fluid". My tranny shifts like butter, and I've learned, over the years. that a very light touch works just fine when shifting (up or down) and your components LAST LONGER (I happen to wear lighter Alpine Stars boots).

I really don't wanna' get in to the "which oil is best fiasco", but, I personally use RED-LINE V-TWIN TRANSMISSION OIL WITH SHOCKPROOF (has what they call "Shock-Proof" additives). It has made a world of difference in how smooth my tranny shifts. Just some thoughts from an old geezer.
Ride Safe

Excellent post GlideLife!
As an "old Geezer" myself I heartily agree with the points you made.

Blues.
 
Thanks Blues
Just try to share some of the stuff I "DO" know (which ain't necessarily a "whole lot")' but experience is still a pretty good ol teacher, and I try to pay attention in "Life's Classroom". I learn so much from this forum as well. If I can "help" eliminate a headache. That's a good thing.
The way I look at it....
SEVENTY IS THE NEW FIFTY... and so on. :)
Ride safe
GlideLife
 
Hey guys...I got the parts on yesterday, took her for a test ride and all is great again. Very easy to install once I got started. Thank you all for the help.

BTW, the old shaft was rounded on the edge.
 
Forward shift arm HD 33718-82B and shift shaft HD 33709-82A both on order and will be kept in my nice to have kit. Thanks guys. This forum is awesome.
 
HD is aware of this and changed the torque value of the pinch bolt. Make sure to clean it and use red loctite. This happened to my father in law while he was on the blue ridge parkway. Luckily he made it to a dealer and the took one off of a floor model because they were out of parts.
2015 Touring Models Service Manual (Part No.
99483-15)

Change the Shifter rod lever pinch screw, front lever torque
from 90-110 in-lbs (10.2-12.4 Nm) to 132-156 in-lbs (14.9-
17.6 Nm) in the following locations.
• 5.1 FASTENER TORQUE VALUES, "Shifter rod lever
pinch screw, front lever" row in FASTENER TORQUE
VALUES IN THIS CHAPTER table.
• 6.4 SHIFTER LINKAGE: SHIFTER ROD LEVER, FRONT
topic, fastener/torque value table.
• 6.4 SHIFTER LINKAGE: SHIFTER ROD LEVER, FRONT
topic, INSTALLATION, step 2.
• TORQUE VALUES section at the back of the book, "Shifter
rod lever pinch screw, front lever" entry in the fastener/
torque value table.
 
Now THAT is some good info.
I noted the change in the torque table and the shift linkage install pages (sections Budman noted) of my service manual. I will buy a new bolt tomorrow. If it's that critical, and that big of a torque % increase, I'd choose to start fresh. THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH. This should be an "inspect and rectify" Recall by the MoCo in my opinion.

Hmmm RED LOCTITE...
No wonder that little bugger is so hard to loosen up. I had originally thought it was cross threaded, when I checked last night. I used blue on it when I re-installed it.

The folks that have had to replace arm & shaft since date of SECRET TORQUE INCREASE by the factory should get a refund or at least a gift cert. for the expense!
 
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Any idea if that TQ change is for 15+ bikes only or for all touring bikes for XYZ years? Either way, I'm going to check the TQ on mine this weekend. Thanks for the info.
 
I ordered 2 of them from boardtrackeronline.com. I'm keeping one in my saddlebag just in case I get stranded

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