Road Glide banner

Shift shaft/arm failure related to heel shifters?

6K views 42 replies 29 participants last post by  hdbob5454 
#1 ·
I am trying to decide if heel shifters play any part in the premature wear of a shifter shaft or shift arm. Over the past few years I have noticed bikes with heel shifters tend to wear out the splines on the shifter shaft and/or shifter arm faster than bikes without them. Is this my imagination? Just a coincidence? Or am I putting too much thought into this?

I’ve had several riding brothers have their shifter shaft/arm fail with no warning. We all already know about the issue with the shaft and/or arm wearing and failing. A couple of my friends found the shaft on their bikes worn while doing maintenance. At least one of them was running down the road when the shaft slipped out of the arm on the inside of the primary and fell off the motorcycle. All of these guys are riders and all of them maintain their bikes. All of them run and use heel shifters.

I have never used a heel shifter. If the bike has one on it when I buy the bike the heel shifter is normally the first thing to go when I get home. I have no real issue with them I just don’t use them. I have also never had a shifter shaft or arm wear out. I ride with a couple of other guys that don’t use heel shifters and normally remove them like I do. Neither of them have ever experienced a shifter part failure. Now I do check all the bolts in the shifter assemblies on my bikes regularly to be sure nothing has loosened up. Tighten anything that has loosened up and normally add a little blue Loctite to any I find loose. This may have something to do with why I’ve not had one fail to date.

So, what say you? Are heel shifters contributing to the shifter failures? Has anyone else noticed this relationship? Is this just a coincidence?

Just something to think about and discuss. 😊
 
See less See more
#33 ·
I don't know if it causes the problems you describe, but I can tell you that I removed my heel shifter simply because I coudn't get used to using it. I crawled on my first bike at the age of 16, and I'm 63 now. I bought a '97 ElectraGlide Ultra in Feb. of this year. First Harley I've ever owned, though I've wanted an electraglide from the first time I ever saw one. My problem was my size 12 feet. If I centered my foot on the floorboard, my toe was on the toe lever, my heel on the heel lever. I had to turn my foot at least 45° to not be on one or the other. Can't tell you how many times I accidentally shifted into neutral because of this. Nearly got me run over once, and almost caused the bike to run out from under me on another occasion. After that, the heel shifter had to go. Too many years of doing it the other way, I could not retrain myself. And I am about to replace the floorboards with pegs too. I am still struggling with getting my sasquatch sized feet off the floorboards and on the ground at a stop sign. I've dropped my new/old bike twice because of this, and I'm going to fix that problem. Yes the boards are cool and look great, but just can't get used to them or the heel shifter.
 
#34 ·
Another thing I've always done is lower the kick lever as far down as it can go without bottoming out on the board and interfairing with the shift, and still letting shift engage . This my have taken some force off the stomp , but don't know. I did this for comfort only but may have hit two birds with one shot . :)
 
#35 ·
This is my first bike with boards and a heel/toe. First year i took it off, thinking I wouldn't use or like it. Put it on one day and I couldn't see riding without one. I like to ride in sneakers and bikes destroy them without a heel shifter. Plus it's just so much more comfortable and convenient. I agree 100% about the blue loctite and not stomping on it. I have had to tighten mine a few times. It's always a good idea to hit the problem bolts periodically. Shit loosens up all the time on three. The shift linkage comes to mind as well.

'He who is brave is free.'
 
#36 ·
I had a 2010 with a heel shifter, had about 25000, never a problem.
My 2020, now
Wheel Tire Fuel tank Land vehicle Vehicle

did not come with one. I missed it so I actually purchased a Harley heel shifter for a short time before changing it to a Bad Dad, same shaft, different levers, 16000 miles in and no problems.
Always remove, clean and lube (shifter) shaft 😳😂 at service and check torque when I tinker.
I probably put at least 1/2 the force on the heel as I would on toe, basically just the weight of my boot.
 
#38 · (Edited)
Some people saying that the heel shifter isn't the problem, but that stomping down on it IS the problem. Seems like there are 2 simple solutions then, 1.) Stop stomping on the heel shifter. 2.) Remove the part that you are stomping on so that you can't stomp on it. There.... problem solved! 🤷‍♀️ :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

The splines on the shifter shaft are very small and the metal that the trans shift lever, and the heel/toe levers, is made out of is very cheap. Just like any other issues that HD has had, sometimes it works fine and sometimes it doesn't. Any extra force, like what happens when you use a heel shifter, can cause pre-mature wear on those splines. Even if tightened to proper spec. There is an aftermarket trans shift lever that eliminates the issue whether you use a heel shifter or not. No, I don't remember the name of it.

Edit: The whole shift linkage design is not optimal to begin with, but it has kinda worked for many years. If you want to blame that as the cause and not the heel shifter, I will agree with that. If you want to blame the heel shifter because the design is too weak to handle it, I will agree with that too.
 
#39 ·
I put almost 60K on my '13 with the heel shifter, when I traded for my '22 that was the first thing I bought while waiting for them to finish the paperwork and I've had it on for 3Kish miles, no problem on either but I do check the hardware regularly just like every other nut/bolt I can get my hands on.
 
#40 ·
My first experience with a heel toe shifter, was my mother's Trail 90, i beat the shit out of that shifter!! And it took it, my Tour Glide came with a heel toe shifter, with me having raced dirt bikes, it just didn't feel right so I took it off, and was pleased with the amount of floorboard space i gained, every bike in between that I have had I have taken off the heel shifters.....
Now to my point of view, the reason I mentioned the trail 90, is that I used my toe for the heel shifter, banging it trashing it, not with the heel. I wonder how many people use the toe on the on the heel shifter? Could you imagine getting caught up in a panic situation, using the heel shifter to downshift banging the whole time, now that would not be pretty. You guys that just have to have that heel shifter, get one of those small heel shifter that sits tucked in out of the way, it'd be harder to bang it that way, cuz I'm sure that's what's happening... and I'm not saying that you cant do the same with the front shifter, cuz I have banged it down a few times and panic situations!!! It is my humble opinion that the heel shifter cannot take the abuse, like the toe shifter and that is just one opinion,there are hundreds out there.....and not one the same....
 
#41 ·
My current setup:

Tire Wheel Automotive lighting Hood Automotive tire


Both levers are extended models by Softbrake. You can't judge the height in this picture. The heel pad is only about 3/4" above the footboard. This image shows it better:

Wheel Tire Fuel tank Hood Automotive lighting


I went this route because it gives me more than the entire footboard for space. I don't have to lift a leg to heel-shift...just tip my heel up slightly and slide it over the pad. Foot stays planted on the board when shifting. I have the toe lever set lower because I don't need my size 13 boot to go under it. Down-shifts are fast and don't require me to lift my foot off the board.

You can see I replaced the oem linkage rod with the much better H-D replacement rod. The Heim joints on this rod are far more precise and dependable than the ball/socket setups that tend to get rickety over time and usage.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top