Anyone else's Shift Linkage keep falling off? Any solutions?

[Gwolf]

True story...... when I was in high school, I practically lived in the Vocational Agriculture Shop or the Wood Shop with the tools for the woodworking classes. Learned to weld in the 8th grade watching the people in the shop classes, and the instructor knew me, so he showed me the basics. I was in the welding shop one day when I was in high school and a guy in the same grade that had a Super 90 Honda came in there and asked me to weld the kick starter to the shaft. I looked at it and the splines were stripped. I told him if I welded it to the shaft, he would not be able to get the side cover off if he needed to. He told me to go ahead and weld it, because if he needed to get the side cover off, he would just bring it back to me and I could get it off for him. I did put a good spot weld on the outside and had him run water on it soon as I broke the arc. Far as I know it was still welded when he traded it in on a 350.

[pegasus1300]

Bump as mine went out again! First 1 at 60k 2 only 16k later. Daily but casual & laid back riding- no hot dogging crazy stuff. Admittedly do not manually downshift. Should have part by Tuesday will have pics then.

B if you are still having trouble it may be that your splines on the shaft are worn also, mine are. From where the slit is I took a jig saw with a metal cutting blade and cut straight up thru the top to create a space that the bolt and nut could really compress the opening on the shift lever. Mine has now lasted 5,000 miles. I hope it will last a lot longer. There is no play in the shift arm now.

[Bfromla]

B if you are still having trouble it may be that your splines on the shaft are worn also, mine are. From where the slit is I took a jig saw with a metal cutting blade and cut straight up thru the top to create a space that the bolt and nut could really compress the opening on the shift lever. Mine has now lasted 5,000 miles. I hope it will last a lot longer. There is no play in the shift arm now.

Thanks & yes maybe the case. Part not off to see. Splines gone is what happened on first one. What I don’t get is what is killing them? If is soft aluminum to save a buck or sacrificial to save shaft on tranny.? Haven’t even had any emergency stopping for it to drastically drop gears or anything. Just odd& would like to diagnose if is maybe something I’m doing/not-doing.

[Gwolf]

I doubt if the shaft or the clamp are hardened. Get a couple of cobalt tip drill bits. Put a small pilot hole all the way through, both the shaft and the clamp, then drill it on out to the size of whatever roll pin you will be using. Drive the roll pin in and that will pin the shaft to the clamp.

The roll pin is hardened and not likely to break. If it does break, just drive the broken pieces out and drive a new one in.

You can put the roll pin in in addion to shaving the opening for tighter clamping. Have it clamped down tight before drilling for the roll pin. The worn down splines will not matter if you have the clamping piece pinned to the shaft.

[Mikey]

A roll pin would definitely work, but I would take the arm and open the slot in it to give it move squeezing power to the shaft, before I would drill into the shaft. That shaft's not that big to start with, then drill a hole in it, not my choice if I was you. I think the problem lies in letting that arm get loose on the shaft to start with, then the teeth get warn and it snowballs into a mess! If the teeth are very worn, I would buy a new arm, open the slot, clean the teeth on the shaft and clamp it hard to it. Good luck in whatever direction you go. I make it a point to always check that arm at every oil change just to make sure it's tight!

[pegasus1300]

In answer to your question, the metal of the shift lever is very soft so as to be sacrificial. The metal of the shaft is very hard as it is irreplaceable unless the engine is removed and disassembled. I think the culprit is vibration working the soft splines against the hard splines, hence the recommendation to check and tighten the bolt periodically.

[Bfromla]

Additional helpful info:

12E47A52-8EDA-4195-9DA2-BE1DED944544.jpeg

On the end of the shaft is an indicator divot - Line that up with the slit of shift arm.

[Bfromla]

More information: the arm can be manually moved with a 13mm open end wrench

0366B682-111D-4180-A87A-8D2C74974ED4.jpg

if you can get the clamp portion of arm tight enough on the shaft.

Unfortunately, the M6x30 bolt method

5A75F00A-3F70-4F73-9F4D-0B91C6C367AE.jpeg

did not work with the first arm I still had & am willing to drill threads out on. The second arm is not as bad off, I just did not want to drill it out.

Third arm on & working at the moment.

4C9A2E40-A298-46DF-AC2D-FFF776F0797D.jpeg

**Note the divot on the end of the shaft, not centered in the split of the arm.** I believe it was actually centered before the test ryde. I will attempt inspecting tomorrow.
FYI at77k miles

[DGoebel]

When this happened on my '13 RTL, even after purchasing a new shifter arm, I had to "open" the gap wider by sanding in between the two parts of the arm that the bolt goes through to clamp onto the shifter shaft (so it could clamp tighter). I did use a normal shop wire brush to clear the splines on the shifter shaft and followed the above recommendations to drill out the threads in the new shifter arm and use the recommended replacement bolt with nut. Never loosened again.

[pegasus1300]

Yes B, I think your suspicions are correct, it has moved already. I had to saw thru the arc at the top on a line with the space already there to make room for it clamp tighter. I do not know why the original held for so long and the new ones wont hold for more than a few thousand miles without all this fuss.

[Isopedella]

Reading these posts makes me think,
..... if I had an ongoing problem like that
..... well, I may consider setting it correctly,
..... then drilling a hole through the entire assembly and fitting a pin or a bolt and nut through it.

[pegasus1300]

If sawing thru the top arch so that it is able to compress more doesn't fix the problem that is my next step.

[Bfromla]

Reading these posts makes me think,
..... if I had an ongoing problem like that
..... well, I may consider setting it correctly,
..... then drilling a hole through the entire assembly and fitting a pin or a bolt and nut through it.

1: oem was correct & lasted 60 K miles, second one (installed by dealer) only 16k.
2: now on third one, yes going to line up correctly.
3: transmission shaft is hardened steel & well-obstructed, so attempting drilling remotely safely is not likely (also the soft arm may be preventing damage to the transmission as a sacrificial part?!)