Broken Harley Shift Linkage

Yesterday, the shift linkage on my Electra Glide broke. I was lucky to have discovered this in my garage.

The best I could figure is that it actually failed somewhere on a ride last Thursday, but managed to stay on until I got home.

The linkage itself didn't break, it was the piece that connects the linkage to the front shift lever. This piece uses a "ball and cuff" joint, allowing the linkage to move forward and backward as you operate the heel-toe shifter. After so much usage, the ball wears down, and eventually slips out of the cuff.





I've read from others on various Harley-Davidson forums that this happens all the time. My shift linkage was the original linkage on the bike, and lasted for 47,000 miles. That's pretty good actually. Many others have reported a broken shift linkage in the 15K to 20K mile range.

So I went to Quaid Harley-Davidson in Temecula to see what I could do to repair it. I thought all I needed is a new "ball" to replace the old one. Turns out they don't sell that. They can only sell you a whole new shift linkage, with all new hardware.

It wasn't too bad, it only cost me $20.00.

I also looked at the "custom" shift linkages they sell. These attach to the shift-levers using a "heim joint", which appears to me as being more reliable and less likely to fail. Except the basic model was priced at $87.00. Screw that.

I figure I'll try to get myself another 47,000 miles on this stock replacement.

So I took it home, and put it on.

As I looked at the old broken linkage in my hands, all I could think about was how Harley designed this linkage to fail. In their parts department, the custom shift linkages are highly visible to any customer walking in. If you didn't know better, you'd think that those were the stock pieces. They were hoping suckers Harley owners would see those instead and pay more than four-times higher than what they needed to pay.

As far as the Motor Company is concerned, each motorcycle they sell is a piggy bank, their piggy bank that is. That motorcycle is designed to collect money for them. It might make only a few hundred dollars a year, or it might make tens of thousands. But it will make money guaranteed.

It's like how they say about video game consoles. The companies that make them lose money on the consoles themselves, but earn all the profits on game cartridges, and accessories.

But perhaps maybe I screwed myself over for having bought another stock shift linkage that will eventually fail. If this new shift linkage fails on me in only 20K miles or less, I'll figure out a way jury-rig the thing to stay on.

Posted:   Sunday, April 27, 2008