EZ Shift and me being cheap and creative.

[N8DC]

Since I have a 2015 FW with the straight rear shift arm I was looking at ways to easily and cheaply test the Ez Shift theory to see if it actually helps to find neutral. I measured the rear shift arm width to be about 5/8 of an inch. I had a couple ideas but the quick and easy way was taking a piece of Menards steel rack 3/4 inch OD thin wall aluminum square tubing. It slips nicely over the arm

I cut it 2 1/2 inches long and drilled a 5 1/16 thru hole 1 inch from the end then another 17/64 hole another inch up and tapped it thru 5/16 18 . I slid the tube over the shaft and put the bottom bolt in and tightened it securely. I then put a bolt thru the aftermarket rod end and screwed it into the top hole . I then scribed a line around the rod end and removed everything and rounded the end of the tubing for clearance at the top and to match the rod end.

After all that was done I brushed the tubing with my wire wheel on the bench grinder for a bit better appearance. I assembled it again and I added a thin nylock nut to the bottom bolt thru the arm and a regular nut with locktite for the top bolt. I used all stainless bolts also. Now here is the kicker. I just cant believe how much easier this is to find neutral . I did this as a trial but I think it just might be a keeper. I have included pics of the part but dont critique the off center holes and stuff as it was just a test

Besides when its assembled you cant tell the holes are off a bit and it does nothing to hamper the functionality For now I am just going to run this . It was free other than another hour out of my life expectancy Oh I didnt apply for a patent so if you think you want one then go for it . I also want to add that it seems HD didnt want to find a way to actually keep the linkage straight from the front arm to the rear arm . Neither up or down or side to side. The rear rod end could come out more but thats all an appearance thing. I sure wish I had a nice Bridgeport mill in the garage as I have more ideas !
Have a great holiday weekend
Dave Jackson,Michigan

 

[JTJersey]

Since I have a 2015 FW with the straight rear shift arm I was looking at ways to easily and cheaply test the Ez Shift theory to see if it actually helps to find neutral.
I measured the rear shift arm width to be about 5/8 of an inch. I had a couple ideas but the quick and easy way was taking a piece of Menards steel rack 3/4 inch OD thin wall aluminum square tubing. It slips nicely over the arm . I cut it 2 1/2 inches long and drilled a 5 1/16 thru hole 1 inch from the end then another 17/64 hole another inch up and tapped it thru 5/16 18 . I slid the tube over the shaft and put the bottom bolt in and tightened it securely. I then put a bolt thru the aftermarket rod end and screwed it into the top hole . I then scribed a line around the rod end and removed everything and rounded the end of the tubing for clearance at the top and to match the rod end. After all that was done I brushed the tubing with my wire wheel on the bench grinder for a bit better appearance. I assembled it again and I added a thin nylock nut to the bottom bolt thru the arm and a regular nut with locktite for the top bolt. I used all stainless bolts also.
Now here is the kicker. I just cant believe how much easier this is to find neutral . I did this as a trial but I think it just might be a keeper. I have included pics of the part but dont critique the off center holes and stuff as it was just a test Besides when its assembled you cant tell the holes are off a bit and it does nothing to hamper the functionality For now I am just going to run this . It was free other than another hour out of my life expectancy Oh I didnt apply for a patent so if you think you want one then go for it . I also want to add that it seems HD didnt want to find a way to actually keep the linkage straight from the front arm to the rear arm . Neither up or down or side to side. The rear rod end could come out more but thats all an appearance thing. I sure wish I had a nice Bridgeport mill in the garage as I have more ideas !
Have a great holiday weekend
Dave Jackson,Michigan

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Nice job. I hadn't realized finding neutral was a problem.

 

[pwhoever]

Very creative! Another bike that suffered shifting issues was the Honda GL1500 Goldwings. The shifting shaft was designed a bit too long and had stability issues. One big problem was that the shaft seal was prone to leaking because of the movement of the shaft. There was a guy on another forum that designed an auxiliary shifter pivot to greatly reduce the wobbling movement. It cured the sloppy shifting and stopped future seal leakage. It was so popular that China began producing a very similar cheaper item. The original designer no longer produces them as the newest GL1500 is now 26 years old and demand for the item began to dry up.

 

[Zammy]

Very cool Dave, I admire your thinking.

 

[N8DC]

Very creative! Another bike that suffered shifting issues was the Honda GL1500 Goldwings. The shifting shaft was designed a bit too long and had stability issues. One big problem was that the shaft seal was prone to leaking because of the movement of the shaft. There was a guy on another forum that designed an auxiliary shifter pivot to greatly reduce the wobbling movement. It cured the sloppy shifting and stopped future seal leakage. It was so popular that China began producing a very similar cheaper item. The original designer no longer produces them as the newest GL1500 is now 26 years old and demand for the item began to dry up.

Seems the Chinese go after everything. I started marketing a kit to rebuild the HD fuel line quick disconnect a number of years ago after I retired as I worked at the company that designed them and HD had no idea what was inside of the for o-rings and the sizes. I made some pretty good beer money and all of a sudden one day China was offering a kit . I eventually had to lower my prices as bikers are cheap and tend to go after the cheapest solution even if they are inferior o-rings covered with molding flash and the wrong sizes. I can assure anyone out there that all the kits have the wrong size o-rings as I have seen the blue prints and the parts. Oh well. Once in a while I sell a kit or 2 but at a bit over 6 bucks a piece profit I need to sell 1000's like I used to ! I am also cheap but the other thing is I like to see if I can create a solution on my own.
Dave