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Stupid question number 2. Fell last ride and bent shifter pretty good. Bent it back out so I could keep riding.

I was going to remove it so I could get a better shape to it. Removed bolt and was moving the shifter. I think it's cracked because half of it would move quite a bit and other side/ half was stationary on shaft.

So, cheap aftermarket shifter? Is there a trick to getting shifter off of shaft or just remove bolt and slide the shifter off?

Once the bolt is out it should just slide off the splined shaft. Unless the PO spo welded it on because they stripped the splines (see it a lot). You can use a flat blade screwdriver to spread the two halves of the shifter to help it slide off.

Thanks bufftester. I'm new to bikes but have worked on a lot of cars.

Hopefully it's not welded on. I'm not gonna take it off till I get a new one. Local parts place said they can get me a steel moose shifter for 35. Which is about half of what oem seem like they go for.

reading your post it sounds like it is just seized up on one side

doesn't sound broken to me (specially since you mentioned you took the bolt out to straighten it...it was tight before right?)

if it were my bike I would tap it with a hammer to see if it will come loose and if it does inspect it
a crack should be easily spotted

if it feels like the shifter is loose after this you can file a little bit of the opening down so that it clamps down harder when you bolt it

or a new shifter is $30 from MSR and works GREAT.

If you're going to "fix" it by cutting material out, I recommend getting a longer bolt and use a nut on the other side. Those threads will strip out easily, and riding back home 22 miles with a pair of vice grips on the shift shaft sucks, don't ask me how I know.

I Unbolted the shifter again and it's definitely broke. It's cracked in half opposite of the slot and bolt.

Time for a new one. This bike is tough. I've crashed many times trying to keep up. She deserves some new parts. Just wish I wasn't so broke.

newbbewb wrote:If you're going to "fix" it by cutting material out, I recommend getting a longer bolt and use a nut on the other side. Those threads will strip out easily, and riding back home 22 miles with a pair of vice grips on the shift shaft sucks, don't ask me how I know.

still cant be as bad as trying to make it out of the woods with a broken ankle, now that makes for some rough shifting

no, probably not even close.

2 weeks ago on a ride my buddy busted 2 bones in his ankle. I got to hear him scream over every moderate size bump, over the sound of a 450f, for 7 miles.

did it sound like this ?


[youtube][/youtube]

Holy crap that does not look like fun!

I think I got my shifter situation figured out. Wanted to go riding on sun and couldn't find a shifter in town. One friend said he had one off an old Tecate 200 3 wheeler lying around. Fit the shaft good but was long. I cut an inch and a half off of it and we welded it back together. Worked like a charm.

I also had him weld the stock shifter back together and weld another crack in it. But after welding did not want to slide on the shaft. So I went with the tecate one.

One more thing to add. Old (stock bent) shifter and new shifter had me thinking clutch was toast. In first it would catch then slip then not go anywhere. Then sometimes would work fine.

Shifter was hitting the frame going down into first. I kinda like it's position (vs moving it up a spline) so I'm going to take it off after work and clearance the shifter a bit.

If your shifter is hitting the frame going into first you may not be fully engaging first gear, leading to your slippage issue. Get the clearance issue sorted then try it again.

Took the shifter to the grinder. Clearance about 1/8 inch for frame. I also changed the oil. Worked perfectly.