New twist on an old problem so to speak.... I was doing some last minute pre-hab work on Fancy for the TAT and decided that I might as well grease the shift pivot bolt even though I had just done it at 800 miles ago during an oil change. At that oil change, I noticed that the pivot bolt was not easy to get out of the hole on the shifter to clean and lube it. But I managed to complete the task as I have done dozens of times before.
Now yesterday... I could not get the bolt out of the shift lever. I even took the whole thing off the bikeand put it in my vise and tried to "persuade" it with my rubber dead-blow hammer. Not a chance - it did not budge no matter how hard I hit it. I was leery of trying the regular steel-headed hammer as I did not want to fubar the threads and be without a shifter the weekend before a 5000 mi offroad ride.
Interestingly... once I had attempted to drive the bolt out with the deadblow, the bolt would no longer turn in the shaft until I but the allen socket back in and tapped in back in. Then it would pivot without issue. Worried that I would do more damage and be left with no shifter, I put it all back together and decided to reassess in the AM. As I threaded the bolt back in and wound it tight, there was an obvious "eccentric wobble" that confirms I have bent that bolt. I musta really wanted that downshift?!!
So this morning I called the dealer here and the dealer where I am starting the TAT journey and, of course, neither had the parts in stock. So I ordered them online and had them shipped to WNC where I will layover for a few days after the NC leg. I am gonna replace the shifter and the bolt at that time and then pound out the old bolt and carry the old shifter as a spare since the OEM shifter does not have a folding tip and might get damaged "when" I drop the pig.
Looks like I will rely on luck and some periodic WD40 application to get me thru the 760'ish miles of the NC TAT.
Now yesterday... I could not get the bolt out of the shift lever. I even took the whole thing off the bikeand put it in my vise and tried to "persuade" it with my rubber dead-blow hammer. Not a chance - it did not budge no matter how hard I hit it. I was leery of trying the regular steel-headed hammer as I did not want to fubar the threads and be without a shifter the weekend before a 5000 mi offroad ride.
Interestingly... once I had attempted to drive the bolt out with the deadblow, the bolt would no longer turn in the shaft until I but the allen socket back in and tapped in back in. Then it would pivot without issue. Worried that I would do more damage and be left with no shifter, I put it all back together and decided to reassess in the AM. As I threaded the bolt back in and wound it tight, there was an obvious "eccentric wobble" that confirms I have bent that bolt. I musta really wanted that downshift?!!
So this morning I called the dealer here and the dealer where I am starting the TAT journey and, of course, neither had the parts in stock. So I ordered them online and had them shipped to WNC where I will layover for a few days after the NC leg. I am gonna replace the shifter and the bolt at that time and then pound out the old bolt and carry the old shifter as a spare since the OEM shifter does not have a folding tip and might get damaged "when" I drop the pig.
Looks like I will rely on luck and some periodic WD40 application to get me thru the 760'ish miles of the NC TAT.