Shift Lever falls off!

[Anonymous]

I post this only because it is a mystery to me.

I was riding back from the maggie BMW rally in Hot Springs NC on my 1982 GS1100G with sidecar (not that it matters) and got to a light, went to down shift and there was NO LEVER! I had removed it a few days ago to check the secondary oil level, but I was sure I had tightened it up upon replacing it. Anyway, the greasy little shaft end was bare for all to see.

My buddy threw the gear out of his sidecar into mine and I jumped in and we rode back to the last light we had visited and looked for the lever. It was 5 miles down the road. I jumped out and picked it up. The bolt was still in it and it was tight! I figured it was stripped or something. When we got back I tried to push it on the shaft - no way was it going on, it was too tight. I removed the bolt, slid it on and tightened the bolt again. I then wired it on to the frame in case it did that again.

Got home 150 miles later and all is well, but has anyone ever heard of this happening. If I was reading this I would not believe it either!

[Anonymous]

Isnt there a valley in the shaft that the lock nut lays in to prevent the lever from sliding off even if it comes loose

[focus frenzy]

Isnt there a valley in the shaft that the lock nut lays in to prevent the lever from sliding off even if it comes loose

yes scotty there is a recesed spot on the shaft that the shifter bolt goes in to keep it from falling off.
very strange? only thing I can think off is evil road grimlins removed your shifter as you were going down the road, and you didnt see them down there. 8O

[Anonymous]

Isnt there a valley in the shaft that the lock nut lays in to prevent the lever from sliding off even if it comes loose

yes scotty there is a recesed spot on the shaft that the shifter bolt goes in to keep it from falling off.
very strange? only thing I can think off is evil road grimlins removed your shifter as you were going down the road, and you didnt see them down there. 8O

then it is obvoius that the last one who touched it had forced the thing on without removing the bolt

[argonsagas]

You found the lost part, so don't feel too bad about it, Ron. It's actually a common problem when dealing with straight=splined parts. The problem begins when the original part is removed: you loosen off the cinch too much.

When replacing it, the parts become "crowned", with the tops of splines meeting on both parts, instead of peaks and valleys. You don't see this, because it feels snug, and when you tighten it down, it seems OK, and the parts will work OK, but shortly after that the parts shift into their proper positions and even though the cinch is tight (as you found when you tried to replace the part) it isn't tight enough to retain the parts in position.

(Note I said straight-splined parts...that was because tapered splines tend to lock together better.)

[Anonymous]

Well, all the things you say are true except the one about forcing it on with the bolt in the lever, I didn't.

There is that 'valley' in the shaft, and it seems impossible that it could fall off. Only thing about the road gremlin theory is that my friend's axle didn't fall out and he was missing the pinch bolt!

I found that as I did a close inspection of the other fasteners on my bike and then his.

Ron

[Anonymous]

Ron Angert
Newport VA
1968 BMW R60 /2 with Globe SC
1981 BMW R100
1982 GS1100 w/ Vetter SC

do i smell earles forks