Lowering the shifter lever (just a smidge), not the pegs

greg_in_npvl

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All,

Did a search and found this thread.

https://www.st-owners.com/forums/showthread.php?8940-ST1300-MCL-Peg-Lowering-Kit&highlight=adjust shifter

Great info and great pics. I'm not looking to lower my pegs, just the shifter as I'm really having to tuck my toe/foot under the shifter to cleanly lift it into gears 2-5. I don't want to develop sloppy shifting habits. Every bike I've bought with a good transmission was sold with a good transmission.

Anyway, in reading the first post in the above thread at step #8 it says "reinstall one spline over. This should move the peg lower by about an inch." Am I reading this correctly? One spline movement drops the shifter position a whole inch? That seems excessive. I've made previous shifter spline adjustments on my old rides (V65 Magnas and V65 Sabres) and never seen that amount of movement from a single spline adjustment. Granted, all parts of the shifting linkage was to the left of the V65s. This shifting linkage is much more intricate on the ST1300 as I can see how it's routed.

I thought this would be an easy adjustment on the ST1300. As I'm finding with this bike, nothing seems as easy as I'm used to
:(

One last question if you're all still reading this, the service manual says to remove the exhaust to access the shifting hardware. I've skimmed posts where some of you were able to do without removing the exhaust. Don't have the ability to have this bike on a lift. Is this going to be a difficult job with or without the exhaust removed?

TIA!

Greg
 
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not sure if you saw #9, for minor adjustments use the adjuster screw, you don't have to adjust by an entire spline increment.

I don't have a 1300 so I'm not sure of the exact arrangement, but in the path from the shift lever to the engine there should be a rod with a regular nut at one end and a left hand thread nut at the other. I think you just break both nuts loose and twist the rod in the middle with your fingers. You'll see the shifter level move as you turn the rod.
 
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Referencing the link:
9. For minor adjustments, loosen the reverse threads of the lock nut on
the adjuster rod next to the rubber boot covered joint. I found it easier
spin the bracket around the stationary rod.


10. After I had lowered the shifter peg to a comfortable position, I
discovered that it hit the lower fairing and would not let me shift into first
gear!

11. I marked with a felt pen where the peg hit the fairing, then removed
the fairing and hacksawed away a tiny section to allow for peg movement.
This cutout is unnoticeable.

You may have answered your own question.
 
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It is a bit of a pain and I had my bike on a table lift with the lower (black) fairing off so I could see something.

Good luck.
 
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I've just adjusted the gear lever on my new to me ST13.
I just removed the black lower panel on the RH side and could get a 10mm socket on the bolt holding the spline clamp without removing anything else. I needed to lower the gearlever a fair bit and one spline seems to be about right. It was pretty easy to do, I couldn't see the fine adjuster lock nuts, looks a bit inaccessible from lying on the floor to me.
\v/
 
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greg_in_npvl

greg_in_npvl

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Thanks for the replies guys. Missed the part in step #9 about the minor adjustments :doh1:

Rekoob I don't have access to a lift so I'm going to try 1964Hall's method. That sounds like the easiest route for me.

Greg
 

MajorTom

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Let us know how that works. I've been thinking about adjusting mine a bit, but it looked awkward to get at the linkage adjustment and it didn't need adjusting that badly... :)
 
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I have few questions on gear shifter height adjustment.

After I installed MCL driver peg lowering kit, I found that gear shifter lever became too high. I accessed the right-side of the bike and identified parts associated with adjusting the shifter. Please see the inserted picture.

On #9 Minor Adjustment, After loosen the lock nut, I found that there is no way to turn anything. The location of the stationary rod is virtually impossible to grab and turn. Does 'spinning the bracket around the stationary rod' mean 'to take off the whole bracket from the spindle and turn the whole unit after loosen the 10mm lock nut on the rod'?

I see that the image which I downloaded from the main post of 'Shifter Adjustment' (by Jefro on 2-3-2006) shows the thread visible on the rod. The rod on my bike does not show any thread visible near the lock nut. Do I need to turn the bracket in ways to expose more threads to lower the shifter? Or the other way around. It's always confusing which way to turn (or rotate).


GearShifter.jpg

On making 'large adjustment (#8 on the main post), 'one spline over' is not clear to me. It appears that there is only 'one' spline notch on the bracket so that 'one spline over' means complete 360 degree rotation. The red arrow in the picture shows the spline notch. Am I missing something?
 
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On #9 Minor Adjustment, After loosen the lock nut, I found that there is no way to turn anything. The location of the stationary rod is virtually impossible to grab and turn.
I have an 1100, but I'm going to assume they are similar. there's a nut on each end of the threaded rod, one is a left hand thread. I think you have to loosen both of them before it will turn at all. Even then, you may have to use pliers to rotate it if the threads are all gunked up with road grime.

On making 'large adjustment (#8 on the main post), 'one spline over' is not clear to me. It appears that there is only 'one' spline notch on the bracket so that 'one spline over' means complete 360 degree rotation. The red arrow in the picture shows the spline notch. Am I missing something?
If you loosen the pinch bolt the outer piece will slide off of the splined shaft. You rotate it by one spline tooth in the desired direction and push it back onto the splined shaft and tighten the pinch bolt.
 
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A the service manual says to remove the exhaust to access the shifting hardware.
Honda does not always want us to spend a couple of extra minutes in order to save hours of work. There are more than a few service procedures that can be performed with difficulty but without removing vast hunks of the bike. I think I've read here that Honda wants the engine to be removed (on the 1300) in order to service the clutch slave cylinder, however, everybody does it with a few words of encouragement and the engine in the frame.
 
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Wow, I missed that part about needing to remove the exhaust. This is something that Honda seems to do more than the other 3 Japanese bike companies, and I've never understood why. So I guess my comment about having an 1100 and assuming they are similar applies to the adjustment hardware involved, but not the accessibility of that hardware.
 
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Thank you for the clarification:

I have an 1100, but I'm going to assume they are similar. there's a nut on each end of the threaded rod, one is a left hand thread. I think you have to loosen both of them before it will turn at all. Even then, you may have to use pliers to rotate it if the threads are all gunked up with road grime.
I didn't know that there are lock nuts at each end of the rod. I see the one near the ball (rubber covered) but I doubt that I can access to the one on the other end. Let me try to turn the whole bracket unit (after dissembling the bracket from the pinch bolt and the spindle (or gear axle whatever you call it)) after loosen the lock nut on the lower section of the rod.



If you loosen the pinch bolt the outer piece will slide off of the splined shaft. You rotate it by one spline tooth in the desired direction and push it back onto the splined shaft and tighten the pinch bolt.
One tooth? Is that all you need? Maybe the cylinder with internal spline teeth was deformed due to the pinch bolt. I was not able to find slot that can refit unless I come back the original position. Weird!!! That's why I said I needed to rotate 360 degree to find the next fit. Let me pry out the cylinder a bit to see if I can push it in at the next tooth.
 

ST Gui

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Based on the number of splines on the shaft and the length of the gear shift lever (and maybe other bits of the linkage removing it and reinstalling one spline different that factory has a fairly big affect on the position of the lever relative to the foot peg.

In another thread about installing GoldWing pegs and/or MCL peg lowering brackets someone mentioned it was an easy fix to lower the gear shift lever on the 1300. Maybe he'll chime in with details.

I have 'Wing pegs and have left the gearshift lever in the factory position. I may get round to lowering it a smidge. Or not. If I get the MCL fixed brackets I'd definitely have to lower it.
 
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from the picture you posted the geometry of the 1300 is a little different from the 1100, so I don't want to start leading you down the wrong path with 1100 information. But I believe the shaft has RH threads on one end and LH threads on the other, so after breaking both nuts loose when you rotate the shaft it moves laterally between the two nuts. If either nut is tight, then I think there's too much friction to turn it easily by hand. Its been eons since I did it last so my memory is a bit weak on the minor details.

As ST Gui says, one tooth on the splines is more of a difference at the shift lever than you might expect, but if you need a fairly large adjustment that might be the easiest way. Not sure why you had trouble with moving it one tooth unless there's some kind of shaft key that's interfering, your picture of the splines is blurry and off angle so its hard to say.
 
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I tried again this afternoon and determined that there is no other way to re-fit the splined section other than the original position. I don't see any particular notch or indentation preventing unintentional misalignment but couldn't figure out why I could not insert that spline bracket other position.

IMG_1498a.jpg

So I decided to go through the minor adjustment method.
1. I loosened the lock nut on the lower side near the rubber boot. There was virtually no exposed threads on my rod.
2. I dissembled the spline bracket by loosening the pinch bolt.
3. I turned the whole bracket (which is freely rotating around the rod now) to lengthen the rod (by exposing more threads above the nut). The threaded part in the rod is about an inch which is not that long so I stopped at around the mid-point. Then, I tightened the lock nut and re-installed the bracket in the spindle. Then, I tightened the 10mm head pinch bolt.

That lowered the shifter somewhat (~1/2 inch?) but it feels much better in downshifting. After I installed the MCL peg lowering kit, I had to raise my left foot (off the peg) to press down the shifter, which was not an ideal situation during downshifting. I took the bike out in the evening for a test ride. Now both the upshifting and downshifting is much smooth. Dwalby, thank you for the guidance. I really appreciate it.
 
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glad to hear you were able to get it adjusted, even though it took a bit of persistence to get the desired result.
 
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