Shifters

We had all but given up on them. We sent them the shift shaft and stock shifter over a year ago and hadn't heard from them.
 
I received my shifter today. Beautiful piece of work except for one major problem. I sent them this email:
I have a problem with the new Gas Gas shifter. The
pinch bolt has the head on the bottom with the threads
on the top. Did nobody look at the factory shifter?

It is IMPOSSIBLE to tighten the pinch bolt enough to
make the shifter tight on the shaft. Only an open end
wrench may be used to tighten the bolt because the
head is almost touching the frame. Of course the cheap
bolt supplied stripped immediately with a Snap On
wrench so I picked up a grade 8.8. Same problem, it
cannot be tightened up enough.

You need to change the shifter so the head is on the
top and the threads on the bottom like the factory
unit. As it sits this unit looks very nice but is
utterly worthless unless one is willing to unbolt the
engine to use a six point socket or end wrench to
tighten the bolt.

Please feel free to call me.
Click to expand...
I'll let you guys know what their response is. I can't believe they switched the bolt around. Did they think Gas Gas didn't know what they were doing?

--Bill.
 
Arghh... another problem. The bolt head hits the frame when you try to upshift. I can downshift OK but cannot upshift.

I found that stock KTM 6mm bolts don't strip. :)
 
Is there enough material to drill out the existing top threads and cut new threads into the bottom material? :mad:
 
d2w said:
Is there enough material to drill out the existing top threads and cut new threads into the bottom material? :mad:
Click to expand...
It uses a 6mm bolt. I'm not sure but I suppose the threads could be drilled out and the bottom retapped for a 7mm bolt.

I don't know what kind of aluminum it is or whether I could cleanly tap it. If HammerHead will let me have it until they change the design I may give it a try. My neighbor is a machinist. I'll have him look at it. I think there also is some kind of thread inserts other than Helicoils that could be inserted in the bottom part for 6mm but I don't know much about the machining end.

A quick question, wouldn't exposed threads on the top side cause more water and debris to get in the threads accelerating corrosion?

I'm out of town Monday and Tuesday but I will let you guys know what happens.

--Bill.
 
I just spoke to John at Hammerhead. They knew about this on the prototypes but apparently the manufacturer of the units missed this detail on the production ones.

John said it will be corrected in roughly three weeks. I'll keep you posted.
 
Sorry to hear your pain...

I contacted John at Hammerhead back in June of '07, I think, after reading a post by Motorhead urging us to email them...John asked me who he could get a sample spline and lever from and I suggested that he contact GoFasters...He did and said they were begining work on the lever and would have one soon...After months of waiting, I finally gave up and ordered the XFUN shifter from http://www.trialedurodirect.com across the pond. Sure it ended up costing me about $80 with shipping and I had to wait a few weeks for it to get here...But it is a work of art...Honestly...and fits the bike like nobody's business...I guess since the GG is so much more popular in Europe, the XFUN guys had no problem spec-ing-it-out...Though the Hammerhead lever is not as "pretty" as the XFUN blue (to match my 300) shifter, I hope they make it right soon...
 
John called a little earlier today. The manufacturer is probably going to install a steel insert and use a larger bolt which sounds even better than the original design.

I'll keep everybody updated.

--Bill.
 
I received the new unit today. They reversed the bolt and all is good.:)

I modified the original unit by drilling out the threads and installing a steel insert at the bottom of the shifter. Shifts are MUCH crisper and more positive than with the factory unit. I HIGHLY recommend this shifter, it's a major improvement.

The unit I have has the +10 wide tip. I wear size 11 boots and find it perfect for me.

I'm thinking if we show some support for Hammerhead taking the risk of building these units we may well convince some other manufacturers to do the same. It's a thought.

--Bill.
 
Ud_luz said:
I'm thinking if we show some support for Hammerhead taking the risk of building these units we may well convince some other manufacturers to do the same. It's a thought.

--Bill.
Click to expand...

My thought exactly. I was emailing them urging them to make them. I ordered one yesterday!
 
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