Gear shifter bolt stripped - any ideas?

Hello all! First, I've been referencing this site for quite a while and finally joined it! It is my XJ Bible. I am a proud new owner of an 1982 XJ550J Maxim. It will be my son's bike once I know its ready - I taught him how to rebuild the carbs and he did a GREAT job! I have gone through the brake system completely - all is good. Valve clearances - done (new gasket too).

However, I've run into a problem. I want to take off the gear shifter so I can take the drive sprocket cover off to take a good look at it. But, the bolt holding the gear shifter to the shaft has stripped. I've tried several methods in vain trying to get any thread to catch so I can back it out - no go.

Does anyone have any ideas shy of cutting the bolt (even that idea doesn't excite me). We were cruising along so well until this.

HELP!

 

How did this happen? Was it overtightened? Have you tried vice grips to twist it out? Otherwise drilling it then an easy out would be the go...

 

Thank you for the reply adrian1 - I have tried the vice-grips, no luck. I would agree that it is stripped from the PO over-tightening it. I don't think an easy out is going to help at all as the bolt spins fine - it's stripped, not ceased.

*EDIT: allow me to clarify - the THREADS are stripped, not the head (I should have been more specific in my description of the issue - damn noob!)

 

ok, so the bolt turns but you can't remove it? Try wiggling the shift lever while you pull the bolt. The shift shaft has a groove around it the bolt passes over. It may be catching on that.

That may not be the best description but once you have it apart it will make sense.

 

Is there enough room for you to get to the backside of the bolt with a punch? If there is just drive it out (gently).

 

I think that is the best plan - I'm most likely going to have to replace the shifter anyway. Now to figure out a way to flip my bike upside down to make this easy! LOL - its always the bolt with the worst possible access, ain't it!!

Thanks k-moe

 

The shift shaft looks like this. If the bolt has backed out but can't be removed (is that what you are describing?) then it seems to me the shift lever is pushed in too far or too far out and the bolt is binding against the shaft rather than passing through the groove seen in the shift shaft. Try jostling the lever a bit.
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xjdaver - first off, thank you for helping. That's not the issue in my case (I am very familiar with the shift shaft grove - I own an XS650 and have taken that shifter off a couple times). Seeing how my pinch bolt threads are stripped, it isn't doing much in the way of pinching and the gear shifter can move in and out slightly (as it does typically when the pinch bolt is loosened but not removed). I have tried brute force with vice-grips but it doesn't want to come out thus far - I will give it another go in the morning - if I still can't yank it out I think I'm stuck with trying to punch it out <really don't want to do that if anyone has a better idea).

Thank you guys for your replies!

 

Have someone apple pressure to the bottom of the bolt while you twist the bold counter clockwise. Odds are not all the threads on the bolt are stripped.

 

Yeah - I tried that by myself but couldn't coordinate the pressure and the twist very well - I'll have my boy help me tomorrow - that frigger should come out if there are any threads left at all, else brute force should work.

Thank you guys!

 

Hey @lanker don’t know if you ever got this sorted out but how did you get this out cause I have the same problem! Thanks so much

 

Could also try jamming a flat bladed screwdriver under the bolt as your turning it. Should start to lift or catch threads. swap for something larger if you start to see clearance .

 

try sliding a razor blade into the split.

have you removed the foot peg yet? you will need to to remove cover

 

If it spins freely, I'm surprised that you can't pull/pry it out with vice grips and a screwdriver. But if not, rather than trying to punch it out from below, could you possibly grind off the head and punch it out from the top?