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[Twolanerider]

Week and a half or so ago everyone had to suffer through my laments when the trans in the red bike shelled.  All the parts and tools arrived this past Thursday but each time I'd expected to tear it apart something else came up.

Finished all I had to do this evening about 10:30 and curiosity got the best of me.  So put everything away then started tearing the bike apart.  It was unexpectedly bad.  I was really shocked by the condition. 

Brief review was that it had not been making any noise.  It had just made the 2500+ trip back and forth to York, PA without incident; pulling the trailer at interstate speeds.  Had run around here briefly after returning then one afternoon cruising a county road easily in 4th at about 45 it suddenly screeched for a second and completely locked up.

With the engine off I could shift it between 2-3-4.  It would roll in 2 and 3.  Still locked up in 4th.  Where it died was not immediately accessible by trailer so it went noisily in 2nd about 3/8 mile to the trailer and then from the trailer in to the garage upon getting it home.

Knew it was going to be bad when this was on the drain plug right after getting it home:

[Twolanerider]

Knew it was going to be really bad when this was under the top cover:

[Twolanerider]

But I didn't really expect it to look like this.  Not with so few turns on it after the sudden failure. 

[Twolanerider]

Inner cage from the main shaft bearing.

[Twolanerider]

More generic ugliness after it had been sprayed down with brake cleaner to get a better look.

[Twolanerider]

Have never worked inside of one of these little gear boxes before.  But have been inside enough automotive gear boxes to be just amazed by the way it ran and failed in comparison to gears like this:

[Twolanerider]

More general view:

[Twolanerider]

Last one:

[Twolanerider]

Had a couple of unexpected surprises during the disassembly.  Unexpected beyond the degree of damage to the tranny.

First off need to say that a thorough inspection of the case has it just fine.  So the potential risk of getting the gear set paid off.  No need for an entire transmission.

The first minor surprise was found upon removing the shift drum.  One of the four dowels was missing.  When the dealer did the original six speed install I assumed they just dropped it and didn't bother with replacing.  Annoying to find the carelessness later but not really anything to worry about at this point.

After getting it all gutted and starting to clean out the case I was for a time not sure if I'd have to pull the oil pan or not.  The drain hole was so filled with bearing needles and other debris that I couldn't get it opened up. Fluids would run through of course.  But material were jammed in enough that a magnet wouldn't pull them out.  They were lodged just enough they didn't easily work out.

Half an hour of screwing with it finally got things turned, bent or moved enough they would come out.  All sorts of bearing chunks and shavings and shrapnel.  The very bottom piece, however; the one that wouldn't go out the bottom but was plugging all the crap from the top from going on down?  The dowel...  From the shift drum.

It was not marked up at all.  It had not gone through the transmission.  When the damn dealer did the install with all the discounts and winter specials that had me thinking it was worthwhile to actually let them do a job they dropped the dowel while working on the case.  And it had been in the drain hole ever since.  Jackasses.

But damn what an ugly gear set.....

[Twolanerider]

A couple of cudo before I go to bed and forget them also.  The first is actually to Harley.  No chit.

We're all used to the various accessory parts, kits or bits that are by no means task complete.  Things you get home and, if you hadn't yet been conditioned to check first, would have you returning to the dealership to get pieces necessary to the task that weren't with the package (logic notwithstanding).

This transmission "Super Kit" appears to be pretty damned complete.  After seeing how ugly this was combined with being unfamiliar with the bowels of this gear box I checked the parts list and breakdown closely.  Unless I'm missing something this really is a complete kit.  All the way down to snap rings and o-rings.  The only thing one might get separately is one of those significantly over priced outer primary gaskets Harley is so proud of.  Aside from that it looks to be all inclusive.

The other good word is to a vendor I'd not used before.  George from George's Garage at http://www.georges-garage.com .  Appears to be only a specialty tool vendor.  Had heard good things about him prior and went there for tools I'd not had reason to need before.

Called him Monday.  George himself answered the phone.  Told him I was replacing a tranny gear set and asked him to send whatever tools were required to the task.  He responded saying there were a couple of tranny tools I'd not need.  He said what they were.  Explained why they wouldn't be needed (a shaft seal installer, for example, because the gear set comes with the seal already installed).  So he could've easily sold me more than I needed.  He mailed the pieces I did get the same day.  They got here Thursday.  And they are pretty tools.

I appreciate nice machine work and effective form and function.  These are all those things.  And George was a heluva nice guy to talk to too.  Now just hope I figure out how to use the rest of them putting all this mess back together tomorrow or Tuesday.... 

[07 CVO]

2Lane,

That is some serious damage, it amazes me how fast the gears tear up, with no real advance notice.

Mark

[DCFIREMANN]

Don like I told you before you were very lucky.

It looks pretty bad. I am wondering if the dealer dropping the dowel and it was blocking the drain maybe you got a buildup of metal that kept recycling in the trannie and causing the wear to a point of complete failure. Just a thought.

If you run into any problems with the install I am only a phone call away.

Be Safe

THE DAWG

[Twolanerider]

Don like I told you before you were very lucky.

It looks pretty bad. I am wondering if the dealer dropping the dowel and it was blocking the drain maybe you got a buildup of metal that kept recycling in the trannie and causing the wear to a point of complete failure. Just a thought.

If you run into any problems with the install I am only a phone call away.

Be Safe

THE DAWG

Thanks Mike.  The disassembly was uneventful.  Hopefully the reassembly will be as well.

The regular fluid changes haven't had any even small shavings in them.  I don't think the opened dowel would have stopped everything.  And even though the gears look like they've got hundreds of miles of running in no lubricant at all it was never noisy up until the moment it failed.  So truth be told I don't have a clue what happened, or why.

I honestly don't think the dowel in the drain plug was a contributing factor.  But I can't say for sure.  If it had been churning debris and slowly eating itself I'd have expected a noisy gear box though.  There are areas on some of the gears that aren't viewable in photos that are worse then what can be seen here.  You just can't imagine a gear box in any process of that kind of self destruction still staying quite.  On the other hand I can't imagine this box eating itself that badly in either the sudden failure or the short crippled run back to the trailer afterwards.

It's expensive.  It's ugly.  But it's kinda cool to look at .

[Hugh Janis]

It's ugly.  But it's kinda cool to look at .

Like the freak show at the county fair.  I get it now.  You're repulsed but can't look away.

I'm glad the gear swap is working out now.  I've got a feeling you'll be riding with the radio off for a while.

[Chief]

That's some ugly chit there man.

good luck with the rebuild.