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[ccr]

sure do its a nice smooth red..... I hear those are the fastest 

You got that right.

           

And just look good standing still too.

[naitram]

You got that right.

           

And just look good standing still too.

the sure do 

[Binx]

Mmmmmm I'm thursty 

[ccr]

OK,  You guys got me thinking about Red Ales and BBQ Pork Ribs too.

5:00 is going to come early this weekend.

[naitram]

hey binx, you know not only does a tour-pak make a good back rest and a great place for a pair of speakers for the BSR but also double as a great mobile cooler to be filled with  

[Binx]

I think red is my new favorite color!

[BalDeagle]

I think red is my new favorite color!

I'll let you know if Red becomes my new favourite colour on Sunday at Howie's BBQ (courtesy of Neal).

Any chance of a nice Candy Cobalt coloured brew Neal

 

Nige

[naitram]

never seen cobalt beer but Sam Adams Triple Bock did come in a cobalt bottle

[Hoist!]

Geez Howie, how do you really feel?

I agree with your comments 100%. These bikes like any other Harley should be able to be ridden hard. The problems that you and many many others have had are inexcusable and lets all hope this is limited to a first year run of a new motor.

Best of luck getting it all repaired the way it should be.

As expected and as it should be. Met with the dealer Saturday to go over the issues and related repairs. These bikes are made to be ridden within the parameters of their design. There are no issues with riding this bike between 2000 and 5800 RPM. All broken chit will be replaced/repaired. Head gaskets, rocker clearancing, and will measure crank runout. If it is at .008 or more, engine will be replaced. I was told to continue to ride the way I like too, as they know me and know how I ride. They also know I take extremely good care of my bikes and maintain them better than the book says. Therefore, no w.....ty issues whatsoever! They even told me not to "baby" it so these things don't occur. We'll regularly monitor the motor's condition throughout the remainder of the 2-year w.....ty and will extend it if issues continue, until it needs to be replaced. With any luck, they'll actually have the issues resolved before I blow this one up, and replace it with a real motor! Will keep you informed. Hoist!

[SilverDawg]

As expected and as it should be. Met with the dealer Saturday to go over the issues and related repairs. These bikes are made to be ridden within the parameters of their design. There are no issues with riding this bike between 2000 and 5800 RPM. All broken chit will be replaced/repaired. Head gaskets, rocker clearancing, and will measure crank runout. If it is at .008 or more, engine will be replaced. I was told to continue to ride the way I like too, as they know me and know how I ride. They also know I take extremely good care of my bikes and maintain them better than the book says. Therefore, no w.....ty issues whatsoever! They even told me not to "baby" it so these things don't occur. We'll regularly monitor the motor's condition throughout the remainder of the 2-year w.....ty and will extend it if issues continue, until it needs to be replaced. With any luck, they'll actually have the issues resolved before I blow this one up, and replace it with a real motor! Will keep you informed. Hoist!

Howie,

Can you or one of the other guru's here explain the rocker clearancing and crank runout?  I need to be aware of this before my 1K service on 6/8/07.   
I may just make it as a wrench someday with all of the stuff I am learning on this site.  I really appreciate all the help.  I only have about 2 years and 11,000 miles under my belt, but I am learning a sh****** here everyday.

[Twolanerider]

Howie,

Can you or one of the other guru's here explain the rocker clearancing and crank runout?  I need to be aware of this before my 1K service on 6/8/07.   
I may just make it as a wrench someday with all of the stuff I am learning on this site.  I really appreciate all the help.  I only have about 2 years and 11,000 miles under my belt, but I am learning a sh****** here everyday.

CB, the rocker arm clearance issue being mentioned is actual physical contact between the moving rocker arm assemblies inside the motor and the rocker boxes that surround them.  The rocker boxes are the chrome housing on top of the motor directly beneath the gas tank.

The crank run out issue deals with the crankshaft itself not being perfectly true/straight along its longitudinal axis.  Think of it this way.  Ideally, if you could see inside the engine while it was running and looked at the end of the crankshaft (like looking at the end of a drill bit spinning in a drill motor) the end of shaft would be spinning perfectly true.  No wobble.  Nothing at all non-concentric to the circle it was spinning.

In real life, however, there will almost always be a little bit of run out or wobble in the end of the shaft.  It won't be spinning absolutely perfectly along a center line.  That off line tolerance is measured in thousands of an inch.  I personally would not like seeing such a short shaft as the Harley crankshaft being out more than .002-.003".  I think the Harley spec for acceptability is actually .008".  It's measured by putting a dial indicator against the end of the crankshaft and slowly turning the motor through one full revolution.  The dial indicator will measure how far the end of the shaft has wobbled one way or the other.

[SilverDawg]

CB, the rocker arm clearance issue being mentioned is actual physical contact between the moving rocker arm assemblies inside the motor and the rocker boxes that surround them.  The rocker boxes are the chrome housing on top of the motor directly beneath the gas tank.

The crank run out issue deals with the crankshaft itself not being perfectly true/straight along the longitudinal axis.  Think of it this way.  If you could see inside the engine while it was running and looked at the end of the crankshaft (like looking at the end of a drill bit spinning in a drill motor) the end of shaft would spinning perfectly true.  No wobble.  Nothing at all non-concentric to the circle it was spinning.

In real life, however, there will almost always be a little bit of run out or wobble in the end of the shaft.  It won't be spinning absolutely perfectly along a true center line.  That off line tolerance is measured in thousands of an inch.  I personally would not like seeing such a short shaft as the Harley crankshaft being out more than .002-.003".  I think the Harley spec for acceptability is actually .008".  It's measured by putting a dial indicator against the end of the crankshaft and slowly turning the motor through one full revolution.  The dial indicator will measure how far the end of the shaft has wobbled one way or the other.

Thanks so much for the explanation.  I have the service manual and it helps too, but details like you mention above really helps folks like me understand what the he** is going on.

Thanks again.

[Serkcus]

Howie,

Can you or one of the other guru's here explain the rocker clearancing and crank runout?  I need to be aware of this before my 1K service on 6/8/07.  
I may just make it as a wrench someday with all of the stuff I am learning on this site.  I really appreciate all the help.  I only have about 2 years and 11,000 miles under my belt, but I am learning a sh****** here everyday.

HOWIE, Pleeeze let me know how I can get my bike to your dealer.  Mine is a great guy and a long time HD dealer but has a hard time reacting to my noisy engine complaints without having recieved prior notice or instruction from HD.  >:(Wonder how much to ship it down andmaybe you could take it in for me. Only problem is it's blue..damnn.

[jclark3603]

Hey hoist sorry to here about your problems with the Road King. I was thinking that I had lucked out and got a good one but I havent had the oppurtunity to run mine quite as long or hard as you. as always I love reading your post I certainly know what to look for as for as problems in the future. SO far I have abut 3000 miles on mine and the longest trip is about 600 miles the only problem we had was a mounting bracket for the falsie pipe broke. Since this is just the 2nd bike I have ever owned my experience is way limited but I moved from the SE Fat boy to the SE Road King and it has been an amazing ride I l love this bike so I hope to work around some of these problems before they happen - Just keep us up to date with your road testing

[Hoist!]

Hey hoist sorry to here about your problems with the Road King. I was thinking that I had lucked out and got a good one but I haven't had the opportunity to run mine quite as long or hard as you. as always I love reading your post I certainly know what to look for as for as problems in the future. SO far I have abut 3000 miles on mine and the longest trip is about 600 miles the only problem we had was a mounting bracket for the falsie pipe broke. Since this is just the 2nd bike I have ever owned my experience is way limited but I moved from the SE Fat boy to the SE Road King and it has been an amazing ride I l love this bike so I hope to work around some of these problems before they happen - Just keep us up to date with your road testing

Thanks for the kind words j. Try to be proactive in making sure you don't have issues turn into major problems. The first thing you can do towards this is to take a flashlight and look around your rear cylinder exhaust flange. This seems to indicate the first evidence of seepage past the head gasket. Look all around the rest of the base of the head too. If your rear cylinder barrel deck is clean, then so far you don't have a head gasket leak. The rear will usually leak before the front, but continue checking both. The factory has already modified the head gasket, evidenced by a new, 07A Part Number. They don't do that for chits and giggles. Since there are many more people affected by this right now, I'd venture to say that eventually all will be. Granted, if you don't ride very hard, it will probably take longer. But these engines should be recalled for this rather than waiting for 30,000 people to eventually complain. I found mine and I'm, complaining.

Rocker Box clearance noise can be confused with "pinging", and is more difficult to diagnose. The RB noise will usually be noticed by harder riding, higher revs or very quick throttle openings under load. This is tougher to find if you don't know what to look for. But if you have a head gasket leak, they must remove the RB's anyway. Have them clearanced then.

Lastly, and this is a tough one, is crank runout. This can only be found be either shearing your oil pump shaft and blowing the engine or other issues caused by a deformed shaft rotation, or by actually measuring the runout with a dial indicator on the shaft. HD takes a completely reactive approach to this. Blow your engine, oil pump, etc., and get a new engine. They won't pay to have it checked though. No outside the box or proactive thinking here. Sweep it under the carpet is more like it. Either pay to have this done yourself for your own piece of mind, pay for new cams and have it checked then, or keep your fingers crossed andwait for it to break. Not the best choices considering they put the onus on us to find it, or wait for a failure.

I hope you continue to have good luck with your bike. But take some proactive measures to insure it stays that way.

Hoist!