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[Deacon]

Good advise Chief. When I bring her in for the leaks, I'll pay to have them check it.

For the record I drive by a Victor/Triumph dealer everyday. I stopped in on the way home this morning. The Rocket III is a monstrosity. It is like SE08RK said
an engine between 2 wheels. I looked at the 900 Bonneville 100T and it looked like a TONKA toy. They used cheap stamped pieces where Harley would have used a crowbar. The handle bar and fork diameters were like pipe cleaners compared to my bike. 
 

Something really got to me though. The salesman asked if I owned a bike. I said yes, A 2007 Superglide with a 110 SE engine. He smirked at me and said" Oh you have one of those new Harleys that melts the rear jug from heat and leaks like a sieve from the heads. Got pissed an walked out.
Then I thought this driving home. If the Freakin competitors know of these problems, how come MOCO don't?
Go figure.

[kojak]

I hate to say it but they use the same Chinneese garbage parts in the SE110 KIT. I have 07 DYNA FXD with the the dealer installed SE110 kit. My jugs started leaking @ around 1100 miles. Dealer replace O rings cemented the gaskets and Now I have 4000 miles on the bike and 2000 since the repair. I went into the garage tonight and sure enough it's leaking again.
This is my first Harley and the honeymoon is over. I am going to the Triumph Dealer on Monday to look at a Rocket III.
Triumph makes one of the most defect free bikes in the world. I can't believe the British can make anything with moving parts that doesn't self destruct but there are no problems on this bike since 2005 inception. It is sad but true these new Harley's are worse than Yugos. At least Yugos only cost $3000.00. The Rocket III is a 3 banger with 140HP and 147ftlbs of TQ Stock. The bike is an agile crusier even at 800 lbs. And The Damn thing runs an 11.2 @118 MPH 1/4 mile right off the show room floor. It is water cooled so you can actually drive it in traffic and you can buy one under MSRP. MSRP on this machine is $14,995.
I had to get a Harley to see what the Mystque was all about. Now I know.

I owned a Rocket 3 from 2004 to end o 2005 and put 6000 miles on it. It was fun but I like my Harley's better. To each his own.
http://www.triumph.co.uk/images/en-US/Brochures/TR4274_Rocket_III_4.pdf

[Robmay]

Deacon,

If you suspect you have excessive crank run out problems, get it checked. If it is found to be truly bad, then it will be taken care of. If it isn't bad, then you can relax and ride it without the constant anxiety. Either way, you come out a winner.

Good luck.

Chief,

Should you have this checked just for peace of mind if you are not having any challenges? I would assume it would be pretty intrusive and might create a problem you never had. My 07 Cuse (Smurf) seems fine to me (8,000 miles). Will they check it just because under warranty? Should I fool with it or leave well enough alone? I think I should leave it alone but sometimes get nervous about the "what if" factor when I seem to keep seeing this subject again and again. Thanks!!

[SirMichael]

Alittle off track are we??  

What about the SE-110 differences??

                                                                           MIKE

[bisounours]

Thanks Mike !

Because 

Jacques

[SE08RK]

The only difference that I can think of from the production 110 to one built up from the SE kit is that the lower end bearings are heavier in the production engine. But if they are a retro fit part, they could be changed too but I'm not so sure that the '08 96's don't have the heavier bearings already....? Does the kit have the 50mm throttle body? No.

BC

[Chief]

Chief,

Should you have this checked just for peace of mind if you are not having any challenges? I would assume it would be pretty intrusive and might create a problem you never had. My 07 Cuse (Smurf) seems fine to me (8,000 miles). Will they check it just because under warranty? Should I fool with it or leave well enough alone? I think I should leave it alone but sometimes get nervous about the "what if" factor when I seem to keep seeing this subject again and again. Thanks!!

I don't think so. It's a personal thing, but unless you are feeling excessive vibration and are concerned about it, it's probably not needed.

Having said that, when this subject first came up earlier this year, I did a quickie check of mine when the pipes were off. I didn't go so far as to pull the cam plate, but just pulled off the gears and checked the end of the shaft sticking through the support plate. My reading came out at 0.003, the upper end of spec at that time. I can't feel any vibration and am happy thinking everything is OK.

[vagabond6542]

If you think about it, it makes perfect sense that someone would be more likely to post about a problem.  How many folks are going to rush right in from their latest ride, log on, and tell everyone they just rode 100 miles with no failures?  Whoop-de-doo!  Somehow I don't think endless posts of "no problem today" would hold the interest of the members very long.  (BTW, there are plenty of topics on this site that deal with positive experiences.  Check out the threads on various get togethers, threads on various add-on products, threads on tools and maintenance items, etc.)

Cut Deacon some slack folks; not everyone is used to dealing with H-D's version of quality.  

Jerry

I have to agree on H-D's version of quality.
But, someday they will get right. We can only hope.

George

[Break-In]

Sorry Deacon that you are having problems with you bike, this is my 5th HD and my first CVO, and in the years that I have been riding I have had very few small problems with the other four, and I have not had any problems with my CVO. With all of the 110 motors that have been produced since 07 which I estimate to be around 17000 110 motors the numbers reported on this website is a low percentage number compared to the motors produced. Just my 2 cents

[Midnight Rider]

Sorry Deacon that you are having problems with you bike, this is my 5th HD and my first CVO, and in the years that I have been riding I have had very few small problems with the other four, and I have not had any problems with my CVO. With all of the 110 motors that have been produced since 07 which I estimate to be around 17000 110 motors the numbers reported on this website is a low percentage number compared to the motors produced. Just my 2 cents

I would agree with you there, except for one thing that is an unknown variable...how many people are out there with CVO bikes who are not even close to having the miles on the bike where the problems usually show themselves, which is from 5-8K?  If the "average" CVO owner is anything like the "average" HD owner, they put less than 5k a year on their bikes.

It would be an interesting statistic to know (but we never will) how many of those 17K 110 motors (best guess on the number out there) have more than 5K on them.  If this site is a representative sample of the general CVO population, the number of 110's with problems is statistically VERY significant.

[SE08RK]

TCnBham,

There are still a lot of people out there that although they are savvy enough to own a Harley CVO, they are still resisting the pressure to get into a computer - some could but won't. That means that we do not know how their bike is running, clattering, knocking or doing fine and that's the majority of owners. Some folks here, sort-of like me, are not really having any serious issues at present, taking into consideration your opinion on the mileage or time on the engine, so even within the members of the forum the '08 110's seem to be doing better than previous years thus far. HD MoCo has the same attitude about their product: the average Harley owner will put around 4000-5000 miles per year on their bikes so the problems are not there until the warranty is used up - they hope!

 The numbers that we on this forum know of that are having problems is relatively small compared to the total units sold. The statistics are probably available through the proper legal channels but without a full knowledge of the numbers, and taking into consideration the past history of HD to attempt to rectify their problems, the '08 110 engine is doing fine. So, in essence, I agree; we don't know but it seems that "misery loves company" prevails. I'm very sure that if anyone is listening, people will cry like hell about their problems, but those same people are totally silent when there is nothing to complain about!

Keep your fingers warm! (That's my main gripe about winter riding!)

BC

[Midnight Rider]

TCnBham,

There are still a lot of people out there that although they are savvy enough to own a Harley CVO, they are still resisting the pressure to get into a computer - some could but won't. That means that we do not know how their bike is running, clattering, knocking or doing fine and that's the majority of owners. Some folks here, sort-of like me, are not really having any serious issues at present, taking into consideration your opinion on the mileage or time on the engine, so even within the members of the forum the '08 110's seem to be doing better than previous years thus far. HD MoCo has the same attitude about their product: the average Harley owner will put around 4000-5000 miles per year on their bikes so the problems are not there until the warranty is used up - they hope!

 The numbers that we on this forum know of that are having problems is relatively small compared to the total units sold. The statistics are probably available through the proper legal channels but without a full knowledge of the numbers, and taking into consideration the past history of HD to attempt to rectify their problems, the '08 110 engine is doing fine. So, in essence, I agree; we don't know but it seems that "misery loves company" prevails. I'm very sure that if anyone is listening, people will cry like hell about their problems, but those same people are totally silent when there is nothing to complain about!

Keep your fingers warm! (That's my main gripe about winter riding!)

BC

SE...totally agree that thus far, the incidence of problems on the 08's is small compared to the 07's...qualifiying that with a big "that we know about here".  A couple of examples of what I'm talking about is I ran into a younger guy (I'm 56, so 30's/early 40's is younger to me  ) who had an 07 SE Spinger...beautiful bike, but it only had a little over 2K on the odometer and in service for over a year!!  Another on a Dyna with close to the same mileage.

Like you said, there are a lot of folks out there who own HD's who are just not into the whole computer/web thing, or are just not as sick as me  and obsessed with their CVO bike, so just ride the machine.  Certainly, the only way anyone will know the true incidence of problems is if there is eventually a legal action, which IMO is doubtful.  My concern for all those folks out there is exactly what you pointed out...that they will be out of warranty by the time a problem shows, IF it shows, and the MOCO will just tell 'em to go pound sand, even knowing there is a higher incidence than would be considered "normal" for the 110 motor to develop the problems our members have reported here.

Personally, I would like nothing better than to hear of zero problems with the 08's, replacement repair for the 07's, and the whole thing go away because HD is taking ownership of the problem and notifying the customer of both the potential problem, and the fix for same.  But I ain't holdin' my breath on that one, and feel sorry for the owners out there who won't have a clue because they are relatively isolated from the knowledge.

[Break-In]

Well I only have 3000 miles on my 08 SERK but 1500 of them is commuting in the metro washington DC area which is stop and sit which is also hard on a engine due to high heat(sitting in traffic), and I have not experienced any leaks so far and hope not to. 

[Black Diamond]

While on the Nightrider site http://www.nightrider.com/biketech/hd2007HD_performance_upgrades.htm I came across this:

96 CID engines are known to have weak crankshaft bearings. For serious performance work these bearing must be replaced with the heavy duty bearings used in the CVO 110 engine. The 110 upgrade kit does not contain these  bearings.
Any 96CID based engine that is going to experience 'severe use' or is expected to produce over 110HP should consider this bearing upgrade. When the OEM bearings have a problem, the engine will experience a catastrophic failure.

An SE08RK added this already:

The only difference that I can think of from the production 110 to one built up from the SE kit is that the lower end bearings are heavier in the production engine. But if they are a retro fit part, they could be changed too but I'm not so sure that the '08 96's don't have the heavier bearings already....? Does the kit have the 50mm throttle body? No.

BC

I'm curious as to how good are these heavy duty bearing in the CVO's? Is a Timken upgrade still the better way to go?

JW

[Black Diamond]

bisounours & SE08RK

I believe the 96 " bikes now have the heavier bearings in them. When I started looking into my motor build for this winter, the service manager at an area HD stated the 08 CVO's had timken bearings in the left side. I thought the information was incorrect and used the Ask Mike at Latus HD. His answer is below:

I cannot confirm the Timkens in the 08 CVO 110's. The H-D technical forum does not mention this change. The forum does state that the CVO 110's are carried over from 07 with out mention of motor changes. The drive side bearing was updated to a heavier design first used in the 110's but now used in all models and as a replacement in all 03L motors when this bearing is changed. It is also included in the new SE 110/113 kits, when used on earlier models. This bearing is still an INA single row roller bearing P/N 24605-07 (bearing only), 24004-03A (bearing kit-includes retaining rings).

We have also, not heard of any restrictions on the Race Tuners.

Mike

Based on his answer, it appears these heavier bearing are now in the 96 / 110 motors. Maybe the MoCo thinks they have a problem in the bottom end but don't wish to tell anyone?   I know I don't know chit so I ask those that are supposed too.

FWIW: The guys at the Harley shop I use told me straight out the Timkens had been dropped in 03. They disagree with Mike and recommend installing Timkens if you upgrade or plan to keep your scooter for a long period.

JW