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Need a little help

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dangerdan

Junior Member
After riding thru a contruction zone (pot hole) the bike developed a vibration while riding rough roads.

I believe I found the problem. The 2 bolts that connect the front of the engine to the motor mount had sheared off. I checked the top of the engine under the tank and everything was tight.

Other than the engine, are there any other locations related to the tranny I can check.
 
dangerdan said:
After riding thru a contruction zone (pot hole) the bike developed a vibration while riding rough roads.

I believe I found the problem. The 2 bolts that connect the front of the engine to the motor mount had sheared off. I checked the top of the engine under the tank and everything was tight.

Other than the engine, are there any other locations related to the tranny I can check.
Click to expand...

WOW!! If you hit a pothole hard enough to pull those bolts in two, I would think you would have some other problems like bent fork tubes, bent neck or damaged neck bearings, etc. All that happened was the two large diameter bolts parted?

Amazing.

TQ
 
Thats all I could find wrong so far. When I showed the HD dealer the bolts he was amazed that nothing else was broken.

Is the tranny bolted to the frame in any way.
 
The trans is held in place at the rear by the swing arm thru bolt. I doubt that you could have damaged that but an inspection for any cracks may be in order.
 
dangerdan said:
Thats all I could find wrong so far. When I showed the HD dealer the bolts he was amazed that nothing else was broken.

Is the tranny bolted to the frame in any way.
Click to expand...

To make sure we are actually talking about the same stuff, refer to this schematic:

Crankcase

Are you talking about #10, 12 parting or #11 parting? And were the bolts pulled in two, or did the nuts fall off (either #18, 22 or #20 depending on above)?

No, the tranny is not bolted to the frame directly. The front of the engine is bolted to the vibration dampener attached to the frame. The back of the engine is bolted to the front of the tranny, and the back of the tranny is supported by the swingarm pivot shaft that is secured in the frame on both sides in elastomer isolators.

Tranny

Frame

TQ
 
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TQuentin1 said:
To make sure we are actually talking about the same stuff, refer to this schematic:

Crankcase

Are you talking about #10, 12 parting or #11 parting? And were the bolts pulled in two, or did the nuts fall off (either #18, 22 or #20 depending on above)?

No, the tranny is not bolted to the frame directly. The front of the engine is bolted to the vibration dampener attached to the frame. The back of the engine is bolted to the front of the tranny, and the back of the tranny is supported by the swingarm pivot shaft that is secured in the frame on both sides in elastomer isolators.

Tranny

Frame

TQ
Click to expand...

Its was item #10, 12 that were sheared. All that was left was the top of the bolt, the shanks and 1/4 inch of thread. The remaining nut and bolt were gone. I replaced both bolts today, inspected as many other bolts I could find and took a 500k ride today. The ride was smooth and there were no loud vibrations while riding bumpy roads. When I got home I also checked for leaks at the front and found none.
I got my fingers crossed.

Another problem has appeared since hitting that pothole.
The bike wont idle below 1000 rpm. I disassembled the S&S carb and found that the float had twisted almost 1/8 ". I tweaked it back, setup the correct level, and gave it a thorough cleaning and put it all together. After adjusting the mixture and idle screws, she purrs like a kitten. :bigsmiley11:

Another problem has popped up since running into that pothole.

I'm getting a speed wobble on high speed turns. At first it wasnt to bad but now its getting serious.

I checked every bolt on the front forks for tightness with a torque wrentch.
I checked for bearing run out with a dial indicator and it was in spec.
I did the same with the tire and rim and saw nothing unusual.

I am not a seasoned mechanic so I had my brother inlaw check it out.
There is nothing like experience in situations like this.
He slowly rotated the tire and found one spot that was tighter than the rest and found another spot that made a slight clunking noise while wiggling the tire back and forth.

I going to Boss Bearing now to get a replacement bearing.

This site has been very helpfull but in some situations there is nothing like true experience to help find a problem.
 
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So it seems that when you hit that pothole that sheared off those bolts, the bearing(s) also galled the race(s)? WOW. How are the neck bearings and tripple tree? I am just surprised that you could hammer the front end that hard (enough to shear those bolts) and not do damage to the fork, neck, etc.

TQ
 
TQuentin1 said:
So it seems that when you hit that pothole that sheared off those bolts, the bearing(s) also galled the race(s)? WOW. How are the neck bearings and tripple tree? I am just surprised that you could hammer the front end that hard (enough to shear those bolts) and not do damage to the fork, neck, etc.

TQ
Click to expand...

After finding that defective front wheel bearing I used a stethescope to listen for any unusual noises in the neck bearings and found none. I just looked at the HD manual and there are only 2 neck bearings. I'm not sure what you mean by the tripple tree.
 
is it possible that you broke a belt in the front tire that will cause a very rough ride when riding? Or a tire weight fell off from the impact? Im learning guys and just trying to give some little input. You guys are talking big stuff here with the bolts that hold the tranny and all that stuff. Im just trying to help and feel like i may have stuck my nose where it dont belong...Sorry guys!!! lol,lol,lol:newsmile08:
 
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