J
Six speed transmissions
- Thread starter BOWHIKER
- Start date
A warm day here is anything over 15c gets over 20c for a few days of the year may get 30c once in 10 years
it does not get below -10c very often can go for a whole winter with above freezing temps during the day and dropping just below freezing at night
But almost always windy and a lot of rain mostly being driven by the wind
Brian
it does not get below -10c very often can go for a whole winter with above freezing temps during the day and dropping just below freezing at night
But almost always windy and a lot of rain mostly being driven by the wind
Brian
Speaking from experience! The dealership had been putting Syn3 in my gear box since new ( 07' ). At 31k, Lost the bearings. All of them. I had put Royal Purple 70/140 in when it started getting loud. They warranteed it, ( extended warantee of course) no questions asked. Since the rebuild I dumped the "Syn3" and put Red Line V-Twin with shock proof in it. Huge difference! Dump the Harley products and go with the Spectro or Red Line yu won't be sorry.
D
dbmg
Guest
With the large touring crowd on this forum there is not alot of talk of transmission failure. With proper maintenance using Spectro or Redline products not the Harley oils and normal riding I find it hard to believe Harley could produce such a inferior product. These failures seem to be catastrophic as if there was no early warning. In all this discussion both good and bad no one has stated how these transmissions failed on these bikes other than bearing failure, or how they were maintained or ridden IE: speed shifting, drag racing, shifting with out clutch, down shifting aggressively, shifting very hard on up shift or riding with foot resting on shifter lever.It seems like this is more of isolated cases than the norm of 6 speed trans. This might clear up some of the confusion.
No such thing. Change the tranny fluid to one of the premium FULL synthetic 75W140 GL-5 gear lubes. Either Spectro Heavy Duty Platinum 6-speed Transmission Oil or Red Line Heavy ShockProof®.
TQ
BUBBIE
Well-Known Member
On MY 2000 FXDS and 2 belts during My riding it (117,000 miles)... When the bike was New,,, a SQUEAK was there and Feeling the belt tension said WHY,,,,, TOO TIGHT...
I would ""Loosen the belt"" to MY (Hooples) specs. and it would go away.... After it came back from the HD shop (new rear tire),,,, TOO Tight again....Squeak again... When adjusted to MY tightness, It would Not make the noise... When my bike came in after a long ride, I could Move the belt Just a Little but IT was Not tight like HD sets it....
I do Adjust my Own belts Looser on my bikes a lot LOOSER than the HD method calls for...
The FXDS(gone) and the 06 Sporty R. and now the 09 FLHR belts and BEARINGS thank me for it..
Jack mentioned another GOOD point on the primary chain too tight being a culprit for Bearing damage also.
signed....BUBBIE
I would ""Loosen the belt"" to MY (Hooples) specs. and it would go away.... After it came back from the HD shop (new rear tire),,,, TOO Tight again....Squeak again... When adjusted to MY tightness, It would Not make the noise... When my bike came in after a long ride, I could Move the belt Just a Little but IT was Not tight like HD sets it....
I do Adjust my Own belts Looser on my bikes a lot LOOSER than the HD method calls for...
The FXDS(gone) and the 06 Sporty R. and now the 09 FLHR belts and BEARINGS thank me for it..
Jack mentioned another GOOD point on the primary chain too tight being a culprit for Bearing damage also.
signed....BUBBIE
Porter
Junior Member
+! on using a good oil in the transmisison like Royal Purple, Spectro (my choice) etc... I have noted the significant reduction in metal on the magnetic plug. In the last 3 transmision changes I have had NONE on the plug. When I got the bike (used) I switched to HD Syn3 until I got educated at HDT. By that time I had 4k from the original owner (probably never changed the oil) and 15k with Syn3 in all the holes. I followed a 3k change routine. I have been with full synthetic in all holes since 19K and now have 37k on the odometer. From the data with the synthetic oils and what my eyes tell me in looking at the old fluids vs the new ones: synthetic is better in just about everyway except price...but you get what you pay for.
Am I doomed to an early transmision grave becuse of syn 3 for 19K? Who knows. Maybe I had a poorly manufactured transmission and it will blow up at 42K no matter what oil I use. Maybe my riding style (lots of flat highway) and better synthetic fluids will save me. Maybe not. Be reasonable and by all means go riding instead of worrying. I may not be able to afford a new tranny if it is not under warranty, but I will be able to say I road it till it blew up!
Speaking on belts and bearing wear:
I don't know if the suggested spec is too tight or not, but I agree that there is such a thing as "too tight". Now, I am no engineere, but we use toothed belts like this to drive a 2 story tall centrifuge. The belts have metal wire in them to keep them from stretching under load. I think the drive belts probably have metal wire in them as well, but I don't know for sure. We have to keep high tension on the centrifuge belts because when loads change there is an increase in tension on one side of the belt due to the teeth (like a chain on your bike, only the top of the chain has tension when you stomp on the pedals). V-belts can slide a bit in the groove and even this load out a bit. What we found is that if the belt is too loose, you can have a tooth skip a little from the stretch that occurs. Even thought there is metal wire, it still stretches a little. This wears the loaded edge of the sprocket tooth, which then adds more slop to the whole system and then there is a cyclical worsening of the whole situation.
So, to me if you ride and shift easy (I don't know how to define one rider vs. another) you should be able to technically increase the life of your bearings by reducing the tension load on them and if you shift easy and are easy on the throttle, it shouldn't really matter. But, that's alot to ask, since I love to wind it up a bit every once in a while.
Again, this is just my thinking. I don't really see transmissions or bearings blowing up all over the road or internet. While I would love for my UC to last for ever, I also want to have some fun and enjoy it.
To me there are usually too many variables to know true cause and effect for most failures. The fact that most riders say they ride "normal" is a big variable. Only a few say the ride hard.
Can't remember if it was Bubbie or Hoople that said to basically listen and watch and see what happen as more long term data and experince comes in. I think that is good advice.
And as usual, (I think) Smitty hit the nail on the head!
Am I doomed to an early transmision grave becuse of syn 3 for 19K? Who knows. Maybe I had a poorly manufactured transmission and it will blow up at 42K no matter what oil I use. Maybe my riding style (lots of flat highway) and better synthetic fluids will save me. Maybe not. Be reasonable and by all means go riding instead of worrying. I may not be able to afford a new tranny if it is not under warranty, but I will be able to say I road it till it blew up!
Speaking on belts and bearing wear:
I don't know if the suggested spec is too tight or not, but I agree that there is such a thing as "too tight". Now, I am no engineere, but we use toothed belts like this to drive a 2 story tall centrifuge. The belts have metal wire in them to keep them from stretching under load. I think the drive belts probably have metal wire in them as well, but I don't know for sure. We have to keep high tension on the centrifuge belts because when loads change there is an increase in tension on one side of the belt due to the teeth (like a chain on your bike, only the top of the chain has tension when you stomp on the pedals). V-belts can slide a bit in the groove and even this load out a bit. What we found is that if the belt is too loose, you can have a tooth skip a little from the stretch that occurs. Even thought there is metal wire, it still stretches a little. This wears the loaded edge of the sprocket tooth, which then adds more slop to the whole system and then there is a cyclical worsening of the whole situation.
So, to me if you ride and shift easy (I don't know how to define one rider vs. another) you should be able to technically increase the life of your bearings by reducing the tension load on them and if you shift easy and are easy on the throttle, it shouldn't really matter. But, that's alot to ask, since I love to wind it up a bit every once in a while.
Again, this is just my thinking. I don't really see transmissions or bearings blowing up all over the road or internet. While I would love for my UC to last for ever, I also want to have some fun and enjoy it.
To me there are usually too many variables to know true cause and effect for most failures. The fact that most riders say they ride "normal" is a big variable. Only a few say the ride hard.
Can't remember if it was Bubbie or Hoople that said to basically listen and watch and see what happen as more long term data and experince comes in. I think that is good advice.
And as usual, (I think) Smitty hit the nail on the head!