countryroads
Member
I took delivery on a new 2011 Heritage Softail a week ago. On the ride home from the dealership, there was more noise coming from the bike than I had ever heard coming out of my 2009 ElectraGlide. Not having any experience with the idiosyncrasies of the Softail, I chalked it up to breaking-in noises.
The noise is like a hammer hitting an anvil. It is most pronounced when in 5th gear at 40 mph, while neither accelerating nor decelerating, just kind of easing along. The noise almost disappears while running in 6th gear. You can hear it in all three of the higher gears, but 5th gear is the worst.
After 200 miles with no relief from the noise, I took it back to the dealer and had a mechanic take it for a ride. I told him when the hammering was most evident in order that he could pay particular attention then. Unfortunately he came out to the bike with a full face helmet on, so he probably couldn't hear anything except his own breathing. He came back and reported that there was nothing wrong except that it wasn't completely broken in.
Today I went for a ride with the HOG group, and a couple of the guys rode the bike and reported that the noise was impossible to miss. They each had a different opinion about the source. One said that the drive belt was too tight, one said that the primary chain was too loose, and one thought that the clutch was chattering.
Have any of you here had any experience with this problem? I would appreciate any of your thoughts on the subject. It will give me some additional insight for when I take it in for the 1,000 mile maintenance, which will be due sometime in the coming week.
Thanks in advance, Mike in WV
The noise is like a hammer hitting an anvil. It is most pronounced when in 5th gear at 40 mph, while neither accelerating nor decelerating, just kind of easing along. The noise almost disappears while running in 6th gear. You can hear it in all three of the higher gears, but 5th gear is the worst.
After 200 miles with no relief from the noise, I took it back to the dealer and had a mechanic take it for a ride. I told him when the hammering was most evident in order that he could pay particular attention then. Unfortunately he came out to the bike with a full face helmet on, so he probably couldn't hear anything except his own breathing. He came back and reported that there was nothing wrong except that it wasn't completely broken in.
Today I went for a ride with the HOG group, and a couple of the guys rode the bike and reported that the noise was impossible to miss. They each had a different opinion about the source. One said that the drive belt was too tight, one said that the primary chain was too loose, and one thought that the clutch was chattering.
Have any of you here had any experience with this problem? I would appreciate any of your thoughts on the subject. It will give me some additional insight for when I take it in for the 1,000 mile maintenance, which will be due sometime in the coming week.
Thanks in advance, Mike in WV
