Just read the article in American Iron about the 96" engine pinion shaft excessive end play. According to the article, some engine rebuilders have found excessive end play above the limit of .0001 of an inch. In some cases causing wear on the oil pump and other components within this area. Is this something I need to loose sleep over now since I have a 2007 96 cubic inch engine on my ride? I also read on another thread about a member who had to replace the crankshaft with only 30,000 miles on his 2007. Can someone explain to me whats going on with this issue?

 

guess what? if it ain't broke, it ain't broke.

that is unless this is just another troll to see how many experts jumps on this one.

 

I read the article in american iron, it was talking about the runout of the cranks, and how they are seeing more and more out of spec when doing performance builds. Excessive amounts would lead to vibrations etc beyond the norm, which go along with another member of this site's story. Dealer found a bad crank but wouldnt explain what it was, and he was complaining of bad vibes.

 

We had one case where the rear rod/wrist pin fit was very sloppy - would have been a difficult fix due to the way HD engineered the piston side of the rod (not square to allow replacement of the bushing). Made one heckuva racket - it was our demo - replacing the engine per HD recommendation.

 

One ten-thousandth of an inch excessive? That's one tight tolerance!

 

Tight is good!

 

My '07 shop manual says manufacturing tolerance for crankshaft runout is 0 - 3 mils and the service wear limit is 10 mils. If I were to inspect mine and discover it was 1/10 mil it would be a great day!

Forums such as this can be good and valuable for disseminating information. But, like health reference books, they can be dangerous. Spend much time looking through a health reference book and you can find you have symptoms for just about any ailment. Note how many people jumped on the "bad tranny" bandwagon...

 

I agree with you glens....some people may read too much into a problem.....I feel that if it's not broke....don't fix it. But when I read about this in a publication and then readabout it inforum threads, it makes me wonder if theirs something that needs attention. Ina recentthread, someone shared a list of changes for the 2008 models. One of the 2008 engine changes was crankshaft bearings. Made me wonder if this change was due to the runout issue, as was explained in the September issue ofAmerican Iron article. The article didn't touch on what caused the runout problem. If it came to upgrading the crankshaft bearings in order to prevent future damage to the components, I wonder if it would be cost effective to do it now rather than wait till more costly damage results. Especially if this could be considered a legitimate manufacturing defect. I for one would think an engine would be able to make it more than 30,000 miles before the crankshaft failed and would expect that if it won't, the manufacture would address this.I also would think the tolerances of the engine are more critical than the transmissionand would require immediate attention before effecting more costly repairs. This all could just be isolated cases and like the transmission problems, may not effect everyone. But does anyone really know this for sure?

 

I'm the member with the 30,000 mile 9 1/2 month old
2007 Ultra that the crank went out on. I traded it off
broken for a new 2007 Ultra because Harley took over
a month to put a new engine in it.

Lets make this crank deal real clear for everyone.

#1 My Ultra had a vibration in it from day one BUT"
heres the big BUT" it only vibrated in left hand turns
and only while leaned over on throttle. No HD tech
at 10 shops I took it to could feel what I was telling
them.
(or aleast they were not admiting to what they felt) [&o]

I've been a motorcycle tech (Japanese bikes) all my life
over 40 years, I factory road raced as well and was an
R&D rider because I have a great feel for what any
motorcycle I'm riding is doing (right or wrong) just so
you know a bit of my back round.

#2 My clutch lever would pop out to the mounting
pertch when I closed the throttle from day one also.
Again 10 HD dealers said it wasn't doing it! [&o]
Heres what it did: You eccelerate through a couple
of gears and leave your fingers lightly on the clutch
lever. While your under ecceleration (say in third gear)
and close the throttle quickly you could feel the clutch
lever pop out back to the pertch mount, if you did it hard
enough IE: (high load then snap the throttle closed)
you could hear it make a poping sound it hit the mounting
pertch so hard. (guess what?) my new Ultra does this also! [:'(]

#3 The day the Ultra started to vibrate badly as I was
coming out of a corner in the mountains it vibrated so
bad it would hurt your face,teeth,feet,knees,wrists,fingers
to the point it would make you cry (I kid you not) [:@][&o]
I took it straight to a HD dealer in the mountains close
by and 3 techs rode it and said it rode and ran like every
other 2007 Ultra! (yeah right") [:'(]

So Irodeit home 180 miles which hurt very,very badly
to do and when 5 techs rode it 4 said it was running
normal for a 2007 Ultra and (1) tech said it was vibrating
it's azz off so hard it hurt him! (BINGO) someone had a
little bit of feel for what a motorcycle was doing under
them besides me! That is when with many calls to Harley
they let him take it a part to look at it. The end play of the
crank was .060 and the max service limit was .010 with
normal being .03 to .06...... Harley said do not touch the
engine they were sending out a new one. They knew the
problem and said it was in the early production 07's
[b][i]which mine was a fir

 

I have not read any articles on 07 vibration problems until a friend who was tired of hearing me bitch about my bike pointed me to this forum today. I have been telling my dealer about vibration problems on my 2007 Road Glide starting at 1,000 miles. I have suspected the crank all a long. The dealer says it rides fine, and I am not surprised by this. Not because they don’t want to admit the problem, but because it is subtle and not readily apparent until you go on a long trip where the vibration takes it toll on your body. Very hard to feel the problem riding around the block. The build on my bike is Jan 1, 2007. I have taken 2 trips so far this summer. The maiden voyage was a solo 4,000 mile ride to the HOG Ridin’ the Rockies Rally in June. It was around the 2nd day out when my body starting talking to me. Sore Jaw, knees, ankles. All on the lower end vibration. The second ride was for around 2,400 miles. My wife got blisters on both her heals from just sitting on the back! At the end of day 2 pieces of skin the size of silver dollars fell out of her socks and we had to tape her up every morning. Her boots are well broken in and she has riddin in them for 7 years. I am at 7,700 on the odometer right now. The dealer has tried all the usual stuff: motor mounts, alignment, wheel balancing, etc. The vibration at all speeds but is especially noticeable cruising at around 3,000 RPM in 5th or 6th Gear. Headlamp vibration at al speeds to the point where I can’t ride behind a polished aluminum milk or gasoline truck. I put on a fantastic light show on the freeway from all the bouncing reflection off of the road signs when riding at night. I would rather ride a rigid to Sturgis than take this paint mixer to the grocery store. I’ve been riding Harleys for over 35 years. This bike vibrates way worse than my 63 panhead ever did. My last bike was a 2002 road Glide which I would trade straight across for this 07 in a heartbeat. As far as I am concerned Harley has taken the Glide out of the Road Glide. Some have suggested I try the new rubber mounted isolated rear sprocket which is now standard on all the 08 touring bikes? There is an engine vibration problem here for sure.