Hey all, I have been reading countless threads about crankshaft runout issues affecting the '07 and '08 motors. As far as I can tell it is NOT build date specific and is more to do with tolerances during assembly and that the crankshaft is not up to the job and a lot of people are putting the S&S crankshaft in to solve the issue.

My question is, have HD made any changes from '08 to '09 to address this problem. Seems to me like waaaay to many people having motors worked on or replaced.

Thanks.

 

Same parts, but engine management helps on 08-09. The electronic throttle won't open all the way at low rpm and won't close all the way on hard decell which helps not to shock the crank. Not a cure for bad parts though. Mike

 

How hard is it to swap the cranks?

 

Not hard, just finished a 103 motor with roller bearings. If converting to timken its a little tougher. Just more work.

And as for the cranks, i dont think i would call it an empidemic, but something to look out for when opening a cam chest. I have measured about a dozen or so this year and so far only 2 failed. It also depends on what you call a bad crank. Dealer say .012, i wont even think about anything over .006 or so, you will just have problems.

 

My motor runs PERFECTLY. 09 96ci. Now have I snatched it apart and put a micrometer on every part to ensure that it is perfect? NO That starts to become "blueprinting" at some point. Shoot, all I ever owned before this one was pre 1990 model HDs. They were complete junk compared to these new babies. Mine ran so surprisingly well that when it came time for the 1000 mile service, I was apprehensive that just servicing it might wake up the gremlins. But no problems so far. Runs like a singer sewing machine. I do not wrench on these things everyday but from what I understand any problems are cropping up with the larger cid builds. If you are going to do one of those, do it yourself so you can really mic everything. I would be afraid to let a dealer just bolt on a bunch of hardware unless I knew them well enough to know they were going to do it like I would if I was doing it.

 

Cranks scissoring is not unheard of but not something I would be concerned about on a stock bike, or one built to 103/107 for that matter. It is an issue , but not one of epidemic proportions.

As others have said, if you open up the cam chest, take a runout reading and if in the .000 to .003 range you are golden, higher than that even may be alright but then becomes something to watch as the miles add up. I would not open up the camchest just to take the runout readings unless there was a reason tosuch as bad vibration, loss of oil pressure, etc.

It is not worth the added expense to split cases and have crankwork done unless you are getting into the areas of 125+tq IMO. I do know of some 113 and 117 engines running around with stock cranks without issues to this point. How they will hold up long term is an unanswered question.

 

This maybe true, but sit back and think about that for a moment. What a stupid way to address a major design flaw. What next, a stop at half throttle to not be able to use what hp it has? See my sig and you will understand my bitterness.
Ron

 

Thanks Dalton. For those of us who only do around 5K miles per year, do you think it is worth the initial expense to check the runout, and if need be replace the crankshaft with a better one (S&S??) just for longterm peace of mind?

I dont know the cost of the above suggestion, but surely it would be cheaper than major engine repairs due to scissored crankshaft 6 mnonths after the warranty period?

Thanks for your advice.

 

Yeah, I am with you on that one, I feel your pain.

 

I really see no rason for someone to tear into an engine to check runout unles there is something telling you that you should. Ron has vibration and has for some time, therefore he went in and checked and found excesive runout.

If it runs good, does shake the fillings out of your back teeth and has good oil pressure, in all likelihood, everything is fine. The cranks are a weak point but are they failing in huge numbers, no. But also guys that only ride 5k a year or a lot less may ride for many years prior to having a problem. Kinda like the cam chain tensioners in pre 06 bikes, some wore out at 25k, some at 50 k and some still going strong at almost 100k. No rhyme or reason, just is.