I finally found out why my 07 Street Glide has sounded like a bucket of bolts since the day it was new. I took the bike to the local HD dealer several times and they said the noise was normal and I should just keep riding it. After trying unsuccessfully to get them to pull the primary and compensator to check the specifications on the crank, I finally took the bike to a local independent HD mechanic. He found that the runout on the crank is .0075” which is within the very liberal HD specification of .010” but the endplay is .034” which is more than three times the HD specification of .010”. I took the bike back to the local HD dealer this morning and am now waiting to find out what HD will do to fix this problem. I can’t believe that over 5,000 miles with this much slop in the crank has not caused some premature wear and likely done some damage to other internal components. I’m just waiting to hear the next song and dance routine from HD. Any comments would be appreciated.

 

Well they should do a lower end rebuild with a new crank and all new associated thrust washers/bearings etc. With that runout you may have a wear issue with the case as well. I think that much endplay istoo much to shim. But they may try to sell you that kind of fix.(don't accept it.) Was it knocking everytime you let out the clutch? I would bitch to the MoCo direct for a new motor and see what they say. How many miles do you have on?

 

I've got about 5,300 miles on the bike. I agree with everything you said about the bottom end and cases but I'm also concerned with that much endplay the connecting rods, wrist pins, and pistons have seen some nasty side loads they were never designed to withstand. It couldhave also caused some abnormal wear to the cylinder bore, cam plate, oil pump and anything else associated with the crank. This thing makes all kinds of strange noises and yes it knocks particularly when its hot. The oil pressure also drops to about5 psi when hot and idling. I told the dealer I wanted a new motor, so we'll see how that goes.

 

The local HD dealer removed the primary and said everything was within spec. They said you can’t check the endplay in the crank with the compensator removed. I looked at my service manual and really couldn’t find any procedure for checking or setting the endplay. The exploded view of the sprocket shaft bearing assembly shows 2 thrust washers (one on either side of the bearing inner race) between the flywheel assembly and the compensator but provides no explanation of how to set or check the endplay. As I said before, with the compensator removed the endplay is 34”. We’re going to re-check it again with the compensator installed; it should be 10” or less. The Dealer also said you can’t check runout in the crank unless it is removed and put in a jig. I believe that is BS because I’ve read other threads that state otherwise and the process they used sounds reasonable. The dealer did say the compensator was bad (no specific details) and they replaced it. That did eliminate the knocking, rattling, and SOME of the vibration (particularly when hot) and the loud hammering when started. It did absolutely nothing to quite or eliminate the whining noise in the primary (hot or cold) that is most noticeable on deceleration. I’ve ridden several other 96” A & B motor bikes and mine is the only one that makes this noise. The dealer said to ride it, see what I think, and bring it back if I’m not satisfied. I’m still not satisfied, so I’m going to take it back later this week and see what happens. Again, any comments regarding the whining noise in the primary would be appreciated. [/b]

 

I just returned from a 100 plus mile ride, about 83 degrees, two-up, and need to change some of what I said in my last posting. Replacing the compensator reduced the loud hammering when the bike is started (it doesn't sound like you're hitting the primary with a hammer anymore) but it didn't reduce theknocking, rattling, vibration, and whining noise in the primary at all. So we've made minimal progess but this thing still sounds like a can full of rocks.

 

Get ahold of Rbabos on here as he shimmed his compensator as got the noise to stop. The 07 motor has such a long stroke that the compensator that HD is using works fine on the TC88 but sucks on the 96.

 

Thanks for the suggestion; I copied all the information from that posting several months ago. Sounds like a fairly simple fix for a very annoying problem. I hesitate to make any modifications to the compensator until I get the other problem(s) fixed. I’m not just whining about the deceleration whining coming from the primary, several other people have ridden my bike and agree the noise is excessive. I’ve also ridden several other 96” A & B motor bikes and have heard very little or in most cases no whining coming from the primary area. Mine is really loud and really annoying, you can easily hear the noise when riding next to my bike. I'm headed over the local HD dealer to discuss this issue but so far I can't get them to make any commentsregarding the whining noise. Do you have any suggestions or thoughts about potential causes?

 

Finally my problem is solved. I’ve had my bike at the local HD dealership three times this summer trying to fix the noise and vibration problem in the driveline. The new service manger at the local HD dealership agreed there was a problem and he got HD to agree to fix it under warranty. However, HD technical had to orchestrate this process one step at a time. They replaced the clutch assembly bearing and that didn’t correct the problem, then they replaced the main drive shaft bearing and that still didn’t fix the problem. I had asked them to replace the primary chain and tensioner earlier this summer but for some reason HD technical didn’t think that was the problem and wouldn’t agree to pay for it under warranty. After all else had failed and before they went into the motor the service manager agreed to replace the primary chain and tensioner but HD technical said if it didn’t solve the problem they still wouldn’t cover it under warranty. I got the bike back from the local dealer today with a new primary chain and tensioner and the problem is finally solved. The bike has had this problem since it was new and finally no more noise or vibration. For the first time in two years, the bike is a real pleasure to ride.

 

Great example of how poor the service is at most dealerships! Glad you finally got it fixed!

 

I've often wondered how all these links in a chain would always stack up to create uniform contact going over the sprockets. It's a tall order when you think about it. Most are close enough but it would seem that in your case the meshing wasn't great. Good thing to know about this as a possible noise maker. As for the comp, the rotor and extension shaft need to be in place to control end play. I recently cornered a very qualified tech about the comp and he hates it as much as I do. He recently got a chance look over the new heavy duty SE unit and according to him it has all needed features that are not in the stock 07-08 units. Since the majority of the stock comps work reasonably well no changes will likely take place, but the HD SE will be on mine if the stock ever craps out. So far it's been behaving itself.
Ron