My wife and I went on a truly enjoyable group ride thru the backroads of OH on Sunday, and Monday I woke up in the bizarro world. My handlebars have the shakes, my wife says she wants me to buy her some adjustable passenger pegs, and to top it all off, this morning I discovered a small puddle of fluid under my bike. The handlebars and the adjustable pegs I can deal with, but an unexpected oil stain is enough to send me into a mild anxiety attack. I checked all the drain holes that I've messed with recently -- no problem there. Looks like I've got some fluid dripping on my drive belt from somewhere in the vicinity of the transmission sprocket. Is there some sort of seal or bearing that is the likely culprit? Could this maybe be connected to the unusual primary/clutch noises I've been noticing for the past 1,000 miles or so? And if it is a mainshaft bearing/seal or an inner primary bearing or whatever, is it safe to ride about 7 miles to my indy?
2009 Ultra Classic, 17,000 miles, Stage1 A/C, FuelMoto Dyno-tuned slip-ons, Harley download.

 

Leaky shock?

 

+1 leaky shock, buddy of mine found puddle of oil under his, pulled of side bags and found shocks leaking.

 

Nope. First thing I checked. Had a leaky shock on my 01 FLHT so I started looking there. If it IS a leaky shock, it would have to somehow shoot fluid forward about 18" onto the transmission sprocket without hitting anything else.

 

Probably Inner primary bearing and seal. Seal out because bearing has worn and is causing the noise. If not that the mainshaft seal coming from transmission leaking. Usually bad bearing is causing this to leak. Seals don't make noises. Good luck on finding the bearing and race for inner primary bearing. They are specific to HD and HD has them on back order with no ideas when they will be in. If it was shock leaking it wouldn't be coming from front pulley area.

 

Sounds like the transmission shift lever shaft seal is leaking.

Look at #35 on the diagram in this link

Unfortunately gotta pull the outer and inner primary to get to it.

Check your trans fluid level and primary fluid lever before riding it again.


Kevin

 

Yes it is safe to drive it 7 miles. A lot more would be fine also. If it is the shifter shaft or main shaft seal, then have them do all the seal in that vicinity while the primary is off.

Adam