Hi,

Need some advice please.

I have a 2012 Ultra Classic with just 13k miles from new. Just removed the back wheel to have a replacement tyre fitted (first one) and the rear drive pulley is totally destroyed. Big wear marks in the bottoms of the teeth and the tops worn flat.

Not to worry I thought still plenty of warrenty left on the bike and it has always been serviced at the dealers.

How wrong I was - an instant "its not covered" from Harley Davidson UK based on a photograph sent by the dealer.

On further checking the belt has chunks out of it and there also seems to wear on the gearbox pulley as well, but this is difficult to see without stripping down the primary transmission.

The service manual mentions a chrome coating on the surface of the teeth which seems to be missing from my pulley.

What do you guys think?

 

something had to get in there- I've got pulleys with over 80,000 miles on them, as do many other riders.

even with occasional gravel/dirt roads.

replacing that belt is expensive for labour.

if the dealer isn't interested in helping you out- I'd strongly suggest you take the bike to an independent shop

the outer, inner primary cases need to come off, also the clutch and compensating sprocket, ...and the swing arm too.

replace drive pulley too, whatever caused the damage, damaged it too.

the parts are probably going to be less than 1/3 of the repair cost.


I've never noticed any chrome plating on the pulley teeth, I know my 3 belt drive models don't have.
chrome plating would flake off and cut




Part 2: the prime reason for HD using the belt drive is for noise emissions.

consider a swap to a chain drive- if a chain wears the new one is threaded through...no £600 in labour ( or what ever they charge).
final gearing changes are easy to adjust up or down with sprocket selection

the chain needs to the lubed once in a while, no big deal

especially if the environment in which you ride would be hard on a belt ( gravel etc.)

Mike

 

I would raise holy hell with the dealer. There is no way that your pulley should go bad with 13K miles unless it was wrong to start with. Go in on a Saturday when they are busy & talk loudly so customers looking at the bikes hear you. As a last resort, tell them you are going to talk to a lawyer. Good luck

Toby

 

Sounds to me like sand or something similar is getting on the belt when the bike is parked and then when you ride the bike the grit is grinding the pulleys and belt into that condition. On numerous occasions. Do you work or park your bike where this can happen? I'm just spitballing.

 

Thanks guys!

I live in the UK - no gravel, sand or dirt roads! The bike only got used during the summer of 2013. Had a full service before the winter and only ridden 200 miles this year.

I am thinking the chrome plating that the service manual refers to was never put on the pulley. There are small areas on the edge of the teeth that are not worn but you can see its just soft alloy - no sign of any hard chrome surface.

You bet there will be some noise raised on Monday morning at the dealers

Cheers!

Steve

P.S. Will get some photos posted tomorrow

 

Well I would get all my service records together and go over them to see where they did those multi point inspections. I'm sure that they were supposed to check the drive belt and driven pulley for wear and damage and also check and set the drive belt tension. If they would have actually done those inspections that I'm pretty sure they are supposed to do during those recommended interval services, they would have seen the wear and/or lack of plating on the pulley before now.

 

Seems to me that it could have been an issue with belt tension (or lack thereof).

 

Harley Davidson UK refuses to replace under the warrenty. New one in the UK costs £300 - about $480.

Here is a picture of the old and new side by side - only 13k miles!

 

Hi Steve, I'm in UK too and spoke with an ex HD tech who said he'd seen quite a lot of this recently. He reckoned normal road muck was responsible...indeed my own showed signs of wear @ 14k miles. The chain conversion would be interesting to explore but I'm guessing difficult to locate this side of the pond, perhaps someone here stateside could recommend a supplier.

 

Drago's Bike Works has a chain drive kit that keeps the IDS intact on bike that came with it http://www.dragosbikeworks.com/Chain-Drives.html