Cliff Notes: Broken tooth in 3rd gear, out of warranty, requested goodwill assistance for expensive repair ($1876 full retail incl. labor and tax). Received free replacement gear pack after 1st replacement was defective. Eagles Nest Harley Davidson in Lathrop, CA deserves recognition for assisting me, and discounting their labor rate from $110hr to $75hr for my portion.

What: 2011 Street Glide 103, approximately 9500 miles with intake/tune/exhaust modifications only
Minor recommendation: With the bike on a lift, rotate the rear wheel to see if you hear a clicking noise in the transmission. If so, have it checked out.

How: Noticed a “tractor-like” knocking/rattling sound pulling from a stop. After making a call to Eagles Nest, I headed out…and tipped over. 1st gear was locked up. 3rd gear was way too noisy. I nursed the bike along the shoulder for 11 miles with my buddy riding behind me, both with hazards on, me in 2nd gear.

Dealer found the broken tooth, ordered a replacement gear pack. The 1st replacement also made noise, so a second pack was ordered as well as a new case just to be sure the gear pack wasn’t the problem.
Finally, after being in the shop for over a month, I pick it up tomorrow.

Conclusion: I recommend factory warranties, if out of warranty and low(er) miles, request goodwill assistance from the dealer to the factory.

 

Good write up. Good to know, and glad you were taken care of and getting back on the road. Even though it is out of warranty based on years, it is well under ridden for the miles. I know for a fact a certain metric bike manufacturer would not do this.

 

What is this "goodwill assistance" that you speak of? Like asking the dealer for charity?

 

+1 What the heck is Goodwill Assistance? Never heard of such a thing.

David

 

Harley gives Dealers a "holdback" off their invoices (typically 2%) to pay for prepping the bikes and to use for goodwill as they see fit.

 

Check some independent shops for a better price. For a job like that, you better choose someone that's very good. You don't want to go through this a second time. Maybe the dealer would match the indy price.

 

I was also told about this fund a few years ago. Sounds like it truly is up to the dealer to decide who receives assistance or Goodwill. I know of one person who had his motorcycle fixed out of warranty. He has all his maintenance done at the dealer which most likely helped him get his bike fixed I believe for free.


FYI... His next bike was purchased with a 7 year warranty. I also purchased the 7 year warranty with my TK. $1400 well spent as far as I concerned.

 

Dealers usually reserve goodwill for good customers. You can ask but don't expect it. Towards end of years funds may be used up also. Car business is same way. Sometimes factory will pay also. Mike

 

Had 2011 SG 13,000 miles and 2 months out of warranty and the dealer fixed the transmission, $1,700.00 worth and they were able to get HD to foot the bill.

 

The dealer agreed to cover the gear pack and then heard back that the factory was going to reimburse the dealer.

I requested "goodwill assistance" - a term used to appeal to the factory (or dealer) to cover a part that is technically out of warranty but also failed prematurely.

The fact that the 1st replacement gear pack was defective probably helped my case quite a bit.

So the $1876 was full retail for the parts & $110/hr labor. The dealer discounted the labor to $75/hr and the factory paid for the gear pack. About 7 hours of labor I'm told.

I priced the main components online, would have to wait for shipping them and would have saved about $350. It was a moot point since I was waiting so long for a fix & answer.

ooh two months! Nice. I was 1 years, 7 months so I figured paying 1/2 wasn't too bad.