After 100 mi ride on 09 TG with 12,000 miles, starting out from a stop about a block from home, loud clanking noise coming from tranny area. Limped home. Had bike towed to dealer. Seems compensator bolt or nut had worked loose. Dealer says has seen this before on 2 wheel bikes also. He said they applied loctite and a lock washer, and should have no problems. I am NOT a mechanic. I had the 30t sprocket installed a month prior, and thought that might have been the problem area, but dealer showed me that compensator bolt is in front of tranny area, and 30t sprocket is in rear portion.
No parts were replaced. The noise sounded like it could have damaged parts. Luckily this happened close to home. Would have been nasty if on a trip or on the freeway. Thank God I had extended warranty that covered everything. Don't know what it would have cost. Dealer never gives me any paperwork after warranty repairs.
First Harley for me, and I continue to be disappointed with the quality of the factory product. BUT THE DAMN THING LOOKS SOOO GOOD!!!!
First warranty service was to tighten nut that fastens triple tree to the frame. The symptom was a clunking in the front end while braking or closing the throttle.This was also fixed with loctite and a lock washer.
How do these bikes leave the factory in this condition???
Sorry for the long story, but I just needed to vent...and wanted to inform everyone of things to be aware of...
Anyway, just got back from an 840 mile trip and washed her. She ran well, and SHE LOOKS SOOO GOOD!


Triguy
Pasadena, CA
Black 09 TG

 

Hmmm, but doesn't the entire primary section have to be removed in order to get at the drive pulley, including compensator? M3, Wiz, can you jump in on this and correct me if I'm wrong?
Triguy, I wonder if the dealer is jerking your chain and the tech didn't do the job right!

 

To tighen the compensator nut you have to remove the outer primary cover place the wedge bar that goes between the teeth of the compesator sprocket and clutch hub sprocket to re-tighen.

To replace a weak stock compensator with a Screamin Eagle compensator you will have to remove the primary chain drive, clutch hub and the inner primary to install the new SE compensator as per the instructions.

Some guys have done the install by grinding the inner primary down to give the needed clearance to install the new rotor that goes over the stator but Im not a fan of that idea.

If the your needing to upgrade to the heavy duty SE compensator make sure to have the inner primary bearing replaced while its apart. I read few threads where this bearing is failing and it would be prudent to install a new bearing seal while you have the inner primary off

Heres the link to the PDF file for installation >>> http://www.howtopdf.com/?rsArBQV2

 

To tighen the compensator nut you have to remove the outer primary cover place the wedge bar that goes between the teeth of the compesator sprocket and clutch hub sprocket to re-tighen.

To replace a weak stock compensator with a Screamin Eagle compensator you will have to remove the primary chain drive, clutch hub and the inner primary to install the new SE compensator as per the instructions.

Some guys have done the install by grinding the inner primary down to give the needed clearance to install the new rotor that goes over the stator but Im not a fan of that idea.

If the your needing to upgrade to the heavy duty SE compensator make sure to have the inner primary bearing replaced while its apart. I read few threads where this bearing is failing and it would be prudent to install a new bearing seal while you have the inner primary off

Heres the link to the PDF file for installation >>> http://www.howtopdf.com/?rsArBQV2

 

I don't think your bike left the factory with that problem. I think it was created when they did the 30T change.

 

To change the final drive pulley, I'm under the impression the entire primary has to be removed too.

The dealership that did the job did not reassemble the compensator portion correctly a month earlier!

Odds are the outer primary has a worn spot inside where the compensator bolt was rubbing and stopped it from falling completely off. Hopefully they at least drained the primary as much as possible and replaced the fluid with new to remove the debris.

BTW ... I'd blame them for the additional down time, and causing unusual damage by not putting loctite on the assembly when (if) they torqued it while reassembling.

Your comment that you do not receive copies of warrentee repairs is just WRONG. You need a "repair record" which would include all repairs. It sounds shady to me to do work and not give you any receipt for what they did. These are the documents you need to show you have kept up with recalls / warrentee repairs, and have proof, in writing, that they had made repairs should any conflict come up down the road related to this work .... Like almost blowing up your primary from a loose compensator!

 

your dealer did it when they changed you to the 30t sprocket. the compenator has to come off.

this is not a factory problem this is a piece of crap dealer issue. Which is the main thing ruining HD's rep is their dealer network problems

 

One chant that comes to mind about your dealer... Lier Lier pants on fire. If you would like to see what they are supposed to do when they change a transmission sprocket you can read this thread
https://www.hdforums.com/forum/tri-g...ge-begins.html

One thing I'll bet is the dealer didn't replace the compensator bolt like the service manual says to, there are folks who have reused the bolt by applying red locktite and have had no problems. Myself if they say to replace it I replace it, also if they did not prep the threads in the end of the crankshaft the thread locker will not hold. Your problem wasn't Harley Davidsons doing, it was sloppy workmanship by the technician who did your sprocket change.

 

Forgot to mention that when 30t sprocket was originally installed, I picked up the bike and it had a loud whine coming from the trans, so I rode right back, and the tech heard it and said it sounded like primary, but said it should go away in a day or two since there is some self-adjusting of the chain that can happen.
Whine did not go away, so I took it in after 2 weeks and only around a hundred miles, and after 3 hours, tech said he just had to move the chain one space, and that solved the problem, and the whine was gone.
Then it was 2 1/2 weeks after the 2nd visit, and maybe a couple of hundred miles, when the loud clanking noise started and I had it towed in. That's when they said the compensator bolt worked itself loose.
I was charged for "1 screw, hex flange" #3368, for the original 30t install, so I hope they did at least use it.
So, if I understand correctly, when the svc mgr told me that 30t job had nothing to do with the bolt coming loose, he was feeding me a lot of bull, he even showed me the diagram of the trans, and said the 30t had nothing to do with the primary area, and that it was limited to the sprocket area where the clutch is. After listening to you folks, it seems my second trip to get an adjustment was indeed regarding the primary chain tension, which is affected by the compensator???
So now how can I trust these guys. Have to find new mechanic. Can you go to ANY dealer for warranty repairs, and not just the selling dealer??
I'm really ticked by all of this and plan to visit the dealer to get a printout of what they did when they firmed up the compensator bolt.
Thanks to all for your expertise and info....You guys are really helpful!!!

 

As far as the warranty, yes any HD dealership will preform warranty work. I bought my TG in Paris TX, I live in Kentucky...my local dealership in Louisville handles all the service and warranty...

Maybe another talk with the service manager, ask to see the service manual and have him show you the procedure for remove and replace the 30T drive sprocket. That will advise the HD tech to remove the primary chain....duh!
Right there will show that the R&R of the sprocket required the removal of the primary chain and sprocket.....