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Upper heim joint

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Old May 26, 2018 | 07:13 PM
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Default Upper heim joint

Riding yesterday evening on I-75 doing about 80mph I experienced the worst fear inducing death wobble of my life. I pulled off and nursed it home on the back roads but everytime I got above 55-60 I could feel it coming back.

When I got home I started looking around and found that the bolt that secures the heim joint to the frame was missing. No wonder I could barely keep it steady! I put a new bolt in it and its now good to go, but my question is, is this a sign of wear/ excessive vibration in the mounts? Or is this just another bolt lost to the Harley rattle?
 
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Old May 26, 2018 | 09:42 PM
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I would like say it’s just another bolt due to it being a Harley, but that bolt should never have come loose in the first place....I would go over the bike to make sure you don’t loose something else
 
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Old May 27, 2018 | 12:28 AM
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Not sure which one you lost but the frame side (right) has a large spacer that's very important. If you lost that bolt, you likely lost the spacer, too.

Number 11

 

Last edited by cggorman; May 27, 2018 at 12:29 AM.
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Old May 27, 2018 | 08:53 AM
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Originally Posted by cggorman
Not sure which one you lost but the frame side (right) has a large spacer that's very important. If you lost that bolt, you likely lost the spacer, too.

Number 11


Yeah man. I found 2 of these in a box of parts in my garage. It worked almost perfectly.
 
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Old May 27, 2018 | 09:58 AM
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Originally Posted by brownie4412
Riding yesterday evening on I-75 doing about 80mph I experienced the worst fear inducing death wobble of my life. I pulled off and nursed it home on the back roads but everytime I got above 55-60 I could feel it coming back.

When I got home I started looking around and found that the bolt that secures the heim joint to the frame was missing. No wonder I could barely keep it steady! I put a new bolt in it and its now good to go, but my question is, is this a sign of wear/ excessive vibration in the mounts? Or is this just another bolt lost to the Harley rattle?
Interesting you lost the top stabilizer link bolt. When it comes to the top stabilizer link and engine mounts the Dyna is a unique creature and with the Dyna you have to think in different terms. The front wheel, forks, fuel tank, and frame are the rolling chassis; the engine, primary, transmission, exhaust, rear fork, and rear wheel are riding on the engine isolators/mounts with a top stabilizer. Acceleration and braking forces are trying to push and pull the engine/primary/transmission/rear assembly in the frame through the mounts and engine torque tries to pitch it up and down at the front. The rear shocks exert a constant rearward pull on the mounts due to their angle; basically, the engine mounts are a knife edge and rely 100% on the top stabilizer for vertical alignment. The vehicle/engine alignment is critical on the Dyna and vertical alignment as to be exact.

You should be certain that you're using the correct link bolt and spacer and that you verify your vertical alignment is a true 0.00; ain't no one got time for a 'death wobble'
 
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Old May 29, 2018 | 12:06 PM
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Originally Posted by TinCupChalice
Interesting you lost the top stabilizer link bolt. When it comes to the top stabilizer link and engine mounts the Dyna is a unique creature and with the Dyna you have to think in different terms. The front wheel, forks, fuel tank, and frame are the rolling chassis; the engine, primary, transmission, exhaust, rear fork, and rear wheel are riding on the engine isolators/mounts with a top stabilizer. Acceleration and braking forces are trying to push and pull the engine/primary/transmission/rear assembly in the frame through the mounts and engine torque tries to pitch it up and down at the front. The rear shocks exert a constant rearward pull on the mounts due to their angle; basically, the engine mounts are a knife edge and rely 100% on the top stabilizer for vertical alignment. The vehicle/engine alignment is critical on the Dyna and vertical alignment as to be exact.

You should be certain that you're using the correct link bolt and spacer and that you verify your vertical alignment is a true 0.00; ain't no one got time for a 'death wobble'
I rode for a solid 3 hours later that day and it was rock solid the entire time. The spacer i found and used literally couldn't have filled the void any better. I have an identical set to what i used, when i get time i'll compare the dimensions to the actual bolt and spacer used from the factory and if it's way off i'll replace it. But until then the adjustment on the heim joint hasn't changed, so i'm gonna roll with it.
 
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