Hello to you all,

After the front engine mount had collapsed on my 2006 FXDL last year, I replaced it with a mount called Drag, (bought on Ebay). It works pretty fine, but I have a bit harsh vibrations around 2000 rpm, which were not there before.

I now wonder if this is due to the mount being somewhat harder than the OEM mount, or if it is due to some other reason. (I can mention I most probably have the infamous inner primary bearing problem. I intend to deal with this later, though.)

Anyway I would be glad to get some feedback on this matter. Has anyone of you had the Drag-mount installed and then experienced increased vibrations on your Dyna?

I have performed all the alignment actions suggested by the manual, and I suspect that the stiffness of the Drag-mount is the culprit.

Any shared experience or advice is much appreciated.

Best Regards
Oak Mountain Rider

 

Would suggest checking for loose nuts, bolts, exhaust rubbing the frame heat shields loose or contact with frame. It could be something simple like that.

Do the free and easy things first.

 

Thanks a lot for the advice. I was going over screws and bolts by hand a few days ago and found that the two bolts holding the exhaust system to the engine actually were loose. Though the vibrating sound might have become a bit less after tightening these bolts, I still feel and hear the vibration, especially at decceleration passing through the 2000 rpm area. Perhaps the exhaust system with its heat shields still is the source of the vibration, regarding that most if its screws are rusty...

 

An aftermarket exhaust system will have a different weight and can create an harmonic unbalance. Not much you can do about that. If the only vibration you're now getting is decel from 2000 rpm and below, don't worry about it. It's too low of the rpm range to ride in anyway.

 

I believe Drag Specialties makes two types of Dyna front mounts, one that's basically the OEM design, and one that's similar to an FXR mount with a stabilizer that bolts to the frame. I'm assuming you have the OEM style. DS may use a different material compound, which may be what you're feeling. If so, there may not be much to do about it (you may be feeling an engine vibration that was always there, but was more isolated by a softer material. Mine has always vibrated from 1900-2100 rpm). However, there are lots of things you should check. If the original mount was really in bad shape, replacing it has now moved the drivetrain around a bit. It's very possible that something is now making unwanted contact somewhere that hadn't been before... A very common culprit is the jiffy stand... If the engine has moved a little, the pin holding the stand may be making contact with the case in certain circumstances (sometimes you can just flip it around the other way), transferring engine vibration into the frame. Look carefully under there at the relationship between the jiffy stand components, the frame cross member, and the lower engine cases. Also look carefully at your exhaust... Sometimes the front pipe can gently rub against the frame downtube. Basically, look at anything that would move (even slightly) if the engine were "relocated" a little and check for possible interference. If you have the OEM style mount, there's also an HD Service Bulletin about "shimming" the mount to reduce vibration (I don't have a copy of it, but I've seen it posted a bunch of times). It also could be possible that the drivetrain needs to be aligned, although I think that's more likely to cause handling weirdness than vibration...

 

Thanks Sir for your answer.

I have aligned everything I could from the manual, including the rear tire to the swingarm and the rear disc to the frame. I have also loosened the front and rear mounts, run the engine for 30 seconds and retightened the bolts. These actions greatly have improved handling and I am very satisfied aboiut that.. However I still have this slight vibration.

Anyway, I will follow your advice, looking at the jiffy and the exhaust again. If not this will help I guess it is the drag mount which is a bit hard, as you suggest. Perhaps it is made for heavier engines then my TC88.

 

It could just be normal V-twin vibration your feeling. Personally I would never use a stock mount again. I think it’s a design flaw. I am running the predator mount up front and have the new mesh mount on order for the rear.

I also plan plan on replacing both mounts on my Switchback with the mesh mounts...stock mounts are just not that good.

your on the right track with alignment of the power train, something most forget to do when changing mounts....F86 did a great write up on how to do it....it’s the method I use...but in the end these things do vibrate so it might not be anything you can do...

 

[QUOTE=crusader1xxx;18232753]It could just be normal V-twin vibration your feeling. Personally I would never use a stock mount again. I think it’s a design flaw. I am running the predator mount up front and have the new mesh mount on order for the rear.

I also plan plan on replacing both mounts on my Switchback with the mesh mounts...stock mounts are just not that good.

your on the right track with alignment of the power train, something most forget to do when changing mounts....F86 did a great write up on how to do it....it’s the method I use...but in the end these things do vibrate so
it might not be anything you can do...[QUOTE]

Thank you for the answer. I am glad you mentioned the mesh mounts. They are very interesting and I wonder if they could make the ride smoother. The thing is I like Dyna a lot, I also like the vibration - but only the good ones. I had a FXD 2000 before, which I bought new. I rode it for 3-4 years and about 20.000 miles. This bike had no vibrations of the negative type at all, as far as I can remember. Maybe it was because it was a new bike and that everything was aligned and also that the front mount was not so hard...

I had no vibration issues or noices on this bike either, (except for a chunk sound passing deep holes). Last spring dealer changed tires. And then I got the bike back with both disturbing vibration and noice from primary. I went back to the dealer who fixed the sound by adjusting the transmission chain. But after a while the primary noice returned somewhat and then also the vibration became terrible. Contacting the dealer they said Dyna is like that, but I insisted something is wrong and had them have a look, whereupon they discovered the front mount had sacked. They tightened it to higher torque telling me they had no mount but could order.

These guys are for the rich. So I ordered a new mount on Ebay and installed myself. Then I did the aligning procedure, discovering how everything was misaligned.

 

I too have been fighting excessive vibration that wasn't there when I bought the bike. Found out the crank was .019 out of round. Replaced the crank assy, but still puts my hands and feet to sleep. One inherent design flaw is the exhaust mount. It bolts to the rear of the engine and most of the bounce is at the front of the engine, which is a conflict of energy.

 

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I guess the exhaust system can be a culprit as well. I plan to replace screws, rubber mount and retorque.