Hehe yeah, I understand what you’re saying. Both are tight. Only sputhe stabilizers, shocks and top link is off. The whole bike looks very straight where it stands compared to it before I started. Going out to get a new link

 

That tells me that something ain't right! And, finding a link that fits isn't going to correct it.

 

Hmm right? I checked the swing arm for movement also, and it seemed fine. Both engine mount are new and was installed together with sputhe stabilizers.

edit:
The link was set 1 180 degrees from end point, it could go further in. Was rusty and was hard to
turn all the way in.

 

I was asking 4 shops around town and none had heim joints. Super weird. I didnt want to wait anymore and installed the old one but chopped off a bit of it. One turn in was all I needed. Because of the adjustment limitation on the oem link, the closest I could get to was 89.90 degrees (frame and rear rotor). Hope I wont feel the 0.10 degrees off and it wont wobble!

 

cggorman, hey, I had a shop put a top link on for me 10 months ago (July 2019) and he recommended this from https://customcycleengineering.net/p...ink-04-and-up/
It broke sometime in the last few days or weeks and I didn't see it until today. The shop charged me $320 for that 10-month top link. I need anew top link while I try to get my money back. Really sucks being broke down because of this. I haven't inspected the fuel tank closely yet but the left half of what is left of the link was definitely getting damaged from hitting the tank so I figure my tank if probably effed up too so I will have to fight the manufacturer for tank repairs too and i expect they will try to blame the repair shop and i will get jerked around for years. Can you recommend a good replacement that will last a lot longer and I can get it in a week or less? I really need to get my bike roadworthy soon. It's been one repair nightmare after another for most of the last 2 years. I just want to ride and not worry about it breaking down from defects.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/262663547024

This is what most people are using if they move away from OEM. Haven't heard of any breaking. CCE is usually considered nice stuff, tho. Makes me wonder if you have some other issue or unusually hard useage that precipitated your failure.

 

cggorman, I had a front lower motor mount that the mechanic said th rubber was too soft and getting crumbly so I let him change it but couldn'tthat have been because of the defective top link? I think it may have been broken for more than a couple weeks but I didn't see and/or recognize symptoms (only been riding 3 years, I'm no expert). Also the rear wheel bearings went out bad, one pretty much disintegrated, but that too I think happened after the top link fell apart. Also, the wheel bearings in both wheels were changed less than 2 years ago, about 10,000 miles, and the front lower motor mount was changed about the same time. I usually cruise country highways between 60-70mph, passing at 80, only a handful of times 90. The most abuse it gets is bad couty roads around where I live in farm country central Indiana and railroad tracks. I do my best to avoid te craters and if I know the tracks are bad I slow down enough but there are a lot of tracks I've crossed not knowing how bad they were with 50-60mph speed zones.
Anyway, here are some pics of the culprit. The picture of both halves I have the left side oriented wrong, it is upside down. If the resolution of the pics is god enough, you can see the damage to the left side of the link where the rubber and aluminum have been hitting my fuel tank for too long too many times:

 

Here is picture of link with correct orientation of parts in side view on manufacturer-supplied drawing of the link. The center portion with the adjuster nut and threads that should go into the left end are gone dowwn some road somewhere. I sheared off at the end of the threads on the right half just before where the adjuster nut should be.

 

I don't see how that CCE link is any better than OEM except perhaps in length adjustment. It also looks heavier but that wimpy jack screw (appears broken on yours) is pitiful. The OEM link is also rubber bushed...and doesn't seem to ever break. Main reasons why we change out the OEM link is to get easier and more accurate length adjustment (better alignments) and to remove the rubber bushings (more control over drivetrain motion). Removing the bushings also means slightly more felt vibration but that's considered a fair trade for improved stability and control.

There's honestly nothing wrong with the OE link if you're OK with how the bike aligns and handles. No reason to change it unless you're looking for that last couple percent improvement. I think most people that go to a proper heim jointed link setup are riding in far more sporting fashion than the average Dyna owner.

As to what caused your mix of failures... I'd say they're probably unrelated. The front lower mounts are very prone to degradation and early failure. Many insist that oil contamination from the filter changes are blame but some just fail early.

Your CCE top link looks like a poor design where the bushings don't allow enough compliance which stresses the little jack screw to failure at the threads.

Wheel bearings can also be a common issue stemming from incorrect installation, cheap materials, bad lubrication, etc. Get good bearings, check the grease, install them properly, and they seem to hold up fine.

 

Sometimes I wonder how people can look you in face and tell you how much they want for something ... CCE mount