Was awakened an hour ago by a call from the Service Writer. I was wavering between hope and dread as I answered. I had taken the Wide in yesterday morning and demonstrated the IPB noise to him by shifting into 1st gear while idling with the clutch in (to stop the rotation of the offending bearing), shifting to neutral, rolling the RPM's up a few hundred, then dumping the clutch...that whirring "dry bearing" sound was undeniable. Well, later when he did the same demo for the Service Tech, guess who denied it? The Tech said, "That's normal for an '06 Dyna" (WTF!?!?!)

I knew the Service Writer was on the same page as me, but his opinion doesn't trump the "expertise" of the Tech. When he called me yesterday and explained that the Tech didn't think there was a problem, he was apologetic and said I had two choices: 1) I could ride away after paying 1-hr Labor to diagnose a "non-existent problem" ; 2) I could authorize them to open it up and investigate further, BUT, if they found nothing (as the S-T was expecting) then I'd be on the hook for 3-4 hours @ $90/hr Labor plus gaskets, oil, etc., to tear down/reassemble. I imagined myself picking the bike up, riding the **** out of it for a few days, and rolling thru the Service Department doors with that bearing singing Broadway tunes, and yelling, "Can ya HEAR ME NOW!?!?!?"

I opted to roll the dice and gave the go-ahead to tear into it. I spent a long day/night worrying about how much effort a Tech (biased against finding a problem) was gonna expend looking for one! I got my answer when Daniel called this morning. The Tech found .006" runout on the shaft, metal transfer between the bearing/race, heat discoloration to same, and metal residue in the oil ("sounded normal to you, did it?"). Daniel went on to say he'd spoken to Milwaukee and they were giving him authorization to replace the IPB & Race, Inner Primary Case, Transmission Cases & Bearings - the whole shootin' match. I'm going to have him order the chrome Inner Primary Case, and I'll pay any $$ difference over the black one. Whew! I've regained some confidence in my local Service Department and now have confidence that this will be the last time I deal with this issue for a good long time.

He just called back as I was typing this to report that none of the parts on his list were showing as backordered, but that there was a 10-day lead time from the tranny case supplier, in addition to the 7-10-day HD parts order & delivery time. Looks like I'll be back on the Vulcan, or in the convertible for about 3-wks. And it looks like you'll be free of my IPB rants for the same!

Special thanks to my friend Andreas for his research, moral support, and advice. Also to Forums member Jim W. for his experience and ammunition.

 

Great news A) the tech who found that noise as normal ACTUALLY found a problem, proving he needs to lighten up a bit and B) they will warranty the issue. Sad to know you'll be without your ride for the better part of a month.

 

Well on the bright side you still have another ride to carry you through.

I've got to look at getting a second beater bike.

 

Finally a few weeks free of your ipb rants/complaints....lol j/k

 

Yeah, younger bro just bought a beater bike to back up his '04 Wide; a loaded 100th Anniversary Heritage Softail, mint, 3600-mi, $10.5K.....Bastage!

 

We apparently have differing definitions of what a "beater bike" is...

I'm glad to hear you're getting your bearing problem fixed under warranty. I'm keeping my ears open as my 06 comes up on the 15k mark.

 

Glad it worked out, Patrick!

 

Andreas;

I think your signature quote has been adopted by the new administration as their "stimulus" plan. Welcome aboard the Dyna Forum.

 

mine went out at 5000 and 10000,at 10000 they pulled the tranny out and put new berrings in the tranny thay said.i am at 26000 now knock on wood.its a 07 super glide.from 10000 miles i am running red line trans oil,red line in the motor and harley dino trans/chain oil in the primary.word of advice DONT RUN SYN 3 IN THE TRANS its to light

 

PKellyMC,

Thank you for the inner primary info. I've been reading threads and wondering what will likely happen with the inner primary bearing on my '06 FXDCI ever since I signed a promise on the day I bought it to bring it to my dealer at 16K miles to have the inner primary bearing replaced. It's not a big deal if the dealer & the motor company do the right thing, but it's disappointing that H-D released the 6 speed w/o making sure it was rock solid first. Typical H-D, though, if you know their history of first year anything. Oh, well. So far, so good for me, I have a 3rd quarter production run bike, but I won't be confident that everything is o.k. until after the bike gets checked out at 16K miles & proper wear is confirmed.

Thanks again for sharing,
Lorddaftbiker