My 2014 low rider also has some vibration, but really smooths out at around 2600 rpm. also can feel more road vibration, but am guessing is due to shorter suspension travel.

 

im new to the HD but not to bikes and the vibrations/rattles/shudders/wobbles and unruly handling of my 01 FXDWG had me constantly looking down at the wheels/swingarm engine area while riding cause i was sure somthing was about to fall off or come loose. im starting to accept all of it and im noticing it all less. this bike and it's design cant be compared to "anything" with 20th century engineering. ive heard of cranks that twist and create the vibe as common, im currently doing the cam chain adjusters which at 57k miles were completely shot. 88ci with two cyls is gonna vibrate at some rpm to be able to run smooth at others.

 

Sorry for going slightly off topic, but what are minimum RPMs safe for the engine (2014 TC 103)? My experience with cars and other bikes is - if it feels or sounds like it's struggling up the revs or change gear. What slightly different with my Dyna is that it sounds and feels fine around 1500-2100, then it's shaking and doesn't feel right and then t's smooth again above 2500. Is that 1500-2100 range safe for the engine e.g. for low speed city riding?

 

No, keep it above 2k at a minimum. It'll ride at 2k with proper tuning but it's not really a good idea to try to stay there all the time.

 

Cool, thanks.

 

You said you loosened all the mount bolts, started the engine and let it run and tightened everything up... Did you remove the bolt from the stabilizer link? The whole point of starting the bike to let it run is to let it fall where it needs be after running it for 25-30 seconds is to adjust the stabilizer link to the bolt hole so the engine remains squared up in the frame after you tighten everything up... (the manual says 5 seconds but the service bulletin that talks about the front isolator mount says 25-30 seconds.. I'll post the link to that below)

I was battling increasing vibes and declining handling over the past couple weeks... My 03 FXDWG at idle would have the bars jumping around which doesnt sound that bad until you put your hands on and the bars are still dancing the same amount..., in 4th and 5th gear at low rpm the bike felt as if it was going to blow apart... I dont have a tach but lugging basically which I normally dont do, but I was only doing so because the faster I went the worse the rear wheel steer got... seemingly all of the sudden at about the halfway point on a ride saturday it got 50 times worse than just vibration at idle etc...

The faster I went the worse my high speed wobble/twitch got so I was in a shitty spot... but after pulling my the front mount today, doing the shim mod and clearancing the mount the way its described in the pdf below, its a totally different bike almost... I am going to do a proper alignment using my buddys lift but I wanted to road test the bike with the shimmed/clearanced isolator before I started ripping into to many different things...

Before the mount I pulled the rear wheel, checked the spokes, checked the wheel bearings... checked swing arm and it was all solid... so the next thing in the chain woulda been the rear mount but I decided to mount the tire back up, align the rear wheel and move up to the front... Doing the shimming ended up helping immensely... I cant believe it actually... It feels better now than it ever did as far as the vibes...

It was about normal for a dyna when I got it, it handled like it was supposed to I'd say.. Over roughly the past month it just started getting un-bearable, and then bam it became un-ride able this past saturday... I was on the edge of calling and having someone come bring me a truck but a few stop/checks to make sure the swing arm wasnt gonna fall off got me home... But its literally been so bad these past couple times I rode, I was also looking at the front and rear wheels, the swing arm... the triple trees as I was riding to try and see something moving myself, even got so bad I was looking at my shadow trying to see something wrong, LOL...... It felt like something was gonna blow apart literally at low speed and at anything above 50 it felt like I had full on "rear wheel steering"...

On top of that, it made every engine noise so noisy I thought I was having top end failure... Swore the oil light was gonna light up any second and blammo... cam chain tensioner shrapnel to the oil pump...


http://www.***********.com/attachmen...-vibration.pdf

Looking at the mount from the front of the bike... place a jack and a block of wood under the front of the engine somehow so you can jack the engine up... Get it setup and just snug so you can lift it just a little bit to get screws out etc... Crack the 2 bolts loose that run parallel with the ground if the bike was level (1/2 bolt and a 1/2" nut x2), Unbolt the top 2 bolts that mount the engine to the isolator right below the oil filter, then loosen/pull the 2 bolts from the isolator (the ones facing the ground kinda on a 45) which is what you'll need the jack for aside from having the mount out and needing it to support the engine... leaving the mount and the isolator bolted together... Once you get the 4 bolts out, pull the isolator/mount out and pull the 2 1/2" nuts and bolts you loosened first, then separate the engine mount and isolator. This is where you wanna look for contact... Your serial/VIN # should be stamped into the bottom of the engine mount, where that mates up to the rubber isolator is where your going to see rubbing/contact... My vin/serial # was almost rubbed off due to the amount of contact that was being made...

I only took some of the rubber off because it was making horrific contact, but I think shimming it would have had the same effect, but after clearancing the isolator (filing off some rubber) I installed the mount to the engine, tightened everything up and I lowered the engine down and there was no way that it was going to line up like that so after jacking the engine up/dropped it down enough so that I could catch the bolts and thread them in all the way by hand, I saw that I had a good 1/4"+ of space... so I threw 2 washers in... It literally feels like a new bike.. I still have yet to highway test it and see what the high speed handling is like but I'm gonna align it first....

I dont know if I helped or hurt you with that last paragraph but I'm ready to fall face first on my keyboard atm... But check it out... I really didnt understand the point of shimming the engine mount or clearancing it, but after pulling the mount and seeing how it works and how it was making contact, it makes sense once you have the 2 parts in your hand...

Also, just FYI I used 2 - 3/8" x 1-1/2" long SS bolts because after shimming the mount I needed roughly 3/16" to 1/4" longer bolt which is what the 3/8x1.5" bolts turned out being overt the 2 stock allen bolts.

 

I also had a '98 lowrider. it had 3800 miles when I got it. it was 3 yrs old. it vibrated so bad that inner primary bolts backed out and jammed the primary chain. I spaced a new front mount, installed balance masters on compensator & clutch. I put on true trac front and rear. it eventually cracked the sealing lip on the left side motor casing. installed primo brute III enclosed dry belt. nothing got rid of the vibration. it started loosening every bolt on the bike. finally pulled the motor after 12500 miles & put in an Ultima 107. a year later I traded it in on an '07 Ultra Classic. as rough as this engine ran from day 1 I feel is the reason the original owner unloaded it. glad it's gone.happier with the eguc!

 

Shimming the front mount is temporary fix which works very well in most cases but is actually compensating for a sagged rear mount. Unfortunately it will probably keep on sagging until eventually it touches the frame.

The issue here does not seem to be the mounts as the guy replaced them both. I assume this means replaced them with new parts and not second hand stuff of ebay.

The only other thing mount related is the stabiliser link at the top. The rubber in these can fail bit I would not expect it to be as severe as this. As its mainly accelerating and decelerating its worth double checking nothing is shorting out the system when the engine moves, frame parts/linkages touching the motor etc.

 

+2 This.

 

Sounds like insufficient clearance on your front motor mount. On decel, the front of the motor is pushed down, and this can close the gap between the rubber and the snubber, making the mount much more rigid than it's meant to be. Trimming the rubber back will fix it, if this is the problem. Need about .030 clearance sitting still, and it will make a night-and-day difference when it's right.
The gap can be too small even on a new motor mount.