During a 1,600 mile 3.5 day trip over the weekend, I think my 97' FLHTC-I with 57,000 miles on it developed a Quad seal leak. On the 2nd morning of my trip, I went to roll the bike forward a few feet in the morning and found even with the clutch lever pulled in, the bike was very hard to roll. I then started the bike to let it warm up well since it had gone down to 38 degrees F that night. After idling approx.10 min or so, the bike started pissing out trans fluid at a pretty good rate from the back side of the primary case. After shutting off the bike and letting it sit, the bike rolled easy like it should and when I started it; it did not leak any trans fluid. Put on 400 miles after this and it did not leak the rest of the day. Woke up to another cool morning on the 3rd morning. Again, the bike would not roll easy. Started the bike and only let it run like 5 min. Bike did not leak and after sitting a few min it rolled easy like it should again. It did then drop a few drops of trans fluid at times on the 360 plus miles trip home when stopped.

My question is, what could be causing the bike to not roll easy when cold after a ride the night before? Is the Quad seal melting itself to the transmission shaft? Anyone else experience something like this?

Thanks, G.B.

 

Nice lookin bike!! I was just into my tranny for the fist time and replaced the main drive gear and related big bearing .Hopefully its not the bearing going bad in your case,in any event you need to pull the inner primary to replace the seals and have a looksee in there.Then you can check for any up down movement on the bearing, which would cause a leak good luck.

 

Do you know for sure it was the tranny leaking or speculating? Seems to me this could be an oil pump problem with a sticky ball valve. Also, if you normally run in warmer temps then you might not realize how stiff oil is first thing in the morning. It's hard to roll a 20 year old bike with the clutch in, cold.

 

Thanks 86glider for your input. That gives me a few things to look out for when I tear it down. On a project like this I would typically replace any bearing or seal that I have to take off. This will be the first time I have had to wrench on this Harley since I have owned it and put over 16,000 miles on it in 4 years. It has not leaked anything and been bullet proof up till this past weekend trip. Thanks, G.B.

 

Thanks Oldskewl input. Yes, I am 100% confident that it is leaking transmission fluid. I had recently changed the trans and primary fluid on the bike before my trip. I am running Spectro full syn 75W-140 trans fluid in it which is pink which is pretty easy to identify. I typically ride this bike till the end of November here in Michigan and have not had an issue pushing or rolling it around with and without the clutch pulled in with lower temperatures. Thx G.B.

 

None of this has anything to do with the quad seal...

The reason it is difficult to roll the bike before it has started is that the clutch plates are stuck together.

This is normal on all motorcycles with wet clutches.

Put the bike in gear, pull in the clutch lever and rock it forward and rearward to break the plates loose.

Make sure the transmission has the correct amount of lube, do not overfill, check your owners manual or service manual to be sure you are setting the level correctly.

Check the transmission vent hose, make sure it is not obstructed.

 

Thank you Dan89FLSTC for the info and your comments. The rolling issue maybe common with wet clutches. All I can say is that I have never experienced an issue with this bike being difficult to roll over the last 4 years and 16,000 plus miles I have put on it. I have been changing the primary and trans fluids every 5-6,000 miles since I have owned the bike. I did change the primary and trans fluids just before this trip just like every other time I have done it. I know I probably error ed on the high side with filling the primary. I will check the level again, but I don't think I filled it more than a 1/4" above the bottom of the clutch plates per the manual. After you mentioned the clutch plates sticking together and not to overfill the Primary, I see in the HD service manual a note that says over filling can cause clutch engagement issues, clutch drag, and other problems. I wouldn't think filling the primary a 1/4" more with fluid would cause clutch issues but I suppose it is possible? For what it is worth, this bike is running a Barnett carbon fiber clutch in it installed by the PO.

I also can say that trans fluid was leaking out of and running down the backside of the primary case. I will look for the trans vent line to see if that is pinched. I had a local independent shop install new tires and check/re-grease the swing arm bearings earlier this year. Not sure where the trans vent line is but I will look for that as it makes sense as a possible cause. I put exactly 22 oz of trans fluid in so I know that I did not over fill the trans.

Thanks again for the input as it gives me a few more things to check out. G.B.

 

The transmission lube will not leak out of the primary cover, it leaks out of the transmission...

The transmission vent hose connects at the left side of the transmission top cover, remove it and make sure it is clear, sometimes bugs can make nests in the hose...

 

your drive pulley may be loose. when it gets loose it will wobble on the main gear and oil will leak past the quad seal. splines may be going south too.

 

Yeah this, It's what started my dillema.