89 EVO Engine
Road Warrior
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,959
Likes: 2
From: Florida
89FL, I had the primary getting sucked out into the crank after a bottom end rebuild I had done at a local shop. Long story short, it ended up being the spacer behind the oil seal. The shop had used the old one, and it didn't seal. They said it was my case, this was after they said it was good when they had it apart. After 3 1/2 years, another shop said they had seen it one other time. He replaced the spacer and seal, and ran a bead of locktite on the inside shoulder of the spacer. Problem solved, nothing wrong with my case. My '88 now has 97k miles.
Road Warrior
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 1,687
Likes: 9
From: SoCal & West TN
First, I am not knocking the 1989 Big Twin models. Just stating what I found from owning one.
You didn't say if this was the Electra/Tour Glide Classic, Ultra Glide, or Super Glide. 1989 was the first year of the Ultra Glide. 1989 was the year Harley first introduce the Cruise Control. Harley changed the cables and servo with the 1990 model. Harley continued with basically the same cables until the "Throttle By Wire" came out in 2008. So the 1989 can be very hard to find replacement parts without changing over to 1990/later parts.
Now to start off about the 1989 motor, any problems found may occur only if you increase the performance of the motor or "Ride Hard". That is why Harley issued a "Service Bulletin" (Soft Recall) and used it only if the original owner complained or had a problem.
The 1989 bottom end motor is a "One Year Only" Motor. Before 1989, the crank was made of 5 pieces. The two pinion shafts, two fly wheels and wrist pin. In 1989 Harley attempted to make the manufacture less expensive and cast the pinions with the fly wheels. They were the same diameter. Problem was that the original pinions were Case Hardened. It was not cost effective to case harden the entire Fly wheel. So they just "Surface hardened" the pinions. This proved OK in the testing, but under regular use, they found that under long term and hard use, they would fail. So beginning with the 1990 model year, the shaft was enlarged and the cases were changed to accommodate the larger pinion. This was not classified as a Safety Issue and not subject to a total recall. For Harley to issue a complete recall for all 1989 BT model motors would have cost Harley a large amount. And as it only would effect those that subjected their Harley to heavy usage, they only issued a "Service Bulletin" to cover only the original owner and under warranty, or close to the end of warranty. It saved Harley a lot of money.
If you check the Harley Part Catalogs for 1987-1990 (I have it along with one issued in 1989) any motor part using the "-89" part is obsolete. It has been replaced with the "-90" part.
I notice most answers are from owners other than 1989. I had a 1989 Ultra Glide. My Bottom End had this problem. It took out Everything!! The local dealer didn't want to cover the repairs. It was covered only after I called Milwalkee. I had meet Wille G. at the Love Run in LA a couple years before. He gave me a contact number. I called and withing an hour, the local dealer had decided to cover the repairs. How about that?
If I knew what I know now about the 1989 model, I would have bought the 1990 instead. Now if I came up on a "Great Deal" on a 1989, I would not think about even looking at it. There are so many more years before and after it to take a chance on finding the problems I found with the motor when I had my 1989 Ultra.
You didn't say if this was the Electra/Tour Glide Classic, Ultra Glide, or Super Glide. 1989 was the first year of the Ultra Glide. 1989 was the year Harley first introduce the Cruise Control. Harley changed the cables and servo with the 1990 model. Harley continued with basically the same cables until the "Throttle By Wire" came out in 2008. So the 1989 can be very hard to find replacement parts without changing over to 1990/later parts.
Now to start off about the 1989 motor, any problems found may occur only if you increase the performance of the motor or "Ride Hard". That is why Harley issued a "Service Bulletin" (Soft Recall) and used it only if the original owner complained or had a problem.
The 1989 bottom end motor is a "One Year Only" Motor. Before 1989, the crank was made of 5 pieces. The two pinion shafts, two fly wheels and wrist pin. In 1989 Harley attempted to make the manufacture less expensive and cast the pinions with the fly wheels. They were the same diameter. Problem was that the original pinions were Case Hardened. It was not cost effective to case harden the entire Fly wheel. So they just "Surface hardened" the pinions. This proved OK in the testing, but under regular use, they found that under long term and hard use, they would fail. So beginning with the 1990 model year, the shaft was enlarged and the cases were changed to accommodate the larger pinion. This was not classified as a Safety Issue and not subject to a total recall. For Harley to issue a complete recall for all 1989 BT model motors would have cost Harley a large amount. And as it only would effect those that subjected their Harley to heavy usage, they only issued a "Service Bulletin" to cover only the original owner and under warranty, or close to the end of warranty. It saved Harley a lot of money.
If you check the Harley Part Catalogs for 1987-1990 (I have it along with one issued in 1989) any motor part using the "-89" part is obsolete. It has been replaced with the "-90" part.
I notice most answers are from owners other than 1989. I had a 1989 Ultra Glide. My Bottom End had this problem. It took out Everything!! The local dealer didn't want to cover the repairs. It was covered only after I called Milwalkee. I had meet Wille G. at the Love Run in LA a couple years before. He gave me a contact number. I called and withing an hour, the local dealer had decided to cover the repairs. How about that?
If I knew what I know now about the 1989 model, I would have bought the 1990 instead. Now if I came up on a "Great Deal" on a 1989, I would not think about even looking at it. There are so many more years before and after it to take a chance on finding the problems I found with the motor when I had my 1989 Ultra.
Last edited by Ultra89Rider; Dec 21, 2012 at 09:54 PM. Reason: spelling
Advanced
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 52
Likes: 0
From: texas
Don't know which year defines new vs old EVO but I had a 92 FLHS with a little over 50k miles on it when totalled.
Great engine. Little weeping at the rear base gasket was the only real issue.
Picked up a 93 Classic with low miles that had been sitting a while. New rubber and fluids, tuneup are about all it needed. As was stated earlier the EVO's evolved. Lots of small differences just between my 92 and 93. Used to ride with a couple of guys that rode 84 -89 models that both reached 100k with few issues.
Personally I really like the EVOs. Easy to maintain and work on. Lots of parts availability.
Good luck with your decision.
Great engine. Little weeping at the rear base gasket was the only real issue.
Picked up a 93 Classic with low miles that had been sitting a while. New rubber and fluids, tuneup are about all it needed. As was stated earlier the EVO's evolved. Lots of small differences just between my 92 and 93. Used to ride with a couple of guys that rode 84 -89 models that both reached 100k with few issues.
Personally I really like the EVOs. Easy to maintain and work on. Lots of parts availability.
Good luck with your decision.
Novice
Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 18
Likes: 1
From: Seymour Vic Australia
Looking for a crank for a 1990 big twin. I have July made flhtc and the crank has issues and instead of fixing it .l was going to replace it. But????
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Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 3,039
Likes: 11
From: Northern Ontario
When I first got my 89 flht I tore down the motor and had the everything replaced that needed it included rebuilding the crank. I ran this motor hard and many many miles with no issues. You may find redoing the crank not as expensive as you think. Dark Horse would be the goto guys for a new crank, I have one in one of my bikes.