Compensator Bolt Loose
Road Captain
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 563
Likes: 0
From: western Montana
think I remember my comp nut loosing up once.I never use locktite on it,and always torque it down.It's be a real bear to get off with locktite,end up using a cheater bar each time I pull it now.85k on the the bike,so I've had it on and off a few times.
Road Warrior
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 1,476
Likes: 23
From: Summit, Mississippi
I agree....the nut cannot back all the way out as it will hit the inner primary. Meantime....the loose rotor is shreading it's splines....then as time passes, it gets loose enough for the rotor magnets to start "working on" the stator and before you know it you have a $600 plus repair job on your hands.
I tried a shop in Durango today. I brought a guy in with his bike also that needed a rear tire and they told him it was a 4-hour job. Another bucket-load of Dealer BS. My buddy went down the street to have the Honda shop replace his Harley Ultra rear tire. I would not even consider having these clowns inside my primary. They likely would have told me it was a two day job.
I found a shade-tree, borrowed a torque wrench and purchased a quart of ATF.....and I am back on the road in less than an hour!
I tried a shop in Durango today. I brought a guy in with his bike also that needed a rear tire and they told him it was a 4-hour job. Another bucket-load of Dealer BS. My buddy went down the street to have the Honda shop replace his Harley Ultra rear tire. I would not even consider having these clowns inside my primary. They likely would have told me it was a two day job.
I found a shade-tree, borrowed a torque wrench and purchased a quart of ATF.....and I am back on the road in less than an hour!
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 38,623
Likes: 6,441
From: Honah Lee
Alternator rotor
I agree....the nut cannot back all the way out as it will hit the inner primary. Meantime....the loose rotor is shreading it's splines....then as time passes, it gets loose enough for the rotor magnets to start "working on" the stator and before you know it you have a $600 plus repair job on your hands.
I tried a shop in Durango today. I brought a guy in with his bike also that needed a rear tire and they told him it was a 4-hour job. Another bucket-load of Dealer BS. My buddy went down the street to have the Honda shop replace his Harley Ultra rear tire. I would not even consider having these clowns inside my primary. They likely would have told me it was a two day job.
I found a shade-tree, borrowed a torque wrench and purchased a quart of ATF.....and I am back on the road in less than an hour!
I tried a shop in Durango today. I brought a guy in with his bike also that needed a rear tire and they told him it was a 4-hour job. Another bucket-load of Dealer BS. My buddy went down the street to have the Honda shop replace his Harley Ultra rear tire. I would not even consider having these clowns inside my primary. They likely would have told me it was a two day job.
I found a shade-tree, borrowed a torque wrench and purchased a quart of ATF.....and I am back on the road in less than an hour!
Mine did the above. The primary was making a lot of racket and since the bike was under warranty the Harley Dealer supposedly fixed it by tightening up the compensator nut. It was still making noise and I pulled it back apart myself. What had happened was the alternator rotor spline was stripped out completely and was being driven only by the compensator spring. The nut was still tight with loctite. There is a .125 shim in there and it wore a step into the alternator rotor and after it got .04 deep or so let the primary chain start rubbing and nicking the edge of the sprockets since the front and rear sprocket were no longer in alignment. My pictures of how I fixed it are in the forum under my profile. I did not bother to renew my warranty after this. The alternator rotor spline is a real weak link in the TC88B engine. What's interesting is everyone is always talking about replacing the compensator in there yet thats tough as nails.
Tourer
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 265
Likes: 0
From: Fairfax VA
From what I have read, you gotta clean the threads out real good to get any oil film out of them with spray brake cleaner and/or alcohol. I have also read that the bolt should now be torqued to about 185 lbs, not the original 165.
If you dont get the oil film out, the red locktite will not hold.
.
If you dont get the oil film out, the red locktite will not hold.
.
Last edited by CobraEd; Feb 4, 2011 at 07:04 AM.
Road Captain
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 666
Likes: 0
From: Maryland
I had the same problem. It was found during a dyno run. Here's the service bulletin out on it...
https://www.hdforums.com/forum/touri...-bulletin.html
https://www.hdforums.com/forum/touri...-bulletin.html
Road Warrior
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,260
Likes: 44
From: Back woods of Maine
I've been to Loc-tite training at work. To properly do it, you need to clean the threads on the bolt and in the hole with Loc-Tite cleaner. Let the threads and the hole threads dry thoroughly. Next, apply Loc-Tite Primer and let it also dry. Then you apply the Loc-tite which you choose and use a torque wrench. Just so you know, Loc-Tite red is considered permanent, blue is considered removeable, green is for taking up small clearances in fits but not for holding bolts. All loc-tite products can be easily removed with a little heat. But, i have seen Loc-Tite red tear the threads off a bolt if no heat was used to remove it. AND, no I am not in any way associated with Loc-Tite. I just use the stuff a lot at work!
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Stage I
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
From: New Mexico
compensator bolt
I have a 2011 FLTRU (Road Glide Ultra) and last saturday my wife and I were headed out for a ride to Roswell, NM. Only about 40 miles from home. Got on the road and good lord at the engine noise. Well I figured it's under warinty (1345) miles on a new bike. Got it on up to Champion Motor Sports (Roswell) where I traded for it. Drove it into the service bay. Two Tech's immediately gathered around the bike. I asked "one of you boys need to drive this thing now". One got on the bike drove it maybe 15 feet and then put it right on a lift. Pulled the primary cover off and there it was the compensater bolt had backed out enough to grinde up the primary case. You shoud have seen the crap in there... He pulled the bolt out with his fingers (NO WRENCH) and said see that blue lock tite it's supose to be "RED". 1345 miles on the bike, what a deal. As you know Harley is fixing the bike "AS THEY SHOULD"... Just wanted to share my incident with this compensator bolt thing. Harley with out doubt knows they have a problem with this.. Let's see if they will correct it as they should... Thanks for letting me vent....... Ride Safe........