Hello all,
Would like to know what I should do. I am new to motorcycles. I bought my first one less than a year ago. I bought a used 2006 Fatboy from the Harley dealer here in town. The bike was in great shape and had very low miles. It had 3,900 miles on it, which is why I elected to skip the warranty. Today, I was out for a ride with friends and all five of my sprocket bolts loosened and broke. I nearly crashed my bike. Talk about a scare. Like I said I'm brand new to bikes. I have had this for less than a year and as of today only drove 2000 miles so far. Am I right in feeling that this should not have happened and the dealership overlooked something when they sold me this bike? Please let me know your thoughts.

 

This happened to a buddy of mine and it trashed the pulley and the hub. Unfortunatly they were probably removed at some point and did not get any lock tight.

 

Those bolts are not supposed to be reused according to the factory service manual.

 

I still have the original tire. Mechanic says that it appears as though bolts were never removed. He thinks one bolt snapped which caused the rest of the bolts to snap. At only 6,000 total miles on this bike I find that pretty unacceptable. How would you guys handle this if it happened to you?

 

Head to your Harley Parts Dept, get new bolts and a manual, find out the torque specs and pick up some locktite, get to know the bike a little better.
That's how I would handle it

 

I think you may have misunderstood. I never took the tire or bolts off. The harley dealership mechanic said it appears that nobody else did either. He said it looks like one bolt failed which caused the rest to fail. They didn't loosen like I originally thought, they all snapped. I don't think that should happen ever, let alone with a bike with only 6,000 miles on it. Does anybody else think that harley should bear a little bit of the responsibility? Dealership is telling me it will cost around $1,400 to fix. Everything is toast back there.

 

Who did the 5000 mile service on the bike? Drive belt and sprockets is listed as a service check to be done at 5000 mile intervals and "Should be performed by an authorizes Harley-Davidson dealer, unless you have the proper tools, service data and are mechanically qualified".

 

Those bolts (as with just about every visible bolt on a Harley,) should be checked on a regular basis. Stuff comes loose (even on a balanced motor such as yours,) and in the case of a pulley bolt, they'll shear.

I don't think that the seller bears responsibility after so much time has passed.

I'd double check that "everything is toast" comment too. I have my doubts as to how much actual damage was done. Do you have a quote?

 

Estimate is 1300-1400. Parts and labor. New wheel, tire, and whatever else is over there. I check my bike all the time. I know it's not the sellers (harley dealership) responsibility. But even the 3 mechanics at the harley shop said that this shouldn't have happened at all let alone at 6000 miles. I rode it 2000 miles since I bought it less than a year ago. I was hoping maybe someone higher up at harley could help. I did not have the 5000 tune up. I just found out about it before my last ride. I was going to take it in the next week for that. Called to check prices and everything. And on a side note, why does harley charge $85 an hour labor when there not even a union shop paying union wages? Doesn't seem right to me.

 

The replacement bolts come with factory locktite.

These bolts should only be visibly checked, re-torquing will break the locktite and cause them to come loose. There is no-where in the manual or service logs that ask you to re-torque, just visually check.

These bolts are a one time use and will or can snap.

I have a buddy with a Street Bob, he re-used his and is constantly checking and re-torquing them. One of these time they are going to loosen at the wrong time, he won't listen.

Mine snapped after 6 months, good thing it was on a side street going slow. My warranty covered it.