Hey kids,

I have a 2003 100th Anniversary Heritage Softail Classic EFI. I bought it nearly 2 years ago, I am the second owner. The previous owner did a lot of upgrades to it. Among them; High performance clutch, Stage 1 intake, Chrome everything. The bike is gorgeous and runs well. I've put on nearly 16K miles on it since I got it and she has about 41K on it now. I perform regular maintenance on it. Oil 2 to 3 times a year, primary oil 2 to 3 times a year, Trans fluid I've done once. So she's clean and well maintained.

6 months after getting it, my brothers and I went to Americade in upstate NY. Half of the ride up and most of the next day, it rained like hell. On Day 3 we went on a 160 mile group ride and then when that was done we took off on our own. About 25 miles into that ride, we all heard this squealing noise and we all thought it was each others bike and eventually we all figured out it was my bike. After some investigation it was determined that it was the belt that was squealing. Now up until this point in my ownership, 6 months, I have never heard this noise before. So I bought some belt treatment and cleaner and applied it. The next day there was no noise. For the next 4 days after that it seemed fine... then it came back... with a vengeance. When I got back home I took it to the Harley dealer and had them look at it. They couldn't find or hear the squeal and they wouldn't since they checked it in the rain. A week later, it was still there. I took it back to the dealer again. This time they said it sounds like it could be the rear bearing. So I had them replace it, I rode it home from the dealer the next day and, you guessed it, it started squealing again. So I turned around and went back. They then said it could be the clutch bearing or the cam bearing. I said no, it's coming from the belt, I can hear it. They disagreed so I left.

The next day, I did the belt treatment again and for the next two days I didn't hear the squeal. But eventually, it came back. I went to the dealer again and asked them to adjust the belt. A few hours later I took the bike and I thought the squeal was gone. 5 miles later, it comes back. So I got home got out my tools and began fussing with the belt. I trimmed plastic I adjusted the tension of the belt, the alignment of the wheel in the swingarm and the best that I could do was that it wasn't as loud.

Fast forward one year. I've adjusted the belt a thousand times, I've had the dealer adjust this and that and that freaking squeal has become the bane of my existence. Note that I do not own a belt tensioning tool. I have been making micro adjustments and marking where it was when the dealer did the adjustment. But so far, the best I was able to get it was... no squeal while I was moving but it would chirp when I downshifted but this belt adjustment had the brake rotor whiring because of the odd alignment in the swingarm.

I have come to a few conclusions:
1. It could be the rear pulley because it is an aftermarket chrome one and I don't know if it's HD.
2. It could be the swingarm because appears to be aftermarket and chrome as well and to my knowledge and research, the 100th Anniversary model did not come with a chrome swingarm.
3. It could be the belt although there is not signs of wear on the belt.
4. It could be the throw-out/clutch bearing (but after a year of riding on it I would think it would have gone already).
5. Sell it and let the next poor sap worry about it.

I know it has something to do with the belt. If I ride next to a center barrier on a highway I can hear it plain as day. If I lean back and turn my head I can hear it coming from the left side in back. I've been on group rides and people who were 4 and 5 bikes back said they can hear it.

I'm at wits end. HD is no help at all. I could spend hundreds of dollars and replace the pulley and bearings and god forbid, the swingarm, but I am hoping for an easier, less expensive solution and replace or fix THE actual problem rather than go through a method of deduction which could be costly.

Let me hear your thoughts and ideas. I am relying on your collective smarts to get to the bottom of this. I apologize for the lengthy thread but I had to cover all the bases so you have a good sense of what I'm dealing with.

Much thanks for all of your input and expertise.
TK

 

Unfortunately it could be a lot of things. I'll toss in this as well--I had noise from the left side as well. At first I thought it was wheel bearing, I changed it out and no change.

I messed with the belt tension, it helped a little but was still there. Also, for my bike, HD says not to treat the belt. Not sure about yours.

Finally settled on the inner primary bearing, it's been good since I replaced it.

 

Chrome pulleys have been known to squeak a little.

In addition to tension, have you verified alignment? Where is the belt riding on the pulley?

Mine squealed a lot until I adjusted the alignment of the belt. Doesn't need to be absolute center, but make sure it's not on either of the sides.

 

$25 part that HD will want $400 to install. Yay me.

 

The belt is coming off the center of the pulley. I'm going to do another adjustment this afternoon with the help of a micrometer and tension tool. If it still squeals... I'll go for replacement of the inner primary bearing.

 

Do you have the service manual? Someone correct me if I'm wrong but the belt should be on the left side of the wheel's pully going forward and then on the right side going backward.

Don't rush at the IPB quite yet...if you do eventually believe that it is your issue than you may be interested in other preventative maintenance while the primary is removed.

You can do this yourself and put that $400 towards tools/quality motorcycle jack.

 

I do have a Haynes Manual... I'll check it out. Thanks for the tip.

 

Is the squeal constant and loud enough for others to hear you before they see you?

A couple of years ago, that's what I had (my friends would tell me that they could hear the squeal over the sound of my V&H pipes!), and it was the belt/rear pulley being worn out. Replaced them both (it's always a good idea to replace them together), along with the transmission drive pulley (I use the Baker racing ones. they're lighter), and the squeal went away and has not returned.

Cheers!

 

Use talcum power on the cog belt. Most of the times, too clean cause the problem. If you use tackey V-belt, sure that will cause problems. A new belt comes with a spray on that last as long as it takes belt to get a little dust. You want it to slide, not grip especially on the side it rubs.

Dust it , will probably take you a few time to get the stuff you put on go away. All that rain probably started it. Remember, a Softail alignment is wheel to engine and then to bearing in swingarm my at least 1/32. So it's to front pulley mostly and it will always track slightly to one side of pulley but lightly when it does.
Use a gage to set belt tension with you across saddle. I put a measured lock nut on my tension bolt so I can better measure it to the milled flats on the swing-arm with my dial caliper.

 

I hear the sound of Cha-Ching in the background. I think that may be it but I'm going to exhaust all other options first.