Hey Guys,

When I bought my 2007 Softail I fell in love with it as soon as I sat on it. I knew right away this was her. What I did not know was it had a balanced engine. Bonus but did not care.

Anyway, a friend went and bought a Harley after seeing how much fun I was having. He bought a Dyna Street Bob FXDB with the same engine 96ci or so he thought. His is not balanced.

After a while he was noticing pain from his hands after about 15 minutes of riding. He figured he just has to get used to it and dealt with it. Six months later he is not happy riding. He has tried all the small fixes, padded gloves, rubber hose through the handlebar, etc.

He came to me and asked if the balanced engine might be the cure for him. And now I am asking you guys.

Can you modify a regular 96ci engine to a 96ci "B"?

Can you drop a 96ci "B" into a FXDB?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

dk

 

Im pretty sure someone out there makes a kit to stop the vibes. I had a conversation with someone about it not too long ago but cant remember for the life of me. Someone will hop on here and let you know Im sure

 

Something doesn't sound right here.That is the same engine in both.Only the touring models are rubber mounted and very smooth.The "counter balanced"engines are in the other models ,except the Sporster and V Rod.

 

Your "B" engine has a counter balancer built into it that the "A" engine does not have . This is what smooths it out but also robs a little horsepower. The Softails use this engine because they are solid mounted to the frame. All other Harleys are now rubber mounted drive lines and this is what will absorb the vibration. A higher RPMs the rubber mounted bikes are usually smoother than the softails this is why the MOCO uses this system for its touring line.

Have your friend ride your bike and see if he thinks it is smoother or if he feels the same vibration because it may be more him getting used to riding and not the bike.

As for adding a balancer to the "A" engine, I dont think its done and I suppose you could put a "B" engine in a rubber mounted bike but thats a lot of money it would be easier to sell the Dyna and buy a Softy

 

New bars may be the answer..........

 

Sounds like it is mostly the vibe in the bars bothering him, what about some bushings to isolate the bars?

 

I don't know if your buddy wants to spend unneccessary money,but one way to get a smoother engine would be to balance the crank.You could send it to Hoban Brothers & have John true,weld & balance it.It will run alot smoother.I bought a brand new 2010 Ultra with 14 miles on it & my crank run-out was at .005.You could also have the motor mounts checked,one could be bad or loose!!!

 

Maybe, but a slightly different wrist angle can make a big difference in comfort. And bars are cheap.

 

Not totally correct....Tourning and Dyna models are both "A" motors. Softails are the only "B" motors.

 

Never heard of one but even so the cost would probably be outrageous.

May want to get his hands checked out for the cause of the pain. May be carpal tunnel or some nerve issue which can be corrected. Simple emg test is all it takes.