Have any Standard or Night Train TC88 owners had a 6 speed transmission installed?

I was hoping for a review.

 

There is this discussion going on on that subject.
https://www.hdforums.com/m_635089/mpage_1/key_/tm.htm

I've been rolling over the idea of a 6'er myself.. or just going the easy route and installing an Andrews 34T front pulley to get the RPM's down.. Just pulling down the outter and inner primary to do it, then just bolt up, readjust the belt, put it back together and ride.

Which 6-speed have you been considering?

Assuming you're considering a gearset rather than a full box transmission.. Which apparantly can be done without actually removing the tranny.

 

Yeah, I read through that thread. It looks like most of the members involved have rubber mounted engines.

I like to hear from a Night Train or Softail Standard owner who has actually changed over to a six speed.

I think I'm leaning towards a Harley Transmission. A job like that, I'd have done at a dealers. Hopefully the technicians would know what their doing with their own brand. [:@]

I'd like to take an 07 Night Train out for a test ride on the highway. I know it wouldn't be a completly accurate test because of the 96' engine. My local dealer might let me take one for a spin if I tell em I'm intrested in a tranny.

 

i have switched over to the 6 speed tranny, i bought an '07! the extra gear is nice.

 

from what i,m hearing don,t worry about the 6speed the 96 needs it the 88,s don,t plus very noisy alot of complaints about lugging and 5th gear rattle plus some people i know who bought 06 dyna,s like there 03 better the six was a consumer feedback now that it,s out there many who don,t like it [sm=wtf.gif]

 

I'll bet there are many more of us that bought '07's are happy with our 6 speeds than are complaining. Mine is quiet and the smoothest shifting tranny I've had.

Jim

 

If you looking for the overdrive for longer highway cruising trips your going to have a few choices. The HD 6 speed retrofit gear set should work fairly well for an 88. It or one of its brand name aftermarket clones is probably going to be your best bang for the buck solution.

Baker makes a few different setups for you. They can give you a new gear setyou’re your case, or everything from the engine to the rear wheel. Their best solution is replacing everything from the crank back. In that one they use different ratios in the tranny along with changing the primary sprocket sizes to better balance engines power band and raise the power transfer "efficiency" of the tranny. I understand the principals and it actually makes good engineering sense to do what they did. The down side is that while it is the best solution to the problem of power transfer efficiency. Anything with the name “Baker� on it is defiantly not a going to be cheap. The parts kit alone will put a serious dent in your checking account. Then there is the installation labor cost if you can't or don’t want to do the work yourself.

Most of the griping about lugging with the “new� engine/tranny combination I believe can be directly traceable to the longer stroke of the 96. It tends to exaggerate low rpm vibrations to a much greater degree than the 88’s. Roll on the power with the engine going too slow in any gear and it gets really ugly, really fast. It sounds like hell, and feels like the engine wants to leap out of the frame on you, and it only gets worse as you go up the gears. 6th can get downright scary below 50.

Personally I don’t have much previous Harley experience to judge it against but I like having the 6th gear. It works well on the big interstate highways, or just tooling along at 55 plus on a nice country road. Anything slower than that and I just ignore it.

 

If you look at the people complaining about the '07 tranny noises, the majority are riding touring bikes! I haven't heard anyone with a softail complain, which makes me think that the resiliant mount may be causing some tension or alignment issues between the engine and tranny. Having a rigid mount motor and tranny with the new 96 six speed setup could be a plus. It would be interesting to rigid mount a TC96B with a six speed into an '07 touring bike just to see if the noise goes away.