The bags will vibrate because they are connected to the pipes, which are connected to the engine...

So I've had two bikes with excessive vibrations with one being a crank and the other was the trans output shaft which may have been caused by a screwed up primary chain. Chicken or Egg thing. Point is, not fun. It's a big time pain the *** trying to figure these things out and GOOOOOD LUCK getting it figured out by a dealer since they think paint shaking vibration is just a Harley thing.

Basically you're looking at going through everything with a fine tooth comb. Primary internals, combustion/compression, fuel pressure, injector pattern/flow, engine mounts, exhaust touching the frame or footboards, etc, etc.

Exhaust touching something is the most common but a few other areas would be:

Check the front engine mounts. Each mount consists of a center isolator surrounded by an air gap and then snubber (outer). If the center is sheared or collapsed it will be touching the snubber which is bad.

Engine compression. Go by the book. Should be within 10% of each other. Verify.

Crank runout. Have done by the dealer along with inspecting the primary.

If nothing is revealed at this point I would skip all the easter egging and go straight to a dyno to verify the tune and that both cylinders are firing equal etc.

Good times man. Feel for you. It's a friggin pain dealing with it.

 

I went with the new rear tire because I did put a plug in the old one a few weeks ago. I noticed a drywall screw in the tread and took it out and had to plug it, so the new tire wasn't a bad idea. They said also that it was down to the wear marks.

 

mine was vibrating like he77 when I changed the motor mount I changed it back and vibration all but went away. motor mount is good place to check, does it hesitate under acceleration. also instead of cutting it off at 40 try pulling in the clutch to allow motor to run - vibrate to see if that will isolate the cause. also while clutch is pulled in rev motor to the magic 2000 rpm range and see if it smoothes out. my thought is to see if the vibration is a skip or poor running or a transference thru the frame. good luck keep posting with all the guys on here you can figure this out .

 

First: Thanks to all for the good info. My first though was also the motor mounts, here's why. I bought the bike new in January of 2012. After 500 miles I had a bad oil leak. It turned out to be that during assembly a bolt from the battery box was dropped and it fell between the inner primary and the motor mount. I had a more sever vibration at that time but since it was my first time owning an Utra I thought it was normal. They had to replace the inner primary but I have no idea if anything was done to the motor mount. I've had no issues with the bike until now. I had a tuner install a TTS master tune fuel management system and Kuryakyn Mach III AC and also removed the catalytic converter. It was also dyno'ed at that time. It runs great, never any hesitation. I do tend to run it in 6th gear an time over 50mph and have been told that it's not good to do that. It goes into the shop tomorrow. I'm going to tell them to check the motor mounts first then call me. In the mean time I'm going to ask some friends if they know of any local indi's. they would recommend. I'll let you know what I find out. If it turns out that it's going to cost me an arm & leg to get it fixed I'll probably trade it in on something smaller as I'm not getting any younger!

 

They picked up the bike this morning. About an hour later the service advisor called, said he wasn't a mechanic but took it for a ride and says it rides like any other Harley. WTF? I said I've been riding it for 5 years and it just started doing this about a month ago. I suggested looking at the motor mounts and also checking the compression of each cylinder. It's pretty bad when the customer has to tell them what to do! He said he's just trying to save me money.

 

I do tend to run it in 6th gear an time over 50mph and have been told that it's not good to do that.


Not being a SMA here, but two things I'm pondering;

1) Are you by chance lugging it in gears 2 thru 6?

2) Have you by chance test ridden a different bike the same model?

3) What about the motor mount questions? We're they indeed checked at your last visit?

 

After picking up the bike on Monday so far the lead mechanic test rode it and found no vibrations then the service manager rode it and said just about the same thing. However he said that the front motor mount bolts were a little off center and just about touching the metal of the mounts so I had them order new mounts and they should be installed by this Saturday. I'll let you know how it rides when I get it back. Fingers crossed that this fixes the problem. If not I have decided to just ride it the way it is of a while and see if it gets any worse.

 

There have been many reports of compensators failing, some have had several warranty replacements before reaching your mileage. If the new mounts don't improve things, that is about the only other thing I can think of that would wear into a problem. Has the clutch lever slipped out of your hand or have you otherwise put a shock load on the drive line that might have bent something? The fact that the vibration goes away when the engine is shut of pretty well eliminates tires or wheel bearings.

 

I've never put any excess torque on the engine other than a few half throttle shifts a few years ago until I thought about the expensive consequences to doing that, but nothing lately. I'm hoping the new mounts do the trick.

 

I picked up the bike yesterday and after riding it home I'd say the vibrations were all but gone. Today I did a 80 mile breakfast ride and all seems to be OK. I guess the front motor mounts did the trick. It does have some vibrations but it is a Harley and that's to be expected. Thanks to everyone her who had some input. I'm going to either start another thread or find one on upgrading my plug wires.