My 08 Ultra doesn't seem to be as bad as yours, but it is still dragging way too much. I'll be having the bike in the shop in a couple weeks anyway, so gonna have them check it. There is suppose to be an alignment procedure for the pads/rotors, but I'm not sure where to find details on how to do it. My 02 Dyna had a pretty bad drag on the front too, so I thought it was normal until I started seeing more info about it on this forum. Along with new pads I've thought about going to floating rotors, but a person shouldn't have to put that much into a new bike just to keep the brakes from dragging so bad that you can't hardly push it around in the garage.

 

my 08 doesnt seem to bad

 

8500 miles on my 08 and no drag on the brakes.Love ridin it.

 

And the veridict is in. Shop says"We took everything apart and centered the pads. Still dragging, but not as bad. We rode it around to wear it in a little. You don't have many miles, so they are not worn in yet. We called HD tech, they said the new specs are tighter, HD says it is normal.Come and get it and let us know if it gets worse."

So warping the rotors from heat build up is not a concern for them. Nor the huge drop in gas mileage. I have a problem with that one. I don't think it was enough drag before to cause any problems at slow speads in gravel spots, but geez, who wants to find out.

I realize a little drag is normal, but it should not be to the point that you can not spin the wheel even a quarter turn. So basically, they are saying the pinston width and pad widthdo not allow the pistons to move back at all when thebrake is released so I just have to wear down the pads. Nice fix.

Does anyone know, so they can"learnme", as to what "centering the pads" mean. I have never had Harley disc pads out. Every other disc brake that I have ever changed pads on, motorcycle or cage, there was only one way for the pad to fit in correctly and once you get them in, they are pretty much fixed as far as horizontal movement in relation to the disc surface. Thanks.

 

My 08 has 670 miles on it and the front brakes drag where it won't spin or coast when off the ground. I'm not at home where my shop manual is. Is there some kind of spec on this? Where does it say it should spin freely?

Ride well,

Jim

 

They probably greased the brakes for you. This probably helps reduce the drag friction and keeps the brakes cool so as to not warp the rotor.

 

my 08 ultra will spin easily when jacked upa little bit ofdrag but that is normal.... 1800 miles

 

No drag on the front and no drag on the rear of my 07 FLHP. I hope after the "center" service is done you will not have near the amount of drag you had when it was picked up. Sounds like that was enough to damage things; boil the greese out of the axel or catch fire.

Let us know the status when you get it back

 

I rode old no-namehome last night. As soon as I sat on it, I could tell the brake was free. What a difference in ride and especially with slow speed control. If anyone has more than what you feel is moderate drag, and I have seen quite a few complaints on here, I would take it in to your shopand let them knowit can be corrected. I only had 250 miles on it and mine is loose now. So I think the statement "it's new, it will get better, don't worry" is BS. Of course it will eventually - throughexcessively worn pads. Not to mention thepossible problems with rotors,fluid,axel heat, etc.

Have them call Andy at Apple HD in Duncansville, PA. if the give you any ****.

He said he could not believe how much drag it had. What he told me was basically the following: He took the calipers off to ensure nothing was wrong with the pistons, rotor position, etc, reinstalled and lefteverything slightly loose, spun the wheel repeatedly and applied the brakes. Tightened everything down. Just worked fine then. Ok, so it may not have taken a specialist to correct this, but at least he manned up to all he had to do. I give him props on this one.

 

Hey Jim. I wanted to answer you directly. I don't have the manual in front of me now, but when I did, it did say that if you have excessive dragging, here are the possibilities. I do not remember seeing "it should spin freely" anywhere and there were no specs for the gapbetween the padsbefore mounting the wheel. Maybe in a different section that I did not see. But there is a big difference between pad contact on the rotor, which there will be, and pressure. If your wheel stops as soon as you let go after trying to spin it,it is exactly what mine was doing. And now minedoes not do that. So maybe my service guy likes his job a little more than some others and is not too above giving it a shot. Or perhaps he hashad a few of these and just has an understandingthat even a slight alignment problem can be corrected the way he did mine and there is a chance it couldbe better. Good luck