Everyone on this site has helped me out either directly answer questions I had or from me reading about your experiences you wrote about. So to try and pay it back this is my (lengthy) follow up on the changes I made to my 2007 Ultra Classic with your help and input over the last 3 years. Hopefully this will help others out.

When the bike was new I did a stage 1 using the Arlen Ness big sucker air cleaner, Rush mufflers with 1 Ύ” baffles, and the Zippers Thundermax w/autotune ECU. This combination ran great and sounded great just as all had said it would.

The 5th gear noise (whining and chattering) drove me nuts. The first upgrade trying to cure this was the addition of the Isolation Drive System (IDS). This worked great, well worth the $200. The bike drove smoother in all gears and the 5th gear issues were improved by 90% at least. Next I replaced the stock compensator with the SE compensator and at the same time changed the transmission fluid to the Redline Shockproof and change the primary fluid to the Redline primary oil. This again smoothed out the bike even more (at idle and all gears) and now there is no 5th gear noise at ALL! The compensator also cured the ca-bang when starting the engine and the double clutch action I was getting when taking off. With the Redline Shockproof transmission oil I now can easily find neutral when coasting or standing still. No more banging going into 1st gear or clunking between 1st - 2nd - 1st when looking for neutral.

I installed the SE255 cams and SE adjustable push rods. These cams work great. I cannot give any comparison between these or any other cams but can say they did exactly what I wanted. They pull much harder across the whole RPM range over the stock cams but it’s most noticeable between the 2K to 4K RPM range. Engine starting and gas mileage didn’t change at all but drivability was greatly improved. I also added the Vance and Hines true duals when I did the cams and found with the combination of the two changes the exhaust sound had greatly increased. It was a bad a$$ sound but to loud for my 56 year old ears. After lots of debating on trying either the Fatcat 2-1 with the quite baffle or the new Vanes and Hines Monster ovals I went with the Monster ovals.

The Monster ovals seemed a bit louder than I was expecting and had a tendency to vibrate my ear drums. I was not happy with the sound level at first but I did like the looks so I left them on. Now this year they seem almost too quite or I have just gotten use to them. Anyway I like the looks of them so much I’ll keep them on for now. I really like the looks of the new 2010 stock 2-1 pipe on the Road Glides. I’m toying with the idea of finding one on E-bay and trying it out with the tunable Supertrap muffler.

I was tired of the gearing on my 07. It’s too hard to take off especially when riding two up, always feels like it’s struggling against the gear ratio in any gear and 6 gear is almost useless. I debated between the 30 and 31 tooth front belt pulley. From my research it seemed everyone with the 09 and 10 bikes liked their gearing which is a 32 tooth front and 68 tooth rear pulleys. The 07 – 08 bikes have a 32 tooth front with a 66 tooth rear pulley so going to the 31 tooth front pulley on the 07 is the same as the 09 going to a 68 tooth rear. This also allowed me to keep the IDS and I was supposed to be able to keep the stock 137 tooth drive belt. I also did not want to get the RPMs up to high so I purchased the 31 tooth pulley. After installing the 31 tooth pulley I discovered the stock belt would not work. Having the axle adjustment maxed out left the belt just short of being tight enough. Grinding the swing arm would not have left any room for future adjustments either, so I purchased and installed a 136 tooth belt. This 136 tooth belt will work with the stock 32 tooth pulley and the aftermarket 30 or 31 tooth pulleys. Harley should have used the 136 tooth belt from the factory on this bike. The 31 tooth pulley made a big difference in the drivability but knowing now that both the 31 and 30 tooth pulleys require the new 136 tooth belt I would have done the 30 tooth pulley instead. The 30 tooth pulley was less expensive ($130 Andrews VS $150 Evolutions) and the RPMs would have been fine with even better drivability over the 31 tooth. So if you are looking at doing this, save the time and money, just buy the 30 tooth pulley and the 136 tooth belt.

A lot of people have difficulty getting the nut off of the front belt pulley. You need to buy the special 2 Ό” socket (George’s tools) for the 07 and later bikes. Do not use heat (will burn the seals) or a huge breaker bar on the nut; get a good ½” impact gun to remove and install the nut. I have a CP 450 foot pound impact gun that took 3 seconds to remove the nut, with only 100 PSI at the air compressor. I did try a breaker bar with a 3 foot extension tube first and it would not budge (with me jumping up and down on the bar). The same for tightening the nut, the impact gun worked the nut to the 35 degrees mark after the 35 foot pounds of torque with no problem. People are trying to remove this nut with these Harbor- Freight cheap impacts that won’t take the nuts off of your kid’s bicycle wheels.

I did not want to change the primary gear to the EVO 30 tooth because I wanted to keep the compensator. I did not want to do the clutch basket gear change because it was less expensive and not much more work to change out the 32 tooth belt pulley and belt. Besides it gave me a chance to wax the swing arm while it was out.

I’ve been having top end engine ticking noises (considered normal noises by Harley at least when it’s under warranty) since the 5K miles mark (currently have 10.5K miles). The ticking starts at 1.8K – 2.0K RPM (like flipping a switch, it just starts) and seems to quite down after 3K RPM or the rest of the engine noises overcome it. Tried both Amsoil synthetic and dino oil and the ticking was the same. I then pulled the rocker covers and shimmed the rocker arms. The front intake and exhaust were at .012 and both rears were at .015. After shimming they were all at .005. The ticking was still there no change. Finally broke down and installed 4 new lifters (stock ones), the ticking has stopped. The engine still has the top end sewing machine clatter/ticking/metal sounds while going down the road but the loud tick tick tick that started at 2K RPM is gone.

At 7.5K mile I removed a perfectly good set of stock 402 tires and installed the Dunlop E3’s (160/80 on the rear). All I can say is I should have done this the day I purchased the bike (new). There is no comparison, if you haven’t installed these tires on your bike yet just do it. I also installed the Progressive stabilizer which put the bike on rails going down the road. Between the tires and the stabilizer the bikes handling is fantastic.

Last but not least I upgraded (the like new stock pads) all 3 brake calipers with the Lyndall Gold pads. The bike now stops without me having to suck the seat up my a$$ in fear. No brake squealing either. And between the larger rear tire and using these brake pads the rear wheel no longer locks up when I hit the rear brake.

Just to finish up with an answer to a question that is asked at least once a month on this site. When stock and with the current set up I get 30-34 MPG around town and 38-42 MPG on the open road (2 lane and Hi-way) as long as I stay under 70 MPH. This is logged and calculated mileage.

I hope this helps those who are wondering about these kind of things (sorry about it being so long).

Dave

 

Thanks for the helpful write-up I have done several upgrades similar to yours and look for insight from others when choosing which ones would be beneficial to me. This had very good information based on your experience.

 

Dave,

Thanks for the information you provided in this thread. I've experienced the same problem. I have a some questions for you. Would you help me with the part numbers for the 30 tooth pulley and the 136 tooth belt that you used? I don't know that much about mechanics and I want to be sure I get the right stuff.

I have already purchased the compensator/sprocket kit.

Also, did the new cam you purchased give you a meaner, loppier idle? Do you think the adjustable pushrods are important part of this setup? Would you supply those part numbers as well? If they worked for you, I'd like to give them a try. Thanks much.

John

 

What did you use for shims on your rocker arms? I want to see if I can reduce the noise coming out of the front cylinder above 3000 rpm.

 

40056-07 BELT, SECONDARY DRIVE, 136T, 1" WIDE
Andrews 30 tooth pulley pn#290306 or from Drag Specialties pn#1201-0227 or you could use a 30 tooth from Baker Drivetrain.

 

It's funny to read this, as I've done a lot of the same stuff to my '07 Ultra. T-Max and stage 1, SE Comp, IDS, Redline in tranny, cams (Andrews 26), new lifters, adjustable pushrods, Progressive stabilizer, Lyndall pads, etc... !! You have excellent taste in mods!

 

in 2 months the 2011's will be out and you won't need to do any of this stuff!!!!! MAYBE

 

Dawg,

Thank you for your time. I wish Harley would have had the class to at least throw in either the parts or labor for either the IDS or the compensator, or both. I don't feel that fixing noise can be fairly labeled an "upgrade." Based on the price increases for the new Harleys, having bought a used 2007 Ultra, I think I'm coming out way ahead, even though I'm paying for all these "upgrades" myself. Thanks again for your help.

John

 

Thanks Dave, excellent post!

Doug

 

Great write up!