I tried 4 diff oils in 4000 miles, the last was Lucas
I think it might help a little , but the temps outside are much colder, and I'm thinkin thats the biggest help!
to me,, the hotter outside, the louder the bike noise.
you ever see the counter demo at the parts store for Lucas oil,,
little gear set you can turn the hand crank and see the diff between lucas oil and normal oil,, looks impressive enuff

 

Yes I plan on trying different oils,my tranny has the redline since first mile.Different motor oil may do better,Im not a fan of the Syn3,just my opinion. Amsoil users have had better results. My riding season could be over any day now,after salt truck comes Im done for the yr.

 

I'd love to try something else, but I'm afraid of causing any trouble with the warranty if they decide to recall these or perform some type of mass service on the noises. I understand that they aren't legally supposed to tell you not to use a different product but I don't want to contribute anything to them ducking and running on me if it comes to that, so I'm playing by the rules for now although I do want to try the Redline or Amzoil prods as I've heard good things about them.

 

They can't deny you a warranty claim on your bike simply for using non-Harley lubricants. As long as you are using stuff recommended for the application, then you are good to go. As far as I know both Amzoil and Redline(among others) are approved for use in our transmission. I would try it and see if it helps.

 

My 07 SE was screaming in 2nd and 5th until I changed the tranny oil to Spectro DL-5 85w-140w. Noise was reduced from rate of 10 to 5. Still have the whine but less clatter and knock.

 

Annapolis HD in Maryland contacted the MotorCompany describing my 6th gear clatter...THE FACTORY told the dealer to replace the tranny oil, remove the HD syth oil and replace it with Redline Shock Proof...that came straight from the factory...so no warranty issues exist with using someone elses oil as long as it meets specs....

 

i have been reading this and other such and here are my two cents.

i own a brand new 07 street glide and i found that on 6th gear there is more noise and a hum....

well, maybe it is because i am engaging 6th gear too soon .

in my bmw and also my former moto guzzi le mans , you do not engage 5th gear or 6th on the guzzi until you RPM's are i within range to prevent lugging the engine.

and, i found the same on the street glide.

now bear with me here............

in harley's ,in the past , whenever i test rode them i found that the rpm range is between 2,and 3,000 more or less to avoid vibrations and i never bought one because i found harley's to be not my cup of tea.

then i road tested the new street glide and ,voila , here is my bike ............the rpm range is now almost the same as my guzzi and 82 bmw r100rs..........
in fact ,i find myself having to look at the tach all the time as i keep riding it at 3,500 ,4,300 and higher ,and it is very smooth and strong here .........i know the torque tops at around 3,000 ,but the the hp takes over from here and carries me over the hump.

but i try to upshift as soon as i can because i do not know if hd motors can handle the continous high rpm range as can the guzzi,ducati and bmw.,but as i said ,i cannot longer do this by feel because even at 5,000 rpm the bike feels very smooth and sort of relaxed.

now ,if i shift into 6th gear before 3,000 rpm's then i get the noise and humming ,but not so if i do so past 3,300 or higher .........

5th gear in some bikes,and 6th gear are in fact overdrive gears ,and intended for just that ,an overdrive gear when cruising at say 80 plus mph.
should you engage it before the correct rpm you may get some trashing and other whenever the road has a slight uphill .you may not even see it but the engine will feel it . and in the case of the new harley's ,this may be the noise issue.

when i tour europe and i do this frequently on german or italian bikes ,and i do the alpine passes ,i seldom get out of 2nd gear........ and 3 rd is only used when there is a flat section.......and i keep the rpm,s at close to red line most of the time on uphill and downhill . i seldom if ever engage 4th or higher here.

in the autobahn ,i only go into 5 th or 6th ,when i am past 100 mph.

thus ,in the usa with the lower speed limits there is a tendency to upshift sooner .....

so, the same may now apply to the newer harley,s . i would say that in the past , ( harley,s ) where low rev machines with a lot of torque and you could be in 4th gear at say 1,700 rpm ,( i think,do not know for sure )
but,now with the higher hp motors and longer gearing it may be a different riding style .

i only have approx. 1,400 miles on my street glide and this in the space of say 12 days or so,and as i said above ,i find myself riding it int he style of a german or italian bike and very comfortable in such an rpm range.

my suggestion to those with noise , ( problems ) is to go out and ride it the way i described above and see what gives and post back.

my two cents.......

 

for those with tranny noise may i suggest that you read my comments above and then try them out and you will see if the noise stays or goes away.

 

Yup, I agree that running at higher rpms quiets the noise. Maintaining rpms above 2500 eliminates 6th gear clatter for me. It's just a different way of riding a Harley but I'm getting used to it.

 

My 6th geat clatter starts at about 2800 RPM and will happen even higher once the bike is cruising(not under a load)...it just settles down and gets in to a clack clack Cadence...