I have an 05 Ultra. Like most things this started out simple enough but not sure if I messed things up. My throttle had way to much play in it. Maybe an inch of rotation before you could feel it pull the cable. I looked at the Fix my hog DVD and watched the video on adjusting the throttle and idle cable.

I then read the maintenance manual (big difference due to cruise control. It sounded like overkill for my issue for one, and I don't have an ohmmeter and wasn't sure what the manual was even talking about to adjust idle on my bike with cruise control. But all I want to do is take up the free play in the throttle. I look for videos that address adjusting just the throttle free play on a model with cruise control but couldn't find anything.

So I loosened up both idle and throttle cables, adjust the throttle and idle as if I didn't have cruise control. Throttle was a piece of cake. I attempted to follow the maintenance for idle as described by turning the adjustment screw and looking in the slot of the cable housing and turning until the cable housing just touches the screw. But turning the idle adjustment screw had no apparent difference when viewing this "slot" area. But I did adjust idle screw until I had about 1/4 inch of play.

Bike runs fine, cruise works fine. Here's where it gets interesting and I need some help. My bike has been getting 38 MPG for a year now since I had the last of my engine work done. I've run two tanks through since I made the throttle/idel adjustment. First tank I was at 35MPG, tonight I was at 33.5MPG.
The other thing I did was replace the HD filter with a K&H high flow filter.

I'm not looking for ways to get the bike up to 40 or 45 MPG. I have the following setup and the bike runs fantastic! 82/84 horse/torque

05 Ultra with 95" kit, no head work
SE Air kit V&H Oval slip-ons.
Cams Andrews 21, Screamin’ Eagle Hydraulic Cam Chain Tensioner Plate
Up grade Kit - with the better oil pump.
New bearings
Premium Oil cooler
SE Premium tapered adjustable pushrods
Reduced effort clutch
dyno with SE race tuner

Finally my question. Is there any way that me adjusting the throttle and idle cable could account for a 5MGP difference? Is it really required to go through all the steps in the maintenance manual to adjust the issue I was having?

Thanks,
Joe

 

...first off, I have an 05 also..but no Cruise-Control. So tell me..is there a difference in the actual cables for cruise,compared to no-cruise? If there is no difference, then there should be an adjustment for each cable right at the throttle by loosening the lock-down nut and then turning each adjuster sleeve-nut a little. There should be no need to mess with anything else. If this is all you did, and your mileage now suffers...then the only thing I could think of that would have caused that is if your idle is too high because you over-adjusted the idle cable side. If your idle rpm is the same as before...then I'm stumped as to what could have changed fuel-mileage

 

I don't see how taking the slack out of the cable would have any impact on your mileage at all. What it MIGHT impact is your cruise control. If it doesn't work right you'll need to re-set cruise lash but it's easy if you follow the manual.

 

This may seem overly simplistic but if you had an inch of play in your throttle before the adjustment and now you don't, you are actually "on the throttle" one inch sooner in your twist. Bikes are not really different than cars in that they use more gas when getting up to speed. If everything else is running right and you have checked your plugs to make sure you aren't running really rich after the idle adjust I'd think it may be that you are on the throttle so much sooner. Anyone know in distance how much travel there is total from idle to full wide open? If it is say 3 inches for example than taking that much slack out has added 33% to your available fuel use.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. To be clear, the maintenance manual has two different procedures in it. One if you have cruise control the other is like any other touring model without it. I'm not sure why the idle instructions are so different if you have cruise. I know about the lock nuts etc... to adjust the throttle/idle. When I say I had too much play in the throttle, I'm talking at the grip. Even with the bike running, there was "slop" in the throttle grip forward and back of about an inch of rotation. This was all I was attempting to tighten up. The RPM on the bike is the same. 950 - 1000 as it was before.

I'm hoping to hear from someone that has the maintenance manual and knows why the cruise control model is so different. The throttle instructions are the same for a bike with our without cruise, it's the idle section that is very different. I'm not sure why...

Thanks,
Joe

 

Cruise works fine by the way. The only time I think I'd have to do the reset is if the cable was replaced according to the manual. Since you know about that reset, then you must know about how different the idle adjustment is between
the 05 Ultra with and without cruise? Basic adjustment for throttle/idle is in chapter 2, very small section. Throttle/Idle with cruise reset is in chapter 8 and talks about ohmmeters and all kinds of other stuff that I don't know how to do for idle. To be honest, I didn't think taking the slack out of the cables with the lock nuts under the throttle grip could even change the idle.

Joe

 

Sorry I can't help you with the cruise but I tend to agree with Mikey. With so much slop in the throttle grip could you even open the throttle all the way open?

 

As for the difference in adjustments, the cruise is electronic/mechanical combination. If you look along the cables you will see a piece about 3 inches long that is fatter than the rest of the cable, that's the mechanical part. When you set the cruise in holds the cable in place. The other part of the electronic end is that when you tap your brake or roll off the throttle manually it releases the cruise. The extra process is to be sure that when you tap the brake it actually releases. That is the reason for the ohm meter, to be sure there is continuity when there is supposed to be and the circuit is broken when it needs be. You really don't want it to stay on in an OH **** situation.

 

Thanks Little Mike, that makes sense. So I'm still under the impression then that I didn't need to follow the entire idle procedure for what little I did. Again, the cruise works fine. I'm sure the "slop" has been growing a bit over time and I finally decided to try and fix it. I didn't think you could really adjust the idle on these bike with out the race tuner in my case. I know there is enough free play 1/4 inch in the throttle grip that it's not "always on" and in Neutral it's idles where it should be at between 950 and 1000. I'm beginning to wonder if the 3-5 MPG difference is the K&N filter I just put in with the Scramin Eagle Air Cleaner rather than the Harley Paper filter that was in it.

Thanks again,
Joe

 

Probably not on the idle procedure. I do know that you HAVE to do it when you replace the cables because I have done it on my 04'. The a/c may have contributed, I noticed you also list VH slip on's. If you did that prior to the a/c you may not have noticed any real difference in performance until the a/c. Lots of people don't realize you have to do both based on proportionate volumn. Ex. folks put a high flow a/c on and don't change the exhaust, well, the engine can only pull in as much air as it can get rid of via the exhaust and vice versa. Now that you have both the engine is breathing much better. As for the fuel/air mixture the computer will compensate to a point before you need a re-map. The increased air will mean the need for more fuel to keep it from running way lean.