It is a good idea to change the shell out periodically. I had 25k on the recalled shell and you could see stress cracks in the corners where the clip goes. I changed it out when I changed the fuel filter.

 

I would think that H-D would include the cheap plastic part with the new filter at no additional cost for the life of these bikes. Or, they could come up with a stainless version with screws that would not fail.

 

Yea, some of the 08's....but the sad part is the "top plate" that connects to the shell is warped, to me and all Service Managers I talked to agree the "top plate" warp is causing undue stress on the shell at the clips and breaking the shell, which causes side of the road parties...got a case opened with HD Milwaukee to include the top plate in the recall, other sad part, but one that defends the additional recall part, is the "top plate" is not available until after 10/17/11, top plate is SOLD OUT and on numerous backorders...so with that...duh...it seems fairly easy to deduct that the top plate is also a defect, and should be included in the shell recall. If you pull the filter be sure to inspect the top plate for any warpage or you may have the same problem.
Will update my progress with HD....til then, Happy Trails!

 

Repy...you can go to HD website and enter your VIN and then search for any outstanding notices on that specific VIN...

 

Well, the top plate has been superseded from -08 to -08A and now -08B. Maybe they finally got it right the third time around. Three dealers in the US have the -08B part in stock:

Superstition Harley-Davidson Apache Junction, Arizona P-(480) 346-0600
Blue Springs Harley-Davidson Blue Springs, Missouri P-816-224-5005
Timpanogos Harley-Davidson Lindon, Utah P-(801) 434-4647

 

As of 10/17, still no top plate for the shell, part not released yet, backorder date moved back another week, Milwaulkee said no coverage for the top plate, but my dealer is picking up the cost, dealer has been great so far, too bad about Milwaulkee though, absolutely NO quality control. Trade up every 1-2 yrs to avoid the @^$! ???

 

Dawg,
I have 2012 SG apart what do you want me to look at?

 

Look at the filter shell, specifically where the U clip slides through the tabs and see if you can see any stress marks in the corners of the slots. The marks will be evident as they will be whiter than the rest of the shell.

 

I too got stranded by the dreaded fuel filter shell failure, $821 from anything. Got rid of the bike very quickly.

Eric

 

Well, HD Milwaulkee has now pushed the expected release date to 11-09 for the "top plate" which is the real culprit for the shell failures, it warps and causes the shell undue stress and eventually cracks, WTF, bike is still @ dealer after 6 weeks, with no real date of the top plate release, HD said "so sorry, nothing we can do...we can not include the top plate part in the recall", even though numerous Service Managers agree the top plate is the cause of the shell failure, and the fact that the part is not even close to being available, this is really shitty of HD, its all about the $ again and very poor quality control and support of us owners.