Looking for some suggestions. My bike's an '09 Street Glide with 30K. Never had a problem except dealer changed starter at 25K for hot start grind (many on this board have experienced this). When they changed the started they also changed the clutch pak. Not sure why, but I think it has something to do with the ring gear the starter pinion must engage. Fast forward 5K miles and now I have this steadily increasing grinding noise emanating from my primary. I've experimented with it and here's the deal:

- At idle, vehicle not moving, in gear and clutch disengaged (pulled in). Noise isn't present
- At idle, vehicle not moving, in neutral and clutch engaged (released). Noise is present
- Traveling in any gear the noise is noticeable, especially if I disengage (pull in) the clutch and allow the engine to return to idle so that I can hear it better. While I'm coasting the grinding noise is very loud, even with the clutch disengaged (pulled in).

This just started this morning on my ride to work. It was barely perceptible at the time. On the ride home, it got a whole lot worse. I'm sure whatever it is will let go soon. Any ideas what I'm dealing with here? Not sure if it's the infamous compensator from what I've read on here, but I'm not real sure of what those symptoms are. Thanks to anyone who might have experienced this and feels like sharing.

Brad

 

I'm guessing you're not under warranty anymore?

Kinda sounds like the inner primary bearing to me.

 

'05Train,

Yep, warranty gone. Naturally.

Brad

 

Sounds like a good time to open it up and get an SE comp. When you're in there change out the inner primary bearing and check the clutch pack bearing.

 

Sounds like good advice..

 

Read my thread from today about replacing the seals and bearings on the primary. It will tell you what you want to know.

 

Taking my 09 Ultra in for inner primary bearing, several seals, and possibly SE compensator on Tuesday. Won't really know until my Indy gets in there and has a look-see. Started out as just some "extra" primary noises - just generally noisier than before, then more like nuts and bolts shaking around in a pie pan, and this past week I noticed a small puddle of fluid on my garage floor after a 200-mile ride. Looks like a bad seal somewhere around the transmission sprocket. I'm guessing on the inner primary bearing just because I don't think leaky seals make any "extra noise" when they go bad. I'm hoping I caught it before any real damage. My warranty ran out in April, so I guess I got lucky and enjoyed four whole months of warranty-free riding before a major problem.

I didn't notice a grinding sound, just extra chattering from my primary, but maybe we are talking about the same problem. Good luck with yours.

 

I doubt its the compensator, that makes a wobble sound. Sounds to me its a bearing, all the ways u tried making that noise is when that counter shaft is spinning.

 

Same symptoms here. Bike in neutral with clutch engaged I heard the noise. Clutch disengaged, no noise. Dealer replaced inner primary bearing and the noise was gone.

 

If the recent repair for the starter involved clutch plate replacement, and it's already been 5K since then and now there's a noise it could be:

Part of their reassembly wasn't torqued correctly, or possibly locktite required points were missed and the clutch drum and hub are separating.

The IPB is a good source of the trouble do to multiple failures across the Harley line. Search this board for it and you'll be reading for days about all the cases.

My recent experience with a similar issue on my EVO turned out to be a worn out countershaft bearing in the transmission. It's a HUGE, almost 3" main bearing and it broke up leaving small strands of the race / bearing holder scattered throughout the tranny. I got lucky had an Indy do just the transmission for $250 parts, about $300 labor, with the tranny right in the bike. I tore it down in my garage and trailed it to his garage. Not removing the tranny for a rebuild saves a lot in dis-assembly and re-assembly.

Your driving habits have a lot to do with wear and tear, but in this case it has been discussed about the "low grade quality" of many bearings used by Harley. Many have had to be replaced with better quality aftermarket.

The IPB can be a bit tricky. The oil seal replacement for that has been troubled because the seal actually goes in backwards compared to what logic might tell you. It seals the primary and faces backwards in it's position. Can't tell you how many have had to replace it right after the tear down because of this.. (Always use the official HD service manual).

Sounds come from the primary but can be a transmission issue. The fact that a bearing heats up and gives more noise is a concern because once you know there's an issue driving it to the point it's hot and not working effectively is just pushing your luck you don't explode and destroy other parts.

Seals leak when bearings go bad and allow the shaft to become sloppy at the seal point, thus a leak. Not all leaks of course are caused by bad bearings. Simply not protecting a seal from sharp shaft points when reassembly can gouge and ruin a fresh seal in seconds. Won't know that until it's fully assembled, driven, and the leak reappears.

I'm not certain the life expectancy of your clutch plates. Aggressive and poor driving habits along with mis-adjustment can burn them up. You can see the wear and gauge to check for worn out clutch discs. I have 43K and gauged mine which were almost new by the specs. So worn down @ 30K ... I can't tell you for certain but it seems a bit premature unless you are an aggressive driver (I doubt you have some new rider bad habits that wear out clutches prematurely).

SO ... Drain the tranny and observe what's on the magnetic drain plug and in the oil. This will tell you if you are needing tranny bearing or repair ... it's that easy to start.

If it's the IPB chances are the seal is leaking too. May be hard to see directly. Wash the area clean of oil and see if more appears and from where it starts soiling the motor, tranny or primary case seals.

It's about a 4 to 6 hour tear down and requires some specialized tools but you can attempt a portion of the repair and see where it leads you to locating the issue.

BTW you have a Clutch drum bearing, the IPB, and the mainshaft tranny bearing all stabilizing that shaft. It's really odd how if the center support goes bad that it would cause so much noise and vibration but the entire torque from the motor runs down this shaft.

Odds are, in my best guess is that you now have a tranny bearing worn or destroyed.

Keep us informed how it goes!