I have been riding Goldwings for years and am getting ready to purchase an 05 Ultral Classic. Before I do is there any problems that I should know about for that year. I have searched the internet and have not really found any. The person I am buying it from is a friend of mine and he has not had any probelms, but I thought I would put the question out there.

 

Oil Consumption is a big problem with the 05 Touring models... not all but still enough to raise a issue

 

The 05 has some cam chain tensioners that need to be checked. The design for this year will wear out and can cause problems. I believe HD changed the tensioners to hydraulic tensions (solved the design problem) on 07 and later bikes.

Many people like myself have upgraded the original spring loaded cam chain tensioner set up with Harley's Screamin Eagle Hydraulic Tensioner coversion kit or install gear driven cams. For your bike I would recommend the hydraulic set up. But that is about 10 million threads in this section you can read. You can run the original spring loaded tensioners. you just have to check them every 10k miles or so.

When I did my upgrade I also installed some new cams and feel that is the best performance upgrade that I have done.

Good luck with your UC!

 

Valve guide seals. Depending on the build date, but I believe HD changed to a better seal mid production in 05'.
I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on the cam chain tensioner upgrade and that's how I landed in this thread. (using the search function)