Please, please, please you guys that have suspension mods and are seeing this issue read the post above

I can't stress it enough.

A person who chimed into to our thread here and provided pictures and diagrams and a couple of the pictures show the shaft should be offset.

I appreciate the pictures and I now know that the offset position of the shaft is correct due to those pictures and the HD tech and driver who picked up my trike. We popped off the covers on the swing arm shaft and they told the crap should not be there and they will find the cause. The tech said that this isn't normal for a low mileage trike.

Another person that posted about his trike now thinks its fine. He related how careful he always about modifications and what he did. I can relate to it and I follow the same rules. Use it if people start pointing fingers at your mods

My situation doesn't involve any modifications but the symptoms of the belt deflection being wrong, rear end alignment being off so far that constant and heavy pressure against right grip was required to prevent a quick and deadly off road adventure sent me on a journey which started at my local HD dealer not the one the trike came from. My local dealer knows my health issues, and my income, and the amount of money I've spent there as well as my mechanically abilities so they were more than willing to provide a tech to help by phone as his scheduled allow and were confident given their knowledge and mechanical skill that I would screw this up. A friend who is in the motorcycle customization business got involved as did another person who is a skilled machinist and wood worker as well. He provided the tools and skill to make some of the measurements that were suggested to work though this issue.

Many many attempts were made to set the belt deflection and align the rear using the service manual and suggestion from my dealer. None of the stuff that was done resulted in the proper belt deflection being set and the rear end remains crooked. Every time we tried a different method something moved and the belt would end up as tight as a band saw blade. Ratchet straps were even put in place and movement still occurred.

That last suggestion I got to ensure we were getting proper axle alignment required geometry and lines drawn on the floor which isn't my thing so my friend the machinist came over to do the work. My dealer wanted us to use the ends of the pivot shafts as out reference point and the told that would be the one point that should be consistently straight across all bike to trikes. It wasn't then either a bent frame was the cause or there was an issue in the swing arm

So the measuring was done and the times on the floor were drawn and there it was, the reason for this post.

I am in agreement with most of the feedback that's been posted and I am very appreciative of the posts with the pictures of the offset isolater, My stance on this though remains the same that irregardless of the offset, we are seeing an issue that I believe is larger than the few here that have been found. There has to be a defective part involved, or an adjustment that wasn't done right at the factory or a dealership, or something wasn't torqued tight, or the belt was set too tight. It doesn't really matter to me where it occurred or any other circumstances around the issue. The fact of the matter is the rubber and metal is in there so something is wrong.

My trike hasn't been modified, and there isn't anything in there I would need to touch.

My trike just left to be evaluated and repaired. It's time for me to go now. Some of you I know and are local to me I will see as the summer goes by. Good luck to everyone and I hope we all get this fixed quickly because there is more riding to do. I have at least 60 rides scheduled and a good portion are charity, support for our troops and veterans, and police and fire and rescue.

 

i went to another neighboring dealer yesterday and had them look at my trike. he said they never have seen any failures of those rubber bushings. there were several techs looking at it and they all said don't worry about them they are good. the service writer even called harley and got me another referance numbers with them stating that even if it's out of warrenty they will take care of it because of my concerns. i agree they are suppose to be offset, i just didn't care for the loose rubber in there. i told him i will blow it out and clean it up and will be keeping an eye on them. they checked the bike for slop in the swingarm and found none. belt adjustment is dead on and running straight and true. so at this point and will ride it for awhile and report back here. i might let another dealer take a look if i get out their way.

p.s i was out in the garage and i jacked the trike up and i can watch the pivot shaft move up and down as i take the weight off and then get weight back on the wheels. i realize putting 1000 pounds back on those pieces of rubber bushing on going distort them some and would see this as normal. but, they do move alot. i can't seem to get any forward and rearward movement out of them. so the saga continues, do or do we not have a problem ? seems Harley is giving the standard " they all do that anwser". i did talk to the head tech at one dealer and he seemed like a straight shooter to me. he said he has never seen one fail, ever ! unless they are a high mileage bike. you would have to wonder if heat is getting to these things, these new bikes run hot.

 

People taking their trikes in are getting all kinds of different answers about whether this is normal or not. Like I said mine is in the show and I was told it would get fixed but I won't declare victory until I take on a few long rides.

sloufoot, a moderator here put up a post about what he as told about two wheelers and it's right in line with what I believe about our trikes. He was told that the parts in there are designed to last 100,000 miles. I have to believe it's that way for a trikes. It's a critical component of the rear suspension. And, to reiterate, I had another dealership evaluate mine and an independent mechanic as well and the message is the same from both and in line with what sloufoot posted. They said they have seen this before but it's always been on trikes and bikes that have significantly more miles on it than mine.

 

Thank you for continuing to work with this I know it's frustrating for everyone especially since everyone is getting different answers. Your statement about high mileage bikes is what I got from a dealership that I asked to evaluate mine and I got the same stement form an independent mechanic as well.

 

The first pictures I got from a member here are very revealing in regards to this issue. They show the swing arm that was removed from his trike, the metal shavings or flakes prefer that, and the damage to the bearings in there.

I've said all along that names and that kind of stuff are not a part of this and I mean that. That includes other members dealerships or whatever.

I am going to ask his permission to post the pictures he sent me and I am fine with his answer either way.

Those pictures of the bearings are convincing to me.

For those who service their trikes its crystal clear when we change our oil that bearings and other components in an engine wear. The evidence of that is a very fine dust of metal on the magnet on the drain plugs. If we were to see the flakes of metal that I've seen come out of my pivot shaft in my engine I would know that my engine is on its way out and if HD said that was normal wear then they need to get out of the motorcycle business. Bearings do wear but not like we are seeing though in the swing arm. I would expect us to see wear in the form of filth in there but metal shavings and flakes is not normal.

 

any updates yet ? i would really like to see those picture as this is exactly what's happening to my bike. i don't think the techs have seen this before and that's why they don't know how to respond.

 

I just got permission to post them a couple of hours ago and I was offline when the email came. I am calling the dealership tomorrow around 10am to find out what is happening with mine. My friend that was a former HD tech and now owns his own shop said they are probably waiting on parts. Something I tend to believe these days. It seems like everything lately that I wanted had to be ordered. I wanted the trike light kit and they were on back order for a month.

I'll have the pics up in a few minutes.

 

The pics below are the first ones I received and I got permission to post them a couple of hours ago but I had to be offline for awhile. They show what was found as this persons trike was repaired. The swing arm bearings in these pics look like they are destroyed. Something is causing this but I can't imagine what. There are probably a bunch of things that could but I never taken a swing arm out of a bike or trike. Oops doubles, my picture posting skills need some work as do my typing skills.

 

Oops, the phone just rang I'm leaving what I was told when they called initially down below the asterisks.. After the first update I sent them the pics at the beginning of this thread showing the bearing damage and they called back right away. They are now going to tear the swing arm out and replace every thing in it and the rubber bushing as well. I'm hoping that it takes care of everything below. The brake rotors are exclude from 'everything'. I've worked on brakes for just about everything under the sum and when big groves are cut in a rotor its on both sides, sometimes its less on onside than the other but I don't recall any time I've seen one sruface as it sould and other one trashed. I could be wrong about that on a trike though and if anyone thinks I'm wrong please chime in and tell that the grooving on the inside of the rotors is normal and the amount of brake dust is normal. My rims are totally black after a 30 mile ride.

So I'm going to miss another ride with my club because they are going to have to order all the parts which typical these days. No dealers are keeping anything in stock and I can't got to my dealers web site anymore to check.

I'm thinking I might do a refi on my house and dump this tri-glide and go to another brand. It's a shame to say that after all the HD bikes I've had but I want to ride not sit home and be on the computer all day or watching tv.

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I got an update from the dealership 5 ago minutes everything is normal

the hard and fast dart to the right requires hard constant pressure on the right grip or pull on the right - normal

Can't set belt deflection with in spec because something moves - normal

Rear rotors groves on the inner side of the rotor and strange whirring noise when brakes are applied - normal

Rubber and metal shavings in swing arm pivot shaft rubber mount - normal

belt pressed against the left shoulder of the sprocket - normal

I sent them the pictures in the post above this one of the bearing and rubber flakes that were in this rider's rubber mount and bearing. - I said not normal in my email.

The guy I've been working with there said he is serious about getting my trike fixed so he was headed down to have the swing arm taken out so I guess I'm going to miss another ride with my brothers and sisters in the club again this probably the 4th one I'll miss.

I am at the point now that this crap is to much for my health. Stress impacts my nervous system and numbness turns to severe pain. If they don't find anything I'm going to ride and if i get killed will someone on here make sure my dead mangled body is deposited at the front door of their dealership? I think that will get HD's attention and get you guys the help you need to fix your trikes

 

I'm not an expert by any means but I would think that there should be no movement at all. I think yours, like mine has bad bearings in the swing arm. Did you see pics I posted at your request. It shows a swing arm from a trike that had the same visual clues we are seeing. The bearing is trashed in the swing arm and there is metal everywhere. I believe that's why things are moving.