I have a 04 road king classic injected. Bought it from what looks to have been a sketchy diy person (no torque on some bolts, engine flopping around in front, clutch lock washer all torn up, clutch cable housing bolts all rounded out original tires.... on and on. Loose wires. What a mess. 30k miles only 1 k miles in the last ten years according to the title.

Needless to say ive had this 100 percent stripped to the frame without removing the engine or components. Installed new true duals so the exhaust manifold is good - did the brake cleanser spray on the intake and it’s good too. I installed a pro-r hypercharger and an am running a power vision tune (stock Improved runs well). I have my baffles in my bad dad 4 inch duals.

Situation - fires it up today and got a VICIOUS vibration between 1100-1500rpms. It’s bad enough that I can feel it in my floorboards and the engine when I clamp my legs around. Settles down once I get going. Runs like a raped ape, you’d better have your *** planted when you drop 2nd and 3rd. While I’m cruising I’m getting some sort of noice from the front head and there’s a NOTED change in exhaust tone. I’ve reflashed the tune with no improvement.

Im thinking something next level is going on, but before I start in on the engine I thought I’ll ask the group - ideas? This isn’t typical Harley shake, this makes the whole bike shake violently.

also of note, my spring oil analysis showed very high levels of molybdenum with only 1300 miles on the oil. And I’m getting a shitload of metal flakes from my primary plug and when I filter it (don’t think it’s related but worth noting)

 

check all your engine mounts, front and rear and make sure that the engine stablizer links are in place and torqued down. if all that works out well, you might want to remove the cam plate and check your pinion shaft runout, the 04's have a different bearing set up than the older bikes, and if you PO got impact gun happy on hte comp nut, it might be a crank issue, but check the basics first.
m

 

sounds like your flywheels have shifted. open the camchest and check runout. and if you've got this much doubt about the rest of the bike, why have any confidence in the engine/internals? pulling the cam cover is nothing and can tell you a bunch. with 30K on it and the shape it sounds like this is overdue. (when i opened the camchest on my 03 with 75K on it, pieces fell out).

 

already replaced the front motor mount - it was almost non existent. both stabilizer bars are in alignment and torqued. neither the cam plate or primary cover have been removed, so i don't think it would be the compensator nut.

 

see post #3

 

ok, so i learned after i bought an 04 that it had an Achilles heel. however, i thought that a failure of the flywheel or the separation of rods on the pin would just be catastrophic. it's odd that the vibration is just at that given rpm range - i'm new to the forum, but not to hd bikes. would any sort of crank issue also cause the change in exhaust tone? i've got to do a compression check then i'm just going to have to check the crank.

any other thoughts?

 

Have you considered selling it? Serious question; as it sounds like you have a basket case in the making. Even consider a replacement engine as its very easy to start sinking money into them chasing your tail in fault finding.

 

not at all. ever had a tire low on air and it was only noticeable at certain speeds?

 

18 inch carlini flying apes

no, selling isn't an option - the engine is totally stock, i can pull it have the crank case split, crank trued and welded and timkin installed and cleaned by the same guy doing my heads this winter. the rest of the rebuild is easy, done it many times on different rides.
i'll get it up on the lift, do a compression check, pull the heads and check the run out, maybe even pull the jugs. with the crank oil showing 255 on molybdenum after a 1300 mile oil change i'm thinking i split the crank to some degree and the rods are wearing.

also, just to rule out any fuel pressure possibly causing a hard combustion issue with the tune, i flashed it back to my stock tune, same vibration at the 1500 rpm mark - i also dropped the fuel by 10% in both mid range, retested and global and retested, no change in vibration at that harmonic. so, that basically sums it up, it's mechanical.

anyway, i posted this being 95% certain of what the issue is - but wanted a reality check from the group.

 

One bump to try to get a few more opinions. Ran the bike again tonight on the lift and you can’t even really hold your hand on the frame it’s vibrating so hard - seems to change with the rpms through the bad range.

I know now what I have to do, just not looking forward to a project right at the moment. Looking for any words of wisdom.