Bingo. That's where I was going with this. Very important to be there and be tight.
Ron

 

There is an upper motor mount. So the motor and trans should be completely loose until the inner primary is torqued down.

 

There might be some metal shavings stuck in the bolt threads when you remove them.

 

I have to ask this, since you never mentioned what bike this is? Are the engine and trans bolted together as a unit or are they seperate items? If the latter the frame is flexing between the two. On a unitized assembly there will be no noticable movement between the engine and trans and almost no stress on these bolts.
Ron

 

This is an 88 Softail, and has a 96in. S&S motor. The motor and tran's are separate units, how do I prevent the frame from flexing?

 

I misunderstood and thought the bolts were breaking on install. You definitely want to lightly loosen the entire engine & trans assemblies in thier mounts. This will relieve any torsional misalignment stress on both. Then tighten the inner primary first. Then close up the primary completely. Then with the engine & trans loose in the frame mounts(not too loose) start the engine for 30 seconds and shut it off. Then tighten the engine & trans in the mounts and see if that helps align the engine. Make sure the bike is verticle when you do this. Do not move the bike until you retighten the engine & trans completely.

Note: When you tighten both assemblies use a cross pattern as much as posible. If you have a service manual see f there are any tightening sequence specs.

Inspect the condition of all of your mounts as well.

 

Could you elaborate on why I would start the engine with the mounts loose? I'm not understanding this. Thanks

 

This is the engine alignment procedure on some of the newer bikes. The idea is that when you start the engine with the mounts loose it will vibrate to it's own "center" and align itself. But you want it just barely loose and not flopping around in there. It may or may not work with your bike depending on what type of mounts you have. But, I would try it.

 

One more question: When you had the inner primary off did you run a straight edge (actually use 2 straight edges) across the pulleys to see if they are aligned? If they are out of alignment you need to shim them to get them in line.

 

I did use a straight edge across both pulley's, they were aligned using this method. I have not put it back together yet, I think I might take the tranny out to inspect the mount, and possibly do the same with the engine. I'd rather do a lot of extra work during the winter then to have the bike be down during the summer.