Hey does anyone know if there is a Email addy or a mailing address you can complain directly to Harley Davidson about this. I have tried to find something online and there is NOTHING! I find that hard to believe

 

http://www.harley-davidson.com/wcm/C...p?locale=en_US





To contact the Motor Company directly, please write:



Harley-Davidson Customer Service

3700 W. Juneau Avenue

Milwaukee, WI 53208



To speak with a Harley-Davidson customer service representative call (414) 343-4056.




Sorry, we're unable to receive e-mail at this time.
(And HD will know why. )

 

I think Im going to go with the Baker F6F on my FLSTF, even if HD comes out with an IDS for the Softail.
Id rather go the extra expense than give HD another bleepin penny. They've screwed me once, why give them another chance to screw me again.

 

Ask them why they reversed the helix on their 5th gear pair compared to the rest of the helical-gut gears. The way it is, when accelerating their 5th gear pair thrusts the countershaft toward the clutch side and the countershaft output gear pulls it the same direction. If they'd run their 5th gear helix the other way those two gears on the countershaft would mostly cancel out each others thrust (like the output gear tends to do in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th). It won't be as much force when decelerating, but their thrusts (5th and output) add toward the side door (instead of mostly canceling).

I'm just curious why they'd not want to try to cancel thrust instead of double it, but not enough to ask them myself because I'm not in the market (and aren't in any hurry to obtain an IDS, even though it's available for me).

 

Not the sharpest marble in the package but with helical gears under load one will be thrust one way and the other will be thrust the opposite direction. How can they both have the same thrust direction?
Ron

 

The Following Link that was given above:

http://www.harley-davidson.com/wcm/C...p?locale=en_US

gets you to a FAQ page on the HD site or gives you your dealers number!
I guess they do NOT want to be bothered!

 

I don't know why I keep coming back to this thread (I guess I'm one sick SOB), but I'm glad I do. There are people here whodefend the MOCO regardless of the product they are riding and there are those who rip on the MOCO for the product they have purchased. All of this keeps everything in perspective for me. I'm waiting to buy my first Harley ($22000+) and I would suppose there are thousands like me. Only way to make this problem, supposed or not, go away is to make the MOCO hurt by refusing to buy their new bikes. So count me as one of the thousands who have held off purchase of a new Harley in hopes that eventually this issue will either fade away or be fixed (depending on your view).

 

As for me,

After following this post and others concerning the heat issues with the 96er's, I am now seriously considering a nice used 06 Road Glide that has a lot of extra's on it, as opposed to a leftover 07 or 08. I can always add a 6 speed later.

Keepin my 03 FXD also, as the 88 runs well with only a cam change and gear drive.

 

Hog Heaven don't buy a new 08 or 07, their are other issues with these bikes, read some back issues of American Iron mag. I think it is Sept. 07 issue that tells about cam plate troublealso with these bikes.

 

In a helical gear pair on parallel shafts, one will thrust one direction and the other the other direction. But I'm talking about what happens when two gears share the same shaft and transfer the power both onto it and back off again. Two gear sets working at the same time with a common shaft.

Look at https://www.hdforums.com/upfiles/365...D2C4C36AE2.gif and follow this train of thought. In the left-hand image, the tranny input is the right-hand end of the near shaft. The output of the tranny is the biggest gear on the right-hand end of the input shaft, the one with the big splines on it (where the belt drive-sprocket goes). That gear has bearings between it and the input shaft. Maybe you know all this already, but please bear with me a minute.

Grab the input shaft with your right hand and spin it clockwise (just for the sake of it). Say you're in 4th gear (the biggest gray one, fourth from the left). As you try to turn the input clockwise, the gear will try to screw to the left in proportion to the opposition it encounters with its mate. Its mate will be turning counter-clockwise and will be getting pushed to the right. Now follow the countershaft to its output gear. It's turning counter-clockwise and in proportion to the resistance it encounters with its mate, it will try to screw to the left. Visualize that carefully. Forget the first gearset for a moment and think of what would happen if you grabbed the countershaft with your left hand and tried to force it to turn in the direction its spinning. Think of what would happen if the gear it was meshing with was immobile. That shaft would screw toward your left.

If the two gearsets transferring power were the same ratios as each other, the thrusts the countershaft sees would cancel out (not exactly, though, because some of the original power was lost coming through the first set, so there's actually some less driving the second set, so its thrust would be some less).

Now, visualize that 4th gearset as having the opposite helix (as the Baker 5th gear pair does). When you turn the mainshaft clockwise, the driver gear would screw to the right, the countershaft mate would be pushed to the left. The output pair hasn't changed, so the one on the countershaft will still try to screw to the left, the same as last time. Now, because one helix is opposite, both gears on that shaft are thrusting in the same direction, one while being driven that way and the other while driving that way!

Does that clear things up any?

Maybe Baker did that on purpose so in 5th gear the shafts would both seek their limits of travel and stay firmly there. Maybe to the extent the countershaft wants to float more freely, with same-hand helixes canceling each other out some, it tends to bounce side-to-side more, tapping its limits and making noise. I don't know, but I think I'd rather have the noise (if it happens) than to have power wasted applying the most force possible against the bearings (not to mention the taps would become harder hits as/when the powerflow changes direction through the mechanism).