Pittguy.....yeah I've been reading about all of your trials and tribulations. Sorry for you and others whose dealers are pri$%s. I too have the clatter (to some degree) and a shudder/vibration in 6th. My build date is late October, so I don't know if MoCo had any changes in there versus the earlier bikes. What my dealer is doing may or may not work. If it doesn't, thats when I'm afraid we might get into a pi$$ing contest. Only thing is, I'm sure that if MoCo stays stubborn, they can pi$$ harder than me. The service tech who rode my bike said that the shuddering, he thought, was coming from the timing/tuning of the factory settup. He said that if we go with pipes and SERT, this would probably be taken care of. If they can get the tranny issues resolved, I was planning on springing for all of this anyway (and more). If not, I may dump the bike for an earlier year model. The dealer also told me that he would find me a new '06 if thats what I wanted. Anyway, thanks for the reply and good luck. No more rambling for now............Radman

'07 Ultra Classic

 

Does anyone have a bike that actually BROKE???

 

Interesting question...... I've not heard of any...

 

Me neither.

 

Mine just sounds broke. Still runs.

 

Depends what you mean by broke. I have the whining 5th gear noise which too me is no big deal.

I have the clatter noise which absolutely drives me nuts.

My front suspension makes a clunking sound which they still can't determine what it is since July.

My right upper fender stripping keeps coming off.

Bike was delivered with scratches in the inner fairing which was replaced.

My left wheel hub flew off the bike when I first drove it home from the dealer.

Engine temps hit thermo nuclear during the summer.

Rear cylinder wasn't firing. That I do consider broke.

Besides all of the above, for a 25K bike, everything else is fine. I'm just going to keep my eyes out for that clatter fix and customize everything else.

 

John R,there has been a couple failures,most have been due to dip sticks breaking off,the noise isnt the trans,if it was, this complaint wouldve been over long ago.Some noisey trans have been pu into quiet bikes and noise didnt follow and vice versa.The trans is only receiving a shock from comp setup,and it from engine.Some bikes are starting to get neutral light coming on when in higher gears,that isnt good,bad pickup?hopefully. Debri on sensor?Maybe. The start of something worse?lets hope not.

 

I'm almost giddy after making a discovery this afternoon. After reading posts that using heavier gear oil muffled the clatter and whine somewhat, I decided to try it myself. At 1000 miles I changed the fluid from Formula+ (factory install) to Royal Purple 75w90, and that quietened the clatter somewhat, but not to my satisfaction. Today I bought and installed a quart of Royal Purple 85w140 to my SG's tranny, and after a long ride in nice 75° weather where the bike got up to normal operating temperatures, I can report a dramatic difference. This is the quietest I've heard the bike in 6th gear since I bought it, and I heard no clattering in 6th at all, even when lugged down to 2k RPM.

Fifth gear whine is still there, but more subdued, and I heard no obnoxious clatter in 5th. There is still some muffled "rocks in a can" sound, but not nearly as bad as before. I even turned the radio off for a while to make sure the quiet wasn't an illusion. More time will tell for sure if this was the major improvement it appears to be, but I'm very happy with the result after one test ride.

I would think that any top-quality heavyweight gear oil would bring an improvement similar to what I've seen--Redline, M1, Amsoil, or whatever--and it is probably the viscosity more than the brand itself that made this improvement.

 

Guess the 07s kinda killed all the praise for syn3? Yes viscosity will quiet this,may even end it if not severe.Yet still a bandaid.Thanks for your input w/your bike.

 

I put Redline and a stage one kit in my bike and it shut up. I don't know why it just stopped making noise? I don't really think anything is wrong with these bikes. They could have done a better job a designing them for less noise but mechanically they seem to function fine.