Well, I got the call, and they will replace the tranny, just have to ship them the old one (should have been COD, but I'll just have to suck it up, onlong with all the gaskets and fluids). So, I'll report how long it takes to get a new one when I get it.

 

With rainy short season like we are having these days in Canada, I would hate to lose a month in Tranny woes... sorry for your trouble HawgBC.
On the other hand, I saw an article about the Baker 6 with kick start, I thought no matter how $$ I must get my hands on one, until I realized it was like 3K$ !! (if you add the side cover, 1" extension kicker arm + clutch arm.. that cured me of all illusions quick .

 

Ok, I have to admit, I wish I had the big bucks so I could afford a new Baker trans, and a new S&S 113 inch EVO, but that's "after" I win the lottery. However, on my poor man's budget, the Ultima's "true cost" is adding up, another 80 bucks to ship it back to Mid-West Supply in Strathroy Ontario by UPS. Add that to all the fluids, gaskets, not to mention the labour, and I'm starting to rethink the cost of an Ultima vs Baker. I'm going to quickly pop the top when I get the new one and see if they've updated the pawl spring to the rectangular one that Baker now uses. I wonder if the "Baker Anti-Overshift Ratchet Pawl" ($85 fr J&P) would fit in my Ultima 6 speed?

 

Well, since this thread is really about the Ultima 6 speed, I've got to say that "before" mine went south, I was really happy with it. My bike with the stock tranny was badly under geared, and that stock first gear was only really suitable for pulling stumps out of the ground. I've heard complaints about having to do a lot of shifting, but I didn't find that to be the case. I found 2nd gear to be perfect for school zones and slow riding, 3rd gear to be the dead on for around town cruising, 4th just right for nice twisting roads, and 6th a dream on the highway.

Because my bike is the 1986 FXST, I was stuck with the old style "clutch finger" which broke on me multiple times, so changing to the new "ball and ratchet" was nothing short of paradise. Putting in the tranny was complicated by the fact that the shop that sold it too me didn't know what they were talking about (and have since gone out of business), as there was no way to swap transmissions for my bike without changing the primaries, compensating gear, entire clutch assembly, oil bucket, oil lines, starter motor, etc, when what I should have done was just swap out the gear set, and then used the new style clutch setup because the trap door has to be changed with the gear set.

So, the true cost of my new transmission is quickly adding up, and I've lost 2 weeks of our short riding season to boot. Hopefully, Mid-West MC supply will send me my new transmission soon, and there will be no more problems.

So, my original vote was "yay", but its starting to look more like a "nay"....

 

The new transmission is supposed to be on the way here by next week, I'll update then.

 

According the the following, Andrews makes the gears and guts for Baker 6 speeds. Even says on the side that Baker uses all American made parts for their transmissions. I will still probably be using a Ultima 6 speed because there is no way in heck I am spending $3k on a transmission.

http://www.andrewsproducts.com/motor...ker6sp2004.htm

 

I can tell you what, they gave me great service.

 

Mid-West sent me the tracking number, and it was sent by UPS right when they said they would, supposed to be here by Friday. I guess I will be using more Ultima products after all. I've also found a good dealer in Medicine Hat in Cypress County Choppers (http://www.darke.ca/navigation/general.htm) who assisted me in dealing with Mid-West MC Supply.

 

Good to hear that.

I have no experience with them, but have been looking into them for a while which is one reason I have been following this thread. It sounds like the Ultima is a good tranny that is built to support higher torque motors than the stock MoCo tranny. Baker on the other hand is priced like a real top end tranny. Is it that much better to justify the price? I may be wrong but I doubt it. Especially since I could buy an Ultima and one or two extras for spares and still be at about half the price of the Baker. Sounds like a no brainer to me. Add to that the fact that Ultima is standing behind their product and unless I see anything different, that will be my next tranny when I upgrade.

 

The new trans is here, so kudos to Mid-West MC Supply, but now I have to decide whether to trust that they've updated the pawl spring and bearings. I recently met a mechanic who's installed many Ultima transmissions in bikes, and he said that the first ones had really cheap bearings in them, and many were failing. So now, the first thing he does when getting a new Ultima transmission is take them apart, and put in MoCo bearings in. He's offering to do it for $200.00 including the bearings (which he says cost about 75 bucks). Since the tranny is out right now, this seems like an easy job, any opinions out there? Or are the latest Ultima transmissions using better bearings now, and I don't need to do it?