Some of you may remember my post with all of the pics from when I replaced the rear head gasket a couple of weeks ago.
A word to the wise..... Get all of the part #'s of the parts you buy and double check they give you the right parts before going home to wrench.
Hal's Harley Davidson of New Berlin, WI is whereI purchased my parts for the job. Every one of the gaskets were correct with the exception of one. Thegasket that goes between the rockerbox and the cylinder head itselfthat wassold to me was actually for a 1340 big twin. There are a few differences but it did fit for the most part. Anyhow the differences were enough that it had caused a seemingly large oil leak (it was pretty small in reality as Ididn't need to add any oil after riding over 200 milesnot realizing it was leaking) thatwas obviously not acceptable.
I toreit alldown today and called a seperate stealership (just to ask for the part # for that particular gasket since HD parts guys tend to getinsulted easily when you question their parts knowledge) andgot the correct part #.
After speaking to the parts guy at hal'sthat sold me the parts I found they were willing to comp the new rocker box gasket since the wrong one was given thefirst time. What they weren't willing comp was the upper (rubber) rocker box gaskets and were going to try to charge me for these all over again.The parts guy went on to say I should just re-use my old gaskets.
I had to explain to the parts manager that as an ex auto techI refuse to re-use gaskets in anything and I refuse to pay for newgasketssinceI just bought a set 2 weeks agothat I should nothave had to replace this soon exceptnowI had to tear it back down to fix their ****-up.
Anyhoo, They finally comped meall of the gaskets that I needed and I was on my way.

My question is,was I in the wrong for not wanting to re-use old gaskets? Or was this just anotherHD parts guy trying to cover his ***?

For those whomay be wondering, the '96 is back together and strong as ever. The good thingabout this is it gave me the excuse I needed to buy my motorcycle/ATV jack. I thought I needed a lift table but realized there wasn't enough room in my garage and also my current finances didn't allow for such a lavish purchase.
Ended up going with the HF yellow jack after it came highly recommended from a friend of mine who has been usingthe same one to store, clean, and perform maintainance onhis 100th anniversary Ultra for the last 5 years with no problems at all. I can see where it could be a problem for those with stock exhaust or even slip-ons as the front muffler would pose a clearance issue. With the Samson pipes I have no clearance issues at all and when the bike is lowered into the lock position it is sturdy as can be. For the $59 I paid for it (on sale) I have no complaints at all.




Edit:

The oil stain below has been there since before we moved in. It didn't come from the bike. as you can see from the lighter areas around it, I have already sprayed it down with simple green to try to lift the stain to no avail... [:@]

 

I think you were more than fair with the dealer. As for the jack, I just bought the craftsman (regularly $89.00) got it for $59.00 bring a craftsman club member.
Works great. Wish I had bought a jack sooner. Good to here your back on the road. I just put a sundowner seat on and can't wait to try it out tomorrow.

 

Glad you got her back togather and didn't end up with any major damage.


I've got a simular story that came to light this morning. I was planning on lifting the front of my N. Wanted to give it alittle bit of the chopped look and more travel.

Well I talked to the parts guy at the local shop, I wasn't 100% sure what I needed. So I asked him to research exactly what I needed and give me a ring when he had a list. He told me all I needed was upper tubes,springs and seals.
So I ordered them, the stuff came in yesterday. So last night I started taking the front end off. This morning I take one of the forks apart and go to my service manual to double check what I'm doing, I see it lists 2 different damping rods, Short one in the N and low models and a longer one for all others. The dampening rod controls the travel of the fork.

longer story short, I ended up putting the stock fork back togather, So I have my bike for the weekend.

Funny enough they know me and automaticlly offered me a special deal on the dampening rods.LOL when they come in I plan on making them give me more free fork oil and more seals!

Funny thing was, I wasn't pissed. I figured it was atleast partically my fault as I didn't know exactly what parts I would need, even though I concider it part of their job to know.

 

I'll be getting the craftsman in about another month.

 

You were in the right all the way. Glad to hear you got everything back to normal, wish I could be as handy with engine work. Nice jack, I have the rred craftsman, seems to work okay but I have to drive on a piece of patio stone to get the frame high enough to get the jack under, most likely because I lowered the bike.

 

Absolutely not. To me, there is nothing more maddening than to have to redo a big job over the failure of a part that costs a few dollars. Sure, I'll reuse simple things like the quad ring but they take no time at all to correct if they leak, but redoing a job that can take an hour or more is something else.

I figure my time is worth no less than what the dealer charges me per hour to work on the bike. If they sell me a a wrong or defective part then I consider that lost labor time their fault, not that they are going to reimburse it.

 

.Bikerrash.....FAIR all the way.....it wasn't yer fault............
I did learn something years back that is kinda like this......
Bought some parts at the dealership parts counter, then mosied back into service and asked what looked like a seasoned mech if these were the correct parts, only to find they were not.............now ya need a pass to get into service these days to talk to anyone...B