I had posted a while ago asking about a ringing sound coming from my rear end of my 2006 1200L it was like a hum as if you wet your finger and ran it around the top of a wine glass..it was driving me crazy..as I was having an oil leak and thought maybe the oil had caused the ringing..or had gotten on the belt..I couldn't figure it out. I took it to the dealer..they said it was standard operating noise of a sportster and it would break in..in my heart I knew it was more...I put up with it, it seemed to occur once the bike warmed up after about 20 miles and wouldn't stop unless I let the bike sit and cool down. Over the weekend I went to the NJ state hog rally..it was getting loud by then, I took it to the dealer again...they said it was just the brakes pads and they were just breaking in (3500 miles). So at the HOG dinner that nite I spoke with a rep from Harley Davidson who really went out of his way and made some calls to the Harley Tech people...they came back with a few things they wanted me to have the dealer look for..and he agreed that after 3500 miles the bike is pretty much broken in. He told me to have them look at the bearings and also that the brake pads are set right in the calipers. BINGO..I took it to Barbs Harley in NJ and they finally got it right (the other 2 times were different dealers). I got the call today that it is the bearings...and they were on back order at Harley...so he searched 5 or 6 different dealers and located them, said he was having them shipped overnight and he would have my bike back to me so I can go to the Delmarva bike rally on Friday..NOW THATS SERVICE...my hubby also called around to price his 5000 mile service and Barb's gave him a better price than the dealer where he bought his bike. So I guess it pays to shop around and when you find someone who gets it right...stay with it.

I will keep you posted on my outcome..and one last thing...someone told me to soap my belt...I did and now it's all white...someone else said to get louder pipes...and yes when I can I am going to ..but the bottom line is when you know something is wrong persue it...because mechanical things...never fix themselves!!!

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wow another person on the forum who was at the rally, next year we should make sure we are all on the same track here and have our own little rally at the hog rally..where are you from? i live right near atlantic city, and i was there all from thursday till sunday(staying in a campground at night but spent lots of time at the rally) hope to see some of you at the spring rally!
also i forgot to mention good luck with the bearing problem,ive heard good things about barbs harley..maybe i should take mine there and see if they can get my carb to stop farting..ive been to my local dealer(hmmm i wont mention any names) 2 times for the farting issue and its only seemed to have gotten worse..maybe i should just say screw the warranty and start doing all of my own repairs..

 

Ahhhhh! - That seems to be EXACTLY what some of those stealership guys WANT you to do! ...Then they can void your warranty and be done with ya's!

I had a problem with leaky rockerbox covers awhile back, the stealership I bought it from had it FIVE times! Worst part was there was nothing wrong, until they came and got it last winter claiming a "recall" and wanted to do some preventative maintenance for me. To make a long story short (&, this drama has already been posted in this forum) I ended up with persistant leaks where I had no leaks before!

When I mentioned I might as well fix it myself, they seemed pleased... Too damned pleased for me, beings that they were the ones who broke it! I PAID for that damn warranty, and I figured their laziness & ineptitude shouldn't be allowed to trick me into voiding it!

I took my bike to another dealer who's service deptartment was GLAD to fix it for me, and it didn't cost me anything. I won't have anything to do with the other dealership anymore... No more accessories from them, maintenance items, t-shirts... No more browsing around their store and buying stuff when I'm bored. And you can be damned sure I won't be buying anymore bikes from them either! I'll go to the dealer who took care of me, for ALL of my stuff now. It's further away, but what the hell.

And I'm proud to say that I've steered some business away from the crooked stealership as well. They thought it'd be cute to to "repair" my bike when nothing was wrong with it and stick HD with the bill. Problem was, they were too numb-skulled to put it back together right... Then they got tired of messing with it. Hopefully, someday, they'll be out of business. Just my 2-cents.

 

Geeze...I'm getting nervous. [] I haven't had anything go wrong with mine...yet...except a vapor lock one time. No oil leaking, nothing...

I wish you the best in getting it fixed ASAP.

 

thanks for the well wishes, I got the bike bike tonite and won't ride it till tomorrow, so hopefully the noise will be gone (but I still want the louder pipes). It was a warranty thing and I have to say they were really great at Barb's.

 

I have a similar sound but only when I brake...was your constant? Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

The good thing about where I work....I can get 80% discount on bearings[8D]

 

Pauline, I'm curious. How do you wash your bike? Are you getting water into the rear wheel bearing?

 

When they replace the wheel bearings, ask them to PLEASE put some freeking axle greese on the axle. Apparently the MoCo thinks that stuff is TOO expensive to justify in the manufacturing process. That's most likely why your bearings are shot.

 

Thank you for your letter. I thought I was hearing things.I'm having the same problem and am having the dealer pick it up next week.I'm hoping they find it to be the same problem with no argument that it's not it.Good luck..