Well this is my second iron 883. I had a 2009 i bought brand new and it was a nightmare. I ended up threatening a lawsuit and all but had to do it but they made it right. They put all my accessories on a 2010 iron and gave me another super tuner as well as renwed my hog membership and gave me a new service plan. Well i had trouble with that bike in many ways they had to rebuild the engine at 1400 miles and lots of other things too. i ran syn 3 in it and i run amsoil in my new iron. what im asking is if you guys have had trouble with the shifter shaft seal leaking while you ride. The 09 i had done this twice and now this new iron that just tripped 3000 mile is leaking a second time. It isnt much but just a little seap but im not going to stand for it. I got to find a permanent fix for this. Im taking it in for the warranty but what i wanted to know is how many of you with these same bikes are having this trouble. If you ride a sporty period i want to hear if you have had this trouble and if it ever got resolved. I just cant have my brand new bike leak oil and i dont want it to be something that is going to show up the day after the warranty runs out. Thanks everybody for all your replys

 

I have a 2010 Iron and the seal that the shifter seal doesn't leak, but it does seep. By seep, I mean I've never seen a drip of oil, but I do notice it on the tranny housing enough that I wipe it off occasionally. If it dripped, I would replace it myself. It's not rocket science and surely not enough (for me anyway) to make a stink over. Or, if I didn't do my own maintenance, I'd simply have them fix it during a routine service.

Harleys are not perfect. They're not awesomely designed German masterpieces, they don't have all the techno prowess of a Japanese bike, nor the attention to detail of an Italian. As the saying goes for IBM (or used to)..... you can buy better but you can't pay more! Regardless, we love our Harleys. We love the noisy valves, the vibrations, the occasional "what the heck was that", and even the leaks. Well, okay maybe not the leaks.

 

I only have a thousand miles on my Iron, and just changed the oil and put in some Amsoil. So far I haven't noticed any leaks or anything wrong with the bike at all.

Sorry to hear man, hope you get everything fixed. Keep pounding them until they fix it for free.

 

You may just be expecting trouble so you are looking for it. If you had not had whatever issues with your first bike would you really be freakin about a little wipe with a rag once in a while. Watch it and either live with it, fix it yourself( maybe a little bonding with your bike will help ease your mind) or get Harley to fix it. If you insist on bringing extra angst into this how will you ever enjoy your bike?


RAL

 

i had a 2008 883 standard that i put 14,000 miles on, no leaks at all! traded it in on a left over 2009 nightster and i now have 7,500 miles on it, no leaks at all! it may be bad factory assembly. cheers

 

Thanks for that, really made me smile. To 2010IRON883 I will just say plan yourself a really long trip and do it. Bother about appearance when you get home after 2/3,000 miles in the saddle. Listen to your bike ticking away contentedly after you finally switch it off. Love it and clean it when it has cooled down, get yourself a beer. Chill man!

My sig pic is of my old lady at rest in France, on our way home to the UK on a trip to Poland last year, over 2,500 miles round trip in foul weather. The sun came out that afternoon for the first time and we joined the fine weather bikers on their shining steads - wearing our filth with pride!

 

mine seeps....they all do...not a whole lot...just enough to notice..

 

I think every Harley has it's own character. That is what we all love about them. They require alot of attention, not necessarily mechanical, but it's like a child, you have to care for it like it is part of the family. I understand you put out nearly $10,000 for your bike and expect not to have any issues with it. I Love my bike and I couldn't see me getting rid of it for anything. If anything does go wrong with it, well, I'll just fix it and still love it just as much as I did the day I brought it home. In my opinion, if you won't do for your Sportster what you would do for your own child, you should reconsider.

 

sounds like everyone is telling you that you should expect a harley davidson to not work properly without fixing things fairly regularly.

I haven't had any problems with my 2009 iron, except for the speedomoter breaking 2x, and the battery terminals rotting out.

I think my next bike will be a victory though. No offense to all of you who love your harleys, I love my iron 883 A LOT, but if it doesn't work right all the time, every time, why on EARTH would I buy another harley?

I'm not willing to accept that this is "character" and "you wouldn't get it" and all that.

Well, I don't get it. I expect an american product to be reliable and work all the time.

I have only 16K miles on mine, but I keep hearing horror stories about the big twins that makes me give Victory some serious consideration. But my next bike is still 3 years off, lots can happen between now and then.

 

OK, let me respond to this in my own way. I grew up as a son of a BMW dealer. I cut my mechanic's teeth fixing highly, damned near perfectly engineered motorized machines. EVERY thing on those BMWs had a purpose, a reason, and was well thought out and designed. Extra effort obviously goes into their products to ensure things make sense, will work, and will last.

That is my experience - finely built/designed German machines.

But, alas, I'm a Harley guy. So that's what I bought. Don't regret it a second, after all, I'm a Harley guy. That said, these bikes are literally junk compared to those things. Wires everywhere, too much metal in some places, not enough in others. Fasteners that will definitely break prematurely, no thought (or not much at least) given to "how can we do this better" and NO comparison to a BMW bike, even the entry level versions.

I know I bought the entry level Harley, but I work on a buddy's Road King. It's no different in any of these respects. Compared to a BMW, it is built out of chewing gum and chopsticks. Examine one close up, side by side, you can't help but notice.

But I wouldn't have it any other way! I would ride nothing other than a Harley. As I said earlier, you can buy better but you can't pay more. Fine by me! I don't _expect_ things to break on my Harley, but I know they will.