Originally Posted by MegaFauna

Not looking for technical advise, the issue is in fact that this swingarm is bent. Sharing my symptoms out of curiosity to see if anyone else has suffered this issue before.
I attempted to post a video showing the axle play in the swingarm but there was a file extension compatibility issue that I am not going to take the time to solve.

The axle diameter as I measured is 25.04mm, the opening in the swing arm 26.89mm. That's nearly 2mm of play in there and with as much pressure gets exerted on that spot in the swingarm one can imagine how the axle slips in there.

This bike was pulled onto the lift an hour ago with the belt not loose enough to slip, but damn close. less than 100 miles ago it was perfect. Belt and rear pulley have 4k on them.

Besides the belt slipping the effects on the handling are terrible. after the belt starts coming loose the attached pictures show what when inspecting the axle. The eccentrics are in two different spots from left to right, and the washer has slipped on the axle itself. (the amount of play in the flat spot, between the axle and the eccentric washer is comparable to a new axle/washer, when compared on the bench)

The bike has been been wrecked, but I have bent three front wheels and two rear wheels. My previous bike which had the exact same problem at the exact same mileage, had also never been wrecked and had never bent any wheels or so much as had one flat tire.

I guess this could be considered a PSA to anyone who wants to ride a bagger the way I do. Be prepared to replace your belt, rear pulley and swingarm every 35-40k.

Originally Posted by CSMHOG

I guess I'm not understanding. The oval shaped area your questioning is intentional so that you axle slides forward to release belt tension while removing your wheel. Your pic as shown is missing the axle nut and safety e-clip (unless it's just a poor pic with poor resolution). Unless you have your spacers, brake rotor, abs sensor (if equipped) and the axle nut tightened to 20 lbs, you won't be able to properly adjust your axle so that your axle cams are both contacting your swing arm. I've been working on Harleys for a long time and any time I see issues in the area your describing it's because of human error … i.e. lowering blocks, improper torque, or even installation of the axle cams backwards. Too bad you're so far away, I'd love to ride over and look at issue and help if I could.

Originally Posted by MegaFauna

Besides my two bikes I have only seen this one other time, and that was a 2016 Ultra with 16k.

I will admit, all three of the bikes i've seen this on were/are ridden very hard.

Originally Posted by MegaFauna

Not looking for technical advise, the issue is in fact that this swingarm is bent.

The bike has been been wrecked, but I have bent three front wheels and two rear wheels.

I guess this could be considered a PSA to anyone who wants to ride a bagger the way I do. Be prepared to replace your belt, rear pulley and swingarm every 35-40k.

Originally Posted by Ssitruc

Just curious, and not to high jack thread, but how does lowering blocks possibly contribute to an issue like the OP is having? Yes, I am using SuperShox 1" lowering blocks with 14" SuperShox, so I'm curious if I am creating a problem for myself lol

Originally Posted by Bmusg

From the pic, it looks like your swingarm is bent. You should be able to check fairly quickly by checking deviation from a straight edge on both sides.