Have you given any thought to installing an oil cooler on your bike?

 

2008 Ultra Classic 18,000 mile mainshaft bearing went out 4 months out of warranty harley wouldn't help. Had been running Mobile 1 20/50 for about 6000 miles since then back to Harley primary/trans lube

 

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Can you narrow it down to what you call the main bearing? Are you refering to the inner prinary bearing? I assume by rotor and cover, you mean the alternator rotor and I guess the spline sheared or magnets came unglued. If so these are two different area's in the primary.

 

I run Forumla+ in the trans and primary. Almost 36K on My 08UC and no problems.

 

It is true that the SE comp does not appear to like certain oils. Used to be able to run ATF without issues, but with the SE comp that appears to cause issues. Fretting has been wreaking havoc on the SE comps. The jury is still out, but several are running Formula + and having less problems. I run Redline MTL with the SE comp and will be pulling it down at the end of the season to see how it has faired as far as fretting, etc. I have not had any bearing issues on my 08 thus far with 24k on the clock.

 

With 77K miles on the 07 SG, have gone thru two of the double row main bearing #8967. On the latest replacement the rotor cover on the comp assembly was cracked and about to let go. My indy wrench caught that one.

 

Are you talking about the duplex bearing in the tranny? Twice? I've used 85w140 gear oil since the beginning, RL SPH for the past two years, but still had the tranny-bearing failure. This seemed to be common on '07's, but my tech said he hasn't seen one come back after replacing it, leading me to wonder if it was a quality-control or installation issue with some of these bikes.

BTW, I definitely don't "get hard" on my bike and changed the fluid every 10k or sooner, so I can't use either as an excuse for this failure.

 

HD's inconsistency is perplexing. My tranny bearing was covered 10 months after the factory warranty expired (no extended), although I did report an odd sound in the area two months before the expiration date, which may have been the deciding factor. Both the tech and I decided to give it more time, as the origin wasn't known at that time. Anyway, my dealer was prepared to give me a "goodwill" warranty, which is covered by a budget given by the factory to help customers with problems like this outside the warranty, so I was covered in two ways.

Anyone who has a major repair like this just after the warranty expires should ask about this goodwill warranty coverage.

 

I have an early SE comp and worry a bit about it. No odd noises are in evidence and everything is very smooth and quiet, except for the usual tensioner whine that has been around since new, but my HD tech wants me to pull the primary apart at 60k (now at 47k) for an inspection and automatic replacement of the chain, tensioner, and maybe clutch disks and stator. I'll probably stick to that schedule unless I hear or read about anything that would prompt me to do it sooner. Again, I've been using Castrol GTX 20w50 in the primary.

Has HD ever produced a TT or SB on the early SE comps? Are the dealers seeing it fail with any abnormal regularity?