I was on a road trip through Arizona when a grinding sound started coming from my primary. Took it to a dealer in Flagstaff and after they tore it apart they found the main bearing burnt out and the rotor and cover broken apart. Cost me 500 bucks to fix it but I was able to continue my ride

Big thanks to Flagstaff Harley who was open on Memorial day.

Anyone heard of this problem on a bike with only 23,000 miles on it?

 

Yes. Sorry for your trouble but it happens.

 

What year/model is your bike?
That has worried me about the upcoming trip across the country.

 

What type/brand oil have you been running in your primary?

He's got a 2008 Road Glide.

 

The main bearing in my trans took a crap at 33K. Only real problem so far.

 

Hey Dawg beings that you brought up the oil thing. I have moved to AZ where it is getting HOT and have been running syn-3 in all 3 holes of my '09 Ultra and have been worrying about the heat. My question to you is do you think i should change to something else?
Thanks
Jim

 

I run Redline. Without getting into an oil thread, any thoughts on it?

 

I'm still running Syn3 in the "new" '09 street glide, but I run redline in the '00 Fatboy. In fact during the HOT Summer months, I run Redline 20-60

 

A friend had the same thing happen on his '09 that was fortunately in-warranty, but he was also on a trip. His noise disappeared when the clutch was disengaged. I wonder what years are most affected?

Dawg: We've been re-thinking primary oil lately, like which is best for the SE comp, etc. So what now? I've been using Castrol GTX 20w50 and at 25k I had my primary apart to replace a bad tranny mainshaft bearing, the big duplex bearing on the tranny side. The SE comp was also installed at that time. The tech who was doing the work in warranty said everything in the primary looked good, and now at 47k the primary remains trouble-free.

So what is the prevailing thought on primary fluid now? I've heard ATF and gear oil may not be good for use with the SE comp.

 

It happened twice on my 07 and 2nd time it tore the crap out of transmission bearings too but since then the tech recommend quality gear oil and I'm using Red line no problem since then. Tech said whoever gets hard on their 07s had this issue.But my warranty and ESP took care of it.