Anyone that thinks the engineers at Harvey Dawson know what they are doing has reality problems, I got some water front property in Kansas I would like to sell.

 

Sorry for the hijack, but Barbara, I have both the dash temp gauge and oil filler temp gauge and they seem to contradict each other. The dash gauge will read 240 and at the same time the filler says 260. I have tested the filler gauge by inserting it in water while bringing it to a boil. As soon as the filler gauge temp hits 212 the waters rolling. Are the dash gauges more accurate? I really don't know since short of hooking an analog gauge directly to the dash gauge sump connection, I'm not sure how to go about testing it for accuracy.

T

 

Well after getting the last of my Mod's done I finally got to get the Tri out in some 95+ degree weather. Coming back from Paducah KY. running 1 up 80 miles per hour my oil temperature was running at or near 270 degrees. It's frustrating to watch it climb that high and wonder if I'm going to damage the engine with these kind of temp's. I did back it off for a while to 65 MPH but it did not make any difference in the oil temperature.
I also notice that I have a little oil dripping from my air cleaner and landing on my pipes and rear fender. Don't know if the heat is the problem or something else is wrong.
I still have the stock Harley oil cooler but looks from what I have read that I will be buying the new Jagg. I really like this bike but not happy about the money I have already spent on it to cool it down.
By the way the wrap on the head pipes is really doing the job. Even on that hot day with the high oil and air temperature my leg was comfortable.
Also running 80 MPH, I could almost watch the gas gauge go down. I'm sure I was not getting over 25 miles per gallon.
OK I'm done. Still love the bike and will do what's necessary to cool it down.

 

WOW, I never know I was such an idiot. Guess believing in a company that has been around 108 years pales in the knowledge some of the experts here on the internet. I guess all I have to do is buy a brand new motorcycle, take the engine apart, new cams, lifters, push rods, exhaust, headers, and God knows what else. If I wanted to go really fast I'd have bought a Ducate... used to have one, or a crotch rocket. If I wanted a true cruiser I'd have bought a Gold Wing. I am fully aware that a Harley Davidson engine is based on 1940's technology. Hell, they would probably still have points and carburetors if the Federal Government would mind its own business. I bought this Harley and the dozen before it because I'm a Harley snob. I don't want a water cooled, smooth idling, plastic coated motorcycle.

But then, I'm just an idiot that believes that a 100+ year old company must know something about motorcycles that a back yard wrench doesn't. I'm constantly amazed how much money people will throw at a non-problem. I'm sure the Engineers at HD would really like to leave the Catalytic Converter out of their motorcycles, they can't sell them if they don't put them in there. I'm sure they would love to richen up the mixture, but they can't sell them if they do. I'm sure they would love to water cool their motors, just like Honda, but I wouldn't buy one if they did.

My Tri-Glides "FELT" hot, so I put oil temp gages in them. Neither the 09 or 11 run much hotter than 260* here in So. Cal. in the summer. If it heats up in traffic, a little open road riding gets it right back down. If your bike / trike is constantly running 300+ degrees, something is wrong! If your dealer says that 300* is normal, FIND ANOTHER DEALER If you live out here, Antelope Harley in Victorville does a great job. I drive 45 miles to that dealer instead of Old Road Harley that is 5 minutes down the road, or Glendale Harley that is 22 miles from here.

 

2010 on all domestic and imports will have the cats, Harley had no choice as you said! The 70 year old air pump don't lend itself to EPA tinkering but whadda ya going to do. I spent a little money to get some peace of mind about extended life, won't know if I wasted my money or not until it hits 100,000 with no tear down.
I had a KZ 1000 I still dream about, nightmares mostly! Scary damn fast! I ordered my last HD carbureted back in 03 so I could mod and rejet until I found it's sweet spot.
Hell we know it's not an old school world anymore but we can't resist tearing into them and see if we can't undo what the EPA did to them.

It ain't brain surgery when you think about it, the police departments slapped larger oil cooler's and parade fans on their bikes years ago for idling around in the city. Nobody on here reinvented the wheel. Then again the water cooled metrics are taking a lot of those sales now. I bought the Harley because I won't buy a bike that is not built in the USA, the victory is butt ugly and no dealer network so HD sold me another one.

Something to blog about and we know the next round of EPA standards may finish the old air pump off. VW lost the battle years ago with thier old air cooled engine. HD will roll out something, these in between bike/trikes will have lived in between the pre EPA bikes and whatever new engine HD comes out with that meets the standards and will still sell.

Two camps, it ain't really that hot and it's burning my azz up! I owned enough to know what hot is, in my case was. Mine works for me, whoever owns it after me can take it back stock and slap the cat back on it. My right leg feels so good right now I don't even think about the cost of the cooling mods.

 

I must missed something in my thermodynamics classes. Let me see if I understand your screwball idea, I mean your idea screwball, if your bike is running hot take the temp gauge off and that will fix it. HD knows what they are doing, like the sprocket change everyone is doing that took them 3 years to come up with. Putting the cat 2 inches from your right foot, thats rocket science. This could go on and on I am sure that the industry will all go to pushrods and drop that stupid over head cam nonsense and get rid of thoes radiators and drop thoes gear drive primarys for dual row chain and drive shafts for belts. You can ride this scooter for a lot of reasons not for engineering or reliablity or rider comfort, you have to ride it because you just like it. MOCO is not interested in making a high tech machine or customer satisfaction. After market companies come up with better ideas every day and people put them on to improve their equipment don't put people down for making improvements you don't understand. If you like your HD company so well and want to ride your machine stock, good for you. Some people fight progress and always will.

 

Harley Davidson will also state the 300 degree temp is within operating limits, I know because my dads was running 300 degrees and they said it was fine. Once we finished the needed mods his temp doesn't go above 230 when its in the high 90's out.

 

I ain't catholic so I have no concept of the unpardonable sin, however I don't believe it is saying anything negative about Harley Davidson.

When they get it wrong, their fault, EPA's fault or their parts importers, I will point it out. When you buy one you bought the right to do so. Not the same catgory as a non bike owner or a metric rider. Harley did some lazy engineering when meeting the new EPA Standards on an air cooled engine. They just copycatted the automotive and slapped a cat on them, of course the automotive have the advantage of being water cooled. I don't have the answer but then again I don't have to sell them to eat. The heat is not a figment of the imagination when you have this many people complaining about it.

 

Some people are spending $1500 to $2000 because their right foot gets too hot, voiding any warranty they would have. Having the dealer do it means nothing. The MoCo is the last word on warranty work.

I took off my lower fairings for the summer. No more hot foot.

Some folks complain about their trikes lake of pick-up and go, so they spend between $500 and a Grand to change their primary drive sprocket, re-calibrate their speedo, and do whatever else is necessary so they can drag race other trikes. I guess I'm just too old to care about neck snapping acceleration. Last year on a 2000 mile ride around the Grand Canyon the '09 trike just ran great. This year in September hopefully the '09 and '11 trikes will do as well.

Been a member of this board or 6 years, mostly in the 2 wheeler sections. I can't believe the number of posts I've put into these "Too Hot" threads. Time for me to quit worrying about everyone else's scoot.

 

No need to worry about our TG. We are doing just fine. Please don't quit posting. I find your posts rather interesting. I don't generally agree but you are entitled to your opinion as I am mine.

I am not interested in drag racing nor am I interested in riding a slug which I believe in stock form they are. There are alot of smart folks on this board and you don't have to wotk nor HD to know how to upgrade them. Possibly they could learn something from reading the posts on this board.

HD knew they screwed up on the 09 and 10 trikes because they changed the pulley for 2011.