Raining today so I decided to swap the aluminum shims for a teflon shim that will be reusable and gives a more snug fit. Both completely eliminated the racket from the top tree/stem.

WOW, they stuck with the design of the first shitty tree, made it beefier and added a shim? Next, you'll tell me the tree is tapered for the tapered spanner nut! Geniuses they have for engineers :laugh: . Good fix if it works by the way.

Excuse me for asking, but it is the top tree were looking are here?, (I know it's an R) that's why the pic looks unfamiliar.
Let us know how the teflon works out.

Raining today so I decided to swap the aluminum shims for a teflon shim that will be reusable and gives a more snug fit. Both completely eliminated the racket from the top tree/stem.

It is generally quite difficult to keep a Teflon (PTFE) shim tight due to material creep. Are you worried about this?

Excuse me for asking, but it is the top tree were looking are here?, (I know it's an R) that's why the pic looks unfamiliar.
Let us know how the teflon works out.

Now that you mention it, and I took a double take on the pic, it looks like the bottom tree since it has a fork stop. Hmmm...

So that means the klunk is in the bottom tree, and less audible. Brilliance.

[QUOTE=Cheatin]WOW, they stuck with the design of the first shitty tree, made it beefier and added a shim? QUOTE]

I guess they stuck with shitty design but they didn't add the aluminum shim, I did. I just removed it cuz it was difficult to get the area around the stem completely packed with the stuff I used the first time.

Excuse me for asking, but it is the top tree were looking are here?, (I know it's an R) that's why the pic looks unfamiliar.
Let us know how the teflon works out.

Yes, looking at the top of the top tree, right between the risers.

It is generally quite difficult to keep a Teflon (PTFE) shim tight due to material creep. Are you worried about this?

Actually I'm not sure if its teflon, I picked up a chunk out of the trash at work. It might turn out to be too soft, but the upside was it deformed enough to let a less than perfect size pack into the void by turning down the top nut. I'm hoping it won't mush due to the fact that there isn't anywhere for it to go.

I'll probably keep an eye for a similarly sized brass bushing or something, do you have an opinion on something more suitable?

Is the picture below correct (taken from the V-Rod manual)? If it is then that's a novel approach.

I would have expected the taper on the spider nut to take of the slack considering the top bolt is torqued down pretty good but maybe it walks on that taper.

Mark I was looking at that too, it seems that the R's are backwards from the rest of the bikes. The adjustment is on the bottom? Would this make a differance?

Is the picture below correct (taken from the V-Rod manual)? If it is then that's a novel approach.

I would have expected the taper on the spider nut to take of the slack considering the top bolt is torqued down pretty good but maybe it walks on that taper.

Hopefully another pic will clear up the layout of the R trees and fork lock.

Someone else on the forum had suggested the shim as a fix for the klunk, details were a little vague but I think I imitated their fix.

Brief background of my bike's problem: checked for clunk at dealership upon purchase, no clunk. About 100 miles into the road home it showed up, took it to the local dealership, they said they had just fixed one with the same problem and knew just what to do. They dicked with it for about 3-4hrs and it only took 2 blocks for the problem to reappear.

I initially installed aluminum shims in the same location as the teflon, it worked equally well but I was bored today so I swapped the shim.

I'm only assuming the shim is what eliminated the noise, I suppose its possible that I torqued the top nut to a different spec (60 ft/lbs) and that is what made the difference.

In either case, I've put nearly a hundred miles on each shim type and both kept the front end completely quiet.

Thanks for the pic, helped to clear things for me.

Thanks for the extra picture, it is the same issue across the range. Its very poor that HD are still drilling holes too big.

Thanks for the extra picture, it is the same issue across the range. Its very poor that HD are still drilling holes too big.

Ya gotta wonder how much the factory knows about the problem. The V-Rod "expert" at the dealership where I purchased didn't know squat about the problem and got somewhat indignant when told it seemed fairly common.

I noticed that the fork leg only goes into the top tree about half way, just barely above the bottom pinch bolt. That has to contribute to whatever is flexing in the front end to cause the noise.

Ah well, even with this design isuue, the bike is dead nuts stable at speed and heeled way over in bumpy corners. I love riding it, its just a huge amount of fun.

Are we talking about the rattling/clunking sound when you hit medium sized bumps? I noticed it too yesterday. Maybe I should print this thread out and take it up to the dealership...

Are we talking about the rattling/clunking sound when you hit medium sized bumps? I noticed it too yesterday. Maybe I should print this thread out and take it up to the dealership...

My bike would make the noise over bumps, applying the brakes, or just compressing the forks while holding the front brake. NOT just the noise from the springs or brakes, but a loud noise at the top tree.

Ya gotta wonder how much the factory knows about the problem. The V-Rod "expert" at the dealership where I purchased didn't know squat about the problem and got somewhat indignant when told it seemed fairly common.

I noticed that the fork leg only goes into the top tree about half way, just barely above the bottom pinch bolt. That has to contribute to whatever is flexing in the front end to cause the noise.

Ah well, even with this design isuue, the bike is dead nuts stable at speed and heeled way over in bumpy corners. I love riding it, its just a huge amount of fun.

det,

Which 'expert' dealer are we talking about? LOL

det,

Which 'expert' dealer are we talking about? LOL

I had a phone conversation with the Rod tech in Coos Bay. He didn't impress me but the sales staff was great, beat out the local dealers buy a big chunk of change.

On the other hand, the local techs at Paradise took the bike right in with no appointment and gave it their best shot. Good guys, their fix just didn't last for far.

I have found much better luck with the techs over at Latus motors. They seem to be a bit more on top of it.

We have five R's sold thru our shop now and every one had triple clunk right out of the box, no miles!. These were just retorqued, one bike twice because it clunked soon again.. Until now nobody including me had no looseness after that. At which miles your bikes clunks existed again? All up here have very few miles because of our late riding season start.

I rode the R that we have in stock the other day and thought the front end was going to fall off. Hit the brakes, klunk!, and the bars moved forward about a 1/8". Hit the gas and klunk!, the bars moved back about twice as far!

All it wound up being was the trees weren't even close to being snugged down properly and they hadn't seated the bearings. Took two tries to get it right but then they popped into place. Put about 25 miles on it after that and never heard a hint of noise from the front end.

You can tell by looking at the nut on the top if the bearings are seated properly.

Ya gotta wonder how much the factory knows about the problem. The V-Rod "expert" at the dealership where I purchased didn't know squat about the problem and got somewhat indignant when told it seemed fairly common.
I have a co worker who has a Wide Glide and a Heritage Softail, Guess what, He says they both clunk.

They had to play with mine a few times to get it right. Been good last 15,000 miles.

If you watch the Birth of the Vrod , the guy was using a hammer and punch to put the correct pre load on the bearings. Wonder why we have problems?