The great 60k Mechanical upgrade - 1130cc.com: The #1 Harley Davidson V-Rod Forum

**Daniii** · 10-06-2007, 08:25 PM

Well, after replacing the shift shaft (broken the last night of the KC rally), the bike would randomly jump into the next lower or upper gear! (See thread http://www.1130cc.com/forums/showthr...26#post1090526 for an explanation of what happened) Yikes. So, after consultation with Max, he gratefully agreed to assist (which means doing the heavy lifting - actually most of the lifting) in replacing the tranny with '08 parts. I rode the bike over to Max's this morning.
The bike has 56K miles on it, and has had regular service, all performed by the dealer, over its life. I was concerned, however about severa items;

1.) V-Gauge indicated voltage has been dropping, at times.

2.) Front motor mount is probably shot (everyone else's with this many miles is).

3.) The horizontal stabilizer engine mount at the front of the engine was cracked 40k miles ago. I patched it with JB weld at the time. I'm betting that it didn't hold.

4.) The clutch is probably worn.

5.) There are newer transmission upgrades that would be nice to have installed.

6.) The bike jumps outa gear!

So we loadad the bike on the bike stand in Max's garage, and went to work.

**Daniii** · 10-06-2007, 08:28 PM

First, Max looked at battery voltage, and we noticed quite a difference between V-Gauge indicated voltage and battery voltage. Decided this potential problem wasn't worthy of our attention.
Bike was loaded onto Max's stand, and we started disassembly. We took off the engine guards, then the right side frame, then the left. We (Max) took off the exhaust as a single piece, The parts are piling up.

**Daniii** · 10-06-2007, 08:31 PM

The radiator was an adventure. Yes, I have extra wiring. Mostly, it wasn't a problem.

**Daniii** · 10-06-2007, 08:35 PM

Yup, motor mount was shot. Finally cleared all stuff from front of engine. Batwing was waiting patiently in front of Max's compressor tank. We wrestled a bit, but finally freed the engine from the frame.

**Daniii** · 10-06-2007, 08:37 PM

Here is the heavy lifting I was discussing earlier. Bike looks lonely without the motor....

**Daniii** · 10-06-2007, 08:39 PM

She is coming apart.....

**Daniii** · 10-06-2007, 08:41 PM

Wow. Some of the case screws were really rusty. Split the cases. Digging down to the tranny....

**Daniii** · 10-06-2007, 08:46 PM

The main bearings look pretty good. No obvious problems with the transmission. Then Max discovered the spring on the shift mechanism has apparently slipped out of place, likely when we were replacing the shift shaft. So there is some roulette with the shaft replacements. Subsquently Max noticed the new part has springs that are longer, and probably can't slip out of place.

**Daniii** · 10-06-2007, 08:50 PM

The offending part. Hard to see, but the spring that resets the shift mechanism has slipped into a lower position. In theory, I suppose one could reset it from outside the case, but I doubt it. The new part probably can't do this. We (ie: Max) replaced all the transmissions shift parts with the new part number ones, Stronger, more beefy, longer springs, etc.

**Daniii** · 10-06-2007, 08:53 PM

After cleaning all surfaces, and aligning all required parts (counterweight has to be lined up with crank), gooping seam with HD assy glue cases are put back together.

balius · 10-06-2007, 08:54 PM

You must be exhausted after watching Max do all that work

Great thread, I liked how you stepped through the whole process. You are very lucky to have Max there to help you out! Nice to know these bikes can rack up the miles too. I am hoping to get 100k out of mine at least.

**Daniii** · 10-06-2007, 08:57 PM

All bolts are torqued per the book. Now the clutch. Seems I had several heat stressed (ie:blue) plates. Max, who apparently has the free world supply of used clutch parts, assembled a clutch set from the best of his and my plates. We used a clutch basket he had, as it wasn't as worn as mine. I thought about trying to get him to donate the new slipper clutch he had in his bike, but decided that was going too far. This new/rebuilt clutch will be good for another 50k miles.

**Daniii** · 10-06-2007, 09:00 PM

We had another, new, oil pump, and decided to use it. The old one was in pretty good shape, showing a little wear, but while we were in here.....

**Daniii** · 10-06-2007, 09:04 PM

The oil filter is a snap to remove when the engine is out of the frame...

Decided to perform the horizontal stabilizer upgrade. This involves drilling and tapping a hole below the existing stabilizer mount. Specs call for a 10M bolt. Lowes laughed when I asked if they had one. So we used 3/8" tap set instead. Its close enough, right? (I'll use a 3/8 bolt as well).

**Daniii** · 10-06-2007, 09:07 PM

Here are the parts we replaced. Max also put on a used, but in better shape than mine, 30 tooth sprocket.

Note; when we were replacing the water lines above the engine, we discovered that the clamp that holds the water lines to the front cylinder had almost vibrated through the aluminum tubing! We reinforced the clamp area with sheet rubber.

Thats it for tonite. Total time spent in actual work, about 8 hours. I estimate another 4 easy hours to finish. That will be tomorrow morning.