Has the MoCo resolved its crankshaft issues?

[LA VIC]

I have a 2002 SERK and am seriously considering a new dresser. It's been the best bike I've ever owned but with the number of quality issues Harley has had I don't know yet if they'll get my money next time. My dilemma is if I buy a new Ultra and upgrade to a 103" package do I have to worry about the crankshaft in the future. I'm ultimately looking for about 100hp/100tq in a stone reliable package. As far as upgrading the bottom end, no way. If I have to do that I'll either keep what I have of look elsewhere. If anyone has any solid technical info on what Harley has done or is going to do I would be grateful.

[route66paul]

You have what many consider to be the last of the good ones. the crank is in the better lasting bearings and if you have fuel injection, it is the Delphi, which is superior. If your bike is comfortable, I would consider doing a 95 or 98 in build. If you have the heads ported, use a good exhaust(not true duals), have a full flow air filter and a good cam, you should get close. 90/95 is typical. There are builders that promise 100/100, but you need TB and other work for that.

Mine runs with the best of them. Many of the guys that claimed 100/100 were not as fast as mine and mine dynoed at 90/95.


If you really want it to run, you could put a stroker crank in, just use a beefy one, not the stock Harley one. An ultima 6 sp works well also.

In today's market, you won't get near what you think your bike is worth on trade in or even selling it private party. Harleys were made to overhaul, do a good job and you will have a strong runner.

The only thing that the new bikes really have going for them is the abs brakes and better radio.

It depends on what you want out of a bike. I wish I had an 02 dresser.

[extech]

Last of the good ones> 1998
1999 and later> Plastic Glides

[LA VIC]

I have read 2002 was a good year. My issues is I'm ready to step up to full fairing, trunk, stereo. I would like to start taking longer trips with the wife and the RK won't quite cut it.

[Colonel Sanders]

The stock crank is a crap shot for any year, IMO. My '01 died at 15,000 miles only the last 2000 of which was at 112 HP. Most hold up better...some don't.

[brownjams]

http://www.dragonflycycleconcepts.com/fairings.htm

[Coolmaker]

Originally Posted by brownjams

http://www.dragonflycycleconcepts.com/fairings.htm

[seamonkeyman]

I am curious as to whether MOCO has done anything to improve the crankshaft quality issues as well. I have heard bupkus of late.

Any experts care to chime in on the MOCO crankshaft issue?

Personally, if I had a 02 SERK I would build it the way I wanted with the dragonfly, custom tourpack and better digital gear & comms systems. I would leave the crank alone and do the easy part of the build like chain cam with new tensioners, reworked heads, air cleaner, two into one exhaust and a dyno tune.

You could have a ripper tourer, that you could strip down in minutes back to bar hopper and an economical build with reliability.

Let us know what you end up doing!!

Cheers

[muleskinner]

Gee after reading this post I guess I'll go sell my 07 Street Glide, as I guess it should be junk by years end. Please, give me a break. What is happening here is typical internet story telling. If you leave the engine alone like Harley designed it, and not try to make it put out big huge HP numbers, it will be just fine. There are lot's of good stock high milage Harleys running around that are later models than 2002. (I own two myself)

With the advent of the Internet, it only takes a small number of folks having a few problems for the story to get all blown out of shape. Now I'm not saying no one has had problems, but to say later models are junk is a huge leap.

Harley V-Twin single crank pin engines were never intended to put out huge HP numbers at high RPM and be survivable. If you want to go fast on a cruiser type motorcycle and make big numbers, get one of the late model metric cruisers. The water cooled, modern designed engines in those bikes will make big HP numbers if you want and not have the problems that an old design, air cooled motor will. But, they are ugly and I would not have one. I don't care what you do to them, they are not a Harley! Give Harley a break and just ride them like they were intended to be ridden. (With a stage one mod of course. And maybe a fueling device)

[claydbal]

Originally Posted by muleskinner

Gee after reading this post I guess I'll go sell my 07 Street Glide, as I guess it should be junk by years end. Please, give me a break. What is happening here is typical internet story telling. If you leave the engine alone like Harley designed it, and not try to make it put out big huge HP numbers, it will be just fine. There are lot's of good stock high milage Harleys running around that are later models than 2002. (I own two myself)

With the advent of the Internet, it only takes a small number of folks having a few problems for the story to get all blown out of shape. Now I'm not saying no one has had problems, but to say later models are junk is a huge leap.

Harley V-Twin single crank pin engines were never intended to put out huge HP numbers at high RPM and be survivable. If you want to go fast on a cruiser type motorcycle and make big numbers, get one of the late model metric cruisers. The water cooled, modern designed engines in those bikes will make big HP numbers if you want and not have the problems that an old design, air cooled motor will. But, they are ugly and I would not have one. I don't care what you do to them, they are not a Harley! Give Harley a break and just ride them like they were intended to be ridden. (With a stage one mod of course. And maybe a fueling device)

i make lots of money thanks to the chinese cranks in 07-08 harleys. it is typical to see stock 96 inch motors with almost no oil pressure, vibration, and pinion runout over .012-- HD's latest adjustment--many of these motors have less that 10.000 miles and were ridden like grandma. fact is---- they are junk.

[claydbal]

Originally Posted by route66paul

You have what many consider to be the last of the good ones. the crank is in the better lasting bearings and if you have fuel injection, it is the Delphi, which is superiout. If your bike is comfortable, I would consider doing a 95 or 98 in build. If you have the heads ported, use a good exhaust(not true duals), have a full flow air filter and a good cam, you should get close. 90/95 is typical. There are builders that promise 100/100, but you need TB and other work for that.

Mine runs with the best of them. Many of the guys that claimed 100/100 were not as fast as mine and mine dynoed at 90/95.


If you really want it to run, you could put a stroker crank in, just use a beefy one, not the stock Harley one. An ultima 6 sp works well also.

In today's market, you won't get near what you think your bike is worth on trade in or even selling it private party. Harleys were made to overhaul, do a good job and you will have a strong runner.

The only thing that the new bikes really have going for them is the abs brakes and better radio.

It depends on what you want out of a bike. I wish I had an 02 dresser.

im with you paul. a true 95 # tq dresser in the 2800-4800 rpm range is whippin some serious new bike butt!!

[muleskinner]

Originally Posted by claydbal

i make lots of money thanks to the chinese cranks in 07-08 harleys. it is typical to see stock 96 inch motors with almost no oil pressure, vibration, and pinion runout over .012-- HD's latest adjustment--many of these motors have less that 10.000 miles and were ridden like grandma. fact is---- they are junk.

That's interesting. A good friend of mine is the general manager of the HD dealer where I buy my bikes. (And no I don't just know him because I buy bikes there) I asked his service manager about issues with the new TC motors before I bought both my new 05 RK for my wife and again when I bought my new 07 SG. I was particularly interested in the 07 SG, as I had read on this forum and other HD forums, that the engines and transmissions were junk and having a lot of problems.

He told me the only problems he has seen regarding cranks and cam shaft tensioner problems is on a small number of bikes that the owners reved the crap out of. He said he has also seen very few new six speeds, other than the early Dynas, that have a fifth gear whine problem.

Now I know you will tell me the dealer service manager is lieing to me, but he has no reason to. If the service manager was, my buddy would tell me so. Both of my twin cams seem to run fine with no engine problems what so ever. My 05 has close to 20,000 miles on it.

To make sure I was not being lied to, as I'm always checking the information I get with several sources, I also called and spoke with a very well respected long time HD engine builder who is a contributer to this site about the crankshaft concern. He told me unless I start really making some HP out of my 96" that I should not be concerned with the reported crank problems everyone on this site is talkling about.

So,,I believe either you are seeing bikes that the owners want the cranks done to make sure they have no problems on build ups, or bikes that have had the crap ran out of them, or engines that have been modified to high HP levels.

It would be interesting to look into HD's warrantee files to see how many claims all of their dealers have made for crank shaft problems in the twin cam engines. That in itself would seperate real facts from fiction.

[route66paul]

Why did they change thier acceptable runout from .004 to .012? These cranks are just not strong enough and do not have a decent quality control. In the 40s and 50s with wornout machinery was one thing, but in todays world that is substandard for any engine powering anything on American highways. HD is banking on people buying these bikes and driving them fewer than 3000 mi a year, so many of these bikes won't even have 10k on them by the time the warranty ran out.

For many of these, even that doesn't help them. The dealer just says "They all do that", and pretty soon riding season is over and this poor guy is worried about Christmas and skiing. Next summer, it is the same thing, in and out of the dealer and nothing done. This is shameful

[04GLIDE]

IMHO I wouldn't buy a new bike right now. Not unless I could afford a new welded crank with timkin upgrade. I have over 60,000 on my current bike and when it lets go I will go completely through the motor with crank mods for sure. I don't see it letting go anytime soon. But I have plans for when it does.

Keep your 02 SERK and add a fairing and tourpak.

[muleskinner]

I'm not going to stand up for the MoCo when they are wrong or putting out bad products with poor workman ship, but I also refuse to buy into the hype that any HD bike manufactured after 2002 is junk. I got off of a 2005 Honda ST1300 that makes the 2008 HD motorcycle technoligy look like something from the 40's. But, I wanted the old technoligy look and feel. I wanted a bike I could work on to personalize. If I had wanted a perfect, needs nothing, modern motorcycle I would have stayed with what I had.

So far I like my new street glide. It's a nice bike. So far I've had NO problems with it. My wife's 2005 road king custom is also a nice bike that she has had NO problems with. The people on the street that ride late model, post 2002 Harleys I speak with like thier bikes also. The dealer seems to not have the problems to the extent that some say are out there. So I say the later than 2002 HD bikes are most likely no better or worse than the pre 2002 HD bikes. But that is just an opinion and like ass holes, everyone has one.

Now if a precieved problem with crank shaft run out or shift is going to stop you from buying a new HD bike, then so be it. But in my humble opinion, you are the one that is loosing out. The new bikes are nice and a LOT of folks are buying them. But far be it for me to say you should not just go find a nice clean pre 2002 HD bike and be happy with it.

But, in the mean time, I will be out riding my nice clean, well running, new 2007 HD stage one Street Glide down the road. And most likely like everyone else that rides HD bikes, down the road I will be taking the engine apart and putting high performanc parts into it. So when my crank breaks, I will then build an engine that puts out more HP. That's what we do. That's why the MoCo is making the big bucks. Otherwise we would all be riding modern water cooled metric bikes like the smart folks do. How boring!