swingarm bushings

[headheaded]

anyone seeing this problem on their tri-glide ? mine have failed at 3500 miles. not very much quality here and i'm very disappointed in this bike so far.

 

[nucseal]

What year and do you have pics?

Nuc

 

[DK Custom Products]

What year and do you have pics?

Nuc

I'm interested in the same info also.

I have put over 100,000 hard miles on some TG's and never had a failed (or excessively worn) swingarm bushing.

I have seen them look like they were bad...not centered....but the look like that new.

Kevin

 

[rhino 2]

Way back when in another Harley Forum a few years ago...There was talk about that... And the consciences was their supposed to be off center..[Asymmetrical]...But not pieces of the bushings falling off...:Shrug:

 

[headheaded]

2015 tri-glide and i popped the caps off the bushings and they are ate up and all but gone. i could feel it in the rear end while riding. the belt is showing uneven wear pattern and that's what tipped me off.

there are pic's on another forum that look exactly like my failed bushings. they can't get my bike in until the 28th and then they will order parts. bikes gonna be down for at least 2 1/2 weeks.

i wonder how many people even look at these before feeling anything ? better take a look at yours. what really drives me crazy is someone else will be working on my bike ,besides me. drives me nuts ! but it's under warrenty so f--kem.

i could understand if it had 30,000 miles on it , but 3500 and they are shot ? anyway it looks like i'm not going to be riding it for a while. maybe if i ride it and it tears up the frame they will replace it . the piviot shaft is just banging around inside the frame now. i'm so pissed i could beat this piece of crap with a bat.

had plans for next week, nothing big, but christ when you pay this kind of money for something there should be better engineering behind it. i have not had this many problems with my pans ,shovels, evos, but the last two twinkies are pushing me.

as i've said before i might buy back my evo and trike it and get away from this harley crap engineering. this just piss's me off to no end! thank you guys for letting me vent, the wifes tired of hearing it . i need another beer !

 

[headheaded]

I'm interested in the same info also.

I have put over 100,000 hard miles on some TG's and never had a failed (or excessively worn) swingarm bushing.

I have seen them look like they were bad...not centered....but the look like that new.

Kevin

i know what you mean about the new ones , but i have pieces of rubber coming out from under the cap and you can look right though what's left of them.

 

[Mykneesbehurtin]

I replaced the swingarm bushings in my 01 Road Glide with a kit from Custom Cycle Engineering,does anyone make this for a trike.It was a spherical bearing I think in stead of bushings.

 

[PosseRider]

anyone seeing this problem on their tri-glide ? mine have failed at 3500 miles. not very much quality here and i'm very disappointed in this bike so far.

3500 miles & shot !!!!! Just turned 10,000 on my 16, guess I better check.

 

[headheaded]

I'm interested in the same info also.

I have put over 100,000 hard miles on some TG's and never had a failed (or excessively worn) swingarm bushing.

I have seen them look like they were bad...not centered....but the look like that new.

Kevin

maybe if my kid stop by i can get him to take some pic's and post them. have you looked under that cap on your trikes ? i know you out some big miles on your rides.

 

[headheaded]

I'm interested in the same info also.

I have put over 100,000 hard miles on some TG's and never had a failed (or excessively worn) swingarm bushing.

I have seen them look like they were bad...not centered....but the look like that new.

Kevin

maybe if my kid stops by i can get him to take some pic's and post them. have you looked under that cap on your trikes ? i know you out some big miles on your rides.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Man, that is a bummer that the bushings are all ate up. Personally I would keep riding it if they can't service it right away. I doubt it will cause any other problems, and I don't think it is a safety issue at all.

If it does cause more problems, well, they should have taken care of it right away, and they'll just have to take care of any secondary issues under the warranty also.

I'm more inclined to think it is an assembly issue or alignment issue more than a fundamentally defective design.

I remember checking my 2011 many years ago and was surprised to see if off center, but if I recall correctly, the design does not call for them be centered.

On my '11 there was very little wear on my rubber bushings...there was some, but it was very little.

That TG had a lot of hard miles on it. All the way to the arctic circle and back, Yukon Territories, countless powerslides and wheelies, over 10K miles pulling a trailer, and over 50K miles total when it was last looked at.

I just went out and looked at my 2014. It has not seen any easier riding...my favorite thing is to power thru the curves, and if I'm lucky to break the back end loose and drift. This puts a LOT of lateral stress on the swingarm.

It has close to 45k miles on it, and you can see in the photos below that the rubber bushings are in very good shape. There was a very small amount of rubber shavings in the bottom, but not enough to fill a thimble between the two of them.

Left Side-

Right Side-

Kevin

 

[rhino 2]

All this talk about the swing arm bushing, On this forum and other forum's finally got me to bend down to look at mine...43 thousand miles 2011 Tri=Glide....Just like i did a year or two ago when this came up on Forums...

And what i noticed today.... Was just what i noticed a year ago... A little wear on the outside of the bushings..[Not enough to worry about] And just like a year ago the center nut was off center......So in my case...Only ''Mine''...I consider it normal...:Shrug:

 

[Lee H. Mann]

TRIGLIDE swingaarm bushings

http://www.triketalk.com/forum/threads/32119-Possible-suspension-problem

 

[Lee H. Mann]

TRIGLIDE swingarm bushings

http://www.triketalk.com/forum/threads/32119-Possible-suspension-problem

 

[MikeyTX]

Changed for '16 ?

This is interesting to say the least. My '16 has over 20k miles in less than a year w/o issue (knocks on wood ). Makes me wonder if the mo-co made a quiet change for the '16 MY. It would not be something they would highlight !

 

[PosseRider]

Just went out and checked mine. 2016 Tri 10,000 miles. Looks great, & centered. Can't imagine what would make a 3500 mile bike look that bad as yours.

 

[MikeyTX]

Bill, at least you and I have '16 MY.

 

[headheaded]

i'm wondering why some of us are seeing shredded bits of rubber in there and others are not. i took some measurements on my trike and it looks like the swingarm is cocked and 1/4 of an inch to the right. it's not the axle, it's even on both sides. it' looks as if the entire rearend is turned to the right at the swingarm with slop on the left side bushing. i'll find out tomorrow when it goes in.

 

[Lee H. Mann]

The engine, transmission and swing-arm once assembled are contiguous.

Can you move or shift the swing-arm without disturbing the transmission ?

Any movement of the swing-arm should also be present in the engine and transmission assembly unless you have an actual swing-arm spherical bearing failure or tail housing of the transmission is broken.

This thread is almost 10 days old and nobody has found anything ????

It sounds like you may have a bad stabilizer link (broken bolts) or bad engine mounts in the front.:Shrug:

 

[headheaded]

i can watch the entire left side of the pivotshaft move up and down if i jack the bike up. the right doesn't move. when i jack it up the pivot shaft lines up with where it should be all the time. once you set the weight of the bike on it it moves way forward and up. i'm sure it's putting a strain on the other motor mounts. something going on with it for sure. i know all those rubber pieces should not be in there.

 

[Lee H. Mann]

i can watch the entire left side of the pivotshaft move up and down if i jack the bike up. the right doesn't move. when i jack it up the pivot shaft lines up with where it should be all the time. once you set the weight of the bike on it it moves way forward and up. i'm sure it's putting a strain on the other motor mounts. something going on with it for sure. i know all those rubber pieces should not be in there.

I AM WONDERING IF THE LEFT REAR ENGINE MOUNT (ALSO THE SWING-ARM MOUNT) HAS BECOME UNATTACHED TO THE LARGE STEEL BASE WASHER ...

 

[Papa Zook]

i can watch the entire left side of the pivotshaft move up and down if i jack the bike up. the right doesn't move. when i jack it up the pivot shaft lines up with where it should be all the time. once you set the weight of the bike on it it moves way forward and up. i'm sure it's putting a strain on the other motor mounts. something going on with it for sure. i know all those rubber pieces should not be in there.

Where are you placing your jack contact point when you jack it up?

 

[headheaded]

Where are you placing your jack contact point when you jack it up?

i placed the jack under the left side of the frame and the right just to see how much movement is there. lots more on the left side. the dealer called early this morning and asked if i would like to see what they found, i jumped right in the truck and went down there. swingarm pivot shaft was loose. they are going to install new bushing on both sides. hope to have it back by the wekend. they are looking at all the trike on the lot and showroom floor right now and are seeing the same issue on some of them. at least with a new bike they could just retorque the pivot shaft, at least that's what they told me. it's not over till it's over though.

 

[MikeyTX]

crazy this is happening to some and not all.

 

[rhino 2]

crazy this is happening to some and not all.

If it was happening to all then there would be a recall... Sometimes things just happen!

Just like reverse motors , Some fail...

And many don't...Sh*t just happens sometimes' even to nice people..:Shrug:

 

[wlibert]

My swing arm is moving every time I try and set the belt deflection. You can't see it move but it's moving. The two spots used to measure proper axle alignment remain set to with in spec. but the belt deflection can't be set as soon as the pinch bolts are tightened the belt gets too tight.

I started the thread below as well as one on another forum. The one on the other forum asked for some help from other members. I wanted some members to remove the plastic caps on the ends of the swing arm pivot shaft, take some pictures and send them to me via email. I received multiple emails with pictures and they all show the same thing, a large amount of rubber shavings under the caps. The thread below contains some of the pictures I got as well as a picture from a member that was able to get his fixed. His dealer took pictures of the rubber shavings and the destroyed bearings inside the single are.

Mine is in the shop now and the dealer is waiting on parts. Based on just the pictures of the rubber shavings I sent them they felt that there was adequate proof something is wrong and then they looked at the pictures of the bearings and that sealed the deal.

I won't declare victory on mine until I've ridden two or three hundred mile. I slo have a complaint open with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and they recommend that other people that are seeing this concern file a separate complaint and reference my complaint number. The website and my complaint number can be found in the link below.

http://www.triketalk.com/forum/threads/42882-Swing-arm-complaint-has-been-submitted-to-NHTSA

 

[wlibert]

If it was happening to all then there would be a recall... Sometimes things just happen!

Just like reverse motors , Some fail...

And many don't...Sh*t just happens sometimes' even to nice people..:Shrug:

crazy this is happening to some and not all.

I started this whole swing arm issue via post on another forum. I found rubber shavings behind the plastic caps that cover the ends of the swing arm pivot shaft. In the post on the other forum I asked members to pop the plastic caps on their trikes and email me pictures. I got several responses. There is another thread on this forum about filing a complaint with NHTSA. I have made attempts to raise awareness about what some of us are seeing but finding a vehicle to do that has proven to be more of a challenge that I thought. Posting on a forum isn't going to get the proper exposure. A good portion of the population with HD trikes don't belong to forums.

The biggest issue see is that there is no reason to pull those caps off. I was informed the parts between the caps are design to last 100,000 miles so unless someone has an alignment issue or trouble setting belt deflection properly they will never know. I believe the rubber shavings the we are seeing start occurring before enough swing arm bear damage down that it may go unnoticed.

My commitment in doing what I started went above my own own trike to help others find out if they have the problem of not and if they do to give them direction on how to file their own complaint and reference mine. Getting the NHTSA involved is the only thing I've been able to find to possibly raise some awareness. The letters 'NHTSA' are at then end of the subject for the thread I created

 

[wlibert]

All this talk about the swing arm bushing, On this forum and other forum's finally got me to bend down to look at mine...43 thousand miles 2011 Tri=Glide....Just like i did a year or two ago when this came up on Forums...

And what i noticed today.... Was just what i noticed a year ago... A little wear on the outside of the bushings..[Not enough to worry about] And just like a year ago the center nut was off center......So in my case...Only ''Mine''...I consider it normal...:Shrug:

I started this talk here and on another forum and my request on the other forum was for 2014 to 2016 Rushmore trikes. I got several response from the other forum with pictures but they were all Rushmore trikes. I am not sure if limiting my original request on another forum was the proper thing to do but I did get pictures and from people and them brought them here. I don't have anyway to raise more awareness about this though. I don't feel like publishing it on forums will raise enough awareness. I tend to believe that a large number of trike owner don't belong to forums.

 

[Mykneesbehurtin]

I have a 17 so this thread peaked my interest so I pooped the plugs off and looked .At 5300 miles clean as new with no rubber or steel shavings.I will try to keep an eye on it every 1000 miles.

 

[headheaded]

I have a 17 so this thread peaked my interest so I pooped the plugs off and looked .At 5300 miles clean as new with no rubber or steel shavings.I will try to keep an eye on it every 1000 miles.

was it painfull when you pooped those plugs out ? sorry, couldn't help myself .