| Author | Message | ||
     Mattmcc00 |
Does this sound right to you? Dealer says that due to having 16,900km on the bike the steering head bearings are not a warrentable repair. They are regular mainteneance. Dealer is charging me $600 smakers. | ||
| Froggy |
Why do yours need replacement? I got 65,000km on mine, and checked them the other day as i replaced the trees due to hitting a car, and they still are fine. | ||
| Froggy |
Oh and they should be covered under warranty anyway. | ||
| Mattmcc00 |
dealer says that they received an email from the company stating: "Due to the mileage on the motorcycle the steering head bearing replacement is not a warrantyable repair as it is maintenance" Now what? what can I do? | ||
| Slowride |
I would contact Buell Customer Service and verify or get a reference number for replacement. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
Buell customer service no longer exists. But Buell warranties are unlimited mileage are they not? So stating that "due to mileage, they are not covered" is a completely false statement. | ||
| Cyclonedon |
Dealer is charging me $600 smakers. for just replacing the steering head bearings? Wow! that sounds extremely high! Maybe some others that have had it done can comment on here. I don't think the bearings are $50.00 and it shouldn't take more than an hour of labor to replace. anyone had this done at a dealer before? | ||
| Arcticktm |
I have never in my life heard of steering head bearings being a normal replacement or wear item. Yes, there is a maintenance check for proper torque, but there is no other requirement or service mentioned in the owners or service manual (at least on my '06 versions). Sounds like someone is trying to weasel out of paying... | ||
| Bzrider |
that sound like bull i had mine warr.twice once at 22000 and again at 36000 they even change my fork oil for the cost of the fluid and 1 hour labor while hey do i seeing the forks are off call customer serv | ||
| Mattmcc00 |
Well.. this is quite the phone trek. Called HD customer support from the US website (canadian website doesn't have one listed. They transfered me to Customer support?? ok whatever. Then they told me to call this number: 414-343-8400. After registering they told me I had to call Deally in Canada at 905-660-3500. Where theu transfered me to customer support where I got a voicebox for Andrew. Left a message. Called my dealer back and told them that you had it all covered under warranty and they said that they would need to call Andrew at Deally... told them that I had left a message to Andrew. so now we will see. | ||
| Mattmcc00 |
OK well i have more to the story now. Looks like the issue is that HD waranty's 1 hour to do this job but it takes the dealer 4 hours to actually DO the job, and so they get screwed 3 hours labour. So... they rahter fight tooth & nail to NOT have this warrantyable. I, as the customer, get screwed in the middle between my dealer and HD. | ||
| Rwven |
Matt, Buy yourself a shop manual and do it yourself. I'd try just adjusting them again first, unless they are really rough or notchy. They could just be a bit loose. | ||
| Natek |
Matt, if you are confident that you can get it done yourself, talk to the dealer about doing a warrantee and handing you the parts and something worth 1/2 hr to 45 min labour.  win-win as I see it. | ||
| Bzrider |
thats how all warranty works at all dealers cars included i have been a chrysler tech for over 20 years warrenty pays less than customer pay work find yourself a good dealer yours is horable .our dealer here is really good no problems with war.claims some dealers give the good ones a bad rap | ||
| Mattmcc00 |
Dealer is telling me that bearing s wearing out after 12,500km is normal wear. hmmm... my service manual says otherwise. Still fighting this. | ||
| Mattmcc00 |
Regarding doing the work myself. Well guys, I am still kind of green when it come to this. I can change the oils, and the breaks on my car, but so far that has been the limits to my attemps. I am however, trying to learn more, with the goal of eventually becoming as self-sufficient as possible, but somewhow the steering neck bearings (a 4 hour job by the dealer) seems a little too adventurous for me at this point. I will be changing my clutch lever next week. | ||
| Terrible1one3 |
Make the dealer do it. This is 100% grade A BS from the dealership. Go up the chain of the dealership as much as possible while going through the Harley chain at the same time. It will get done. Stupid waste of time on your part but sometimes you just have to fight for what's right. | ||
| Whisperstealth |
++++1! with Terrible1 Sometimes doing the right thing seems to be the hardest thing. Stand up for yourself and your rights. It is BS, and a huge hassle, but by doing so you work to continue your rights and everyone elses! I would ask you, even beg, for you not to let this go if you have the ability to wait and fight it out. | ||
| Bzrider |
the bearings should not wear out that fast even if they did warranty is warranty unless someone can prove abuse did you beet the shit out of them with a hammer there has to be another dealer near you some where keep clling customer serv | ||
| Ratbuell |
It is not your problem that their techs are slow. IF the bearings have been WAAAAY out of adjustment for a long time - and it can be PROVEN that that lack of adjustment (i.e. "maintenance") caused the failure...you're screwed. You're supposed to maintain a vehicle to manufacturer specs in order to uphold the warranty. If, however, you've been keeping up on maintenance (do you have service records?) and can prove they've been kept in-spec...they should take care of it. If it was a good dealer, a questionable failure would be decided in favor of the customer. HD has more money than the average individual (well...they used to anyway LOL). Let them pay for it. If the dealers' tech can't do head bearings in an hour (or at least, under FOUR hours), you don't want them on your bike in the first place. Find a good dealer. | ||
| Cyclonedon |
I agree with what Ratbuell said! talk to your dealer and tell him if he want's to continue to do business with you, fix the problem or you'll go elsewhere! | ||
| Mattmcc00 |
Well, finally here is what happened. Dealer rang up the bill for 3.6 hours of work then said that they would split the bill with me, and so they only charged me for 1.6 hours. I probably didnt get any breaks, knowing how stealers are. so I finally got my bike back but I had to bring it right back because the front end was weaving back and forth. Feels like the front wheel isnt properly fixed into place, motorcycle dives side to side and i can feel it pulling left then right then left the right when driving straight. So they will keep it over the weekend. | ||
| Tootal |
They forgot to tighten the clamp on the axle! Someone else experienced that and thought that Buells just sucked! His came from the factory that way. They had forgot to install the clamp screws!!  A friend had just put a new Metzeler front tire on his bike as I had recommended. He bitched and complained about how that Metzeler sucked and he was going back to Dunflop. We took a ride together and we pulled off at a scenic look out. He asked if I wanted to ride his bike to see how bad that Metzeler was. I was about to mount up when I looked down at the tire and noticed the axle clamp was hanging down(it's different on a Harley) and the nuts were about to fall off. I tightened them up and gee, that Metzeler wasn't so bad after all!! He could have easily crashed if the clamp had come completely off. I'm thinking face plant! I hate 98 percent of dealer mechanics! I should rephrase that. I hate the dealers that don't pay enough to get really good help. Motorcycle mechanics are dreadfully underpaid and you get what you pay for. IMO. | ||
| Trevd |
I agree with what others have said here... that dealer sucks! Making you pay for the slowness of their mechanics is BS in my books. Ask them this: When they get a warranty item that takes them half the time to do than what HD pays them, do they refund the difference to the customer? Find a new dealer quick. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Yet another reason to buy a shop manual.... | ||
| Conchop |
I was once a dealer. The factory has trained "speed techs", with the neat power tools and have done the practice run a few times, are amazing. One hour is possible under these circumstances. If the dealer tried to charge the factory 3.6 hours for a 1 hour job, they would be refused. The truth lays somewhere in the middle. The factory makes money off of the dealer, the dealer makes money off the customer. All three parties are trying to screw each other while the financiers laugh. Its a terrible system that has been honed to perfection. This kind of stuff turns your average dealer into AH's! It is always best to try to do all you can yourself and if the shop does the work, do like the pilots do and walk around it, Trust but verify. Even the most dedicated mechanics and dealers can make a mistake and you can bet that the cooters will screw it up. Even with the occasional boo boo, my CSI scores were always 100% in service. Nonetheless, any mistake and possible accident it could cause is horrifying. Stressful motivation, but people take their bikes and airplanes seriously. Some dealers have lost it and their finances are killed by the recession. Now that HD has killed Buell, we owners have to face the fact that we are essentially " moto - orphans". You can bet that the dealers who are AH's are going to try to screw you now. They have little to loose. Make the money while you can, to hell with the rest of it. Make sure that if you have a good dealer - take care of them - give them your business. All of it. | ||
| Mattmcc00 |
Yeah and in this case the problem is worse in that most HD dealers in Canada are 100% privately owned, as is thie case with this dealer Moto International BMW & HD in Montreal. AND! the distributer for Canada is Deally and they are 100% privately owned, and so the thier really isn't any real link to HD. | ||
| Trevd |
For sure there's a link to HD. Deeley is the distributor, privately owned or not. I would think that especially in this day and age of bikes sitting in dealer showrooms, Harley shouldn't want their distributor or dealers screwing over their customers. Your dealer's attitude speaks of their arrogance, and I don't think they deserve any of your business, or the business of any of your acquaintances. If something is being repaired under warranty, it should be covered - you shouldn't have to pay a cent. Period. If they have a problem with how Harley pays them, they can take that up with Harley. | ||
| Mattmcc00 |
Trevd your are right about arrogance, They have a 3 week backlog of service work. It's like trying to get an appointment with your doctor. | ||
| Mattmcc00 |
ANyhow, I got my bike back this morning. Runs nice, no more weaving in the front end, and no more clunky sounds. Also, they cleaned off all of the mud from my off-road class... There was LOTS of mud. | ||
| Mattmcc00 |
Now I have to go back on the 31st for the last part of my ordeal. They are changing my ignition. |
