Author |
Message |
Doncasto
| Posted on Thursday, November 01, 2007 - 06:21 pm: |
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I was on the way back to the barn after a wonderful day of riding the redwoods and coastline of Southern Oregon . . .I had stopped to let my 2-up partner stretch her long, lithe legs . . .but I digress. I pushed the kickstand down and as I leaned the bike onto the stand . . .it kept on leaning, well past where it usually stops. I brought the bike back up off the stand . . .and could see the stand was loose and wobbling. My riding partner (the one with the long, lithe legs) held the Uly upright while I crawled around on the asphalt . . .and it was immediately apparent that the bolts had come loose. Since I have never put a wrench on these particular bolts . . .I am now given cause to wonder why they came loose (not a good thing under any circumstances . . .but particularly undesirable in light of the early Uly kickstand issues) . . .a one-time factory oversight? Or, perhaps something we should all be checking as part of our preflights? As soon as I got back to Boulder I put the Uly up onto the workstand and began to try remedials . . .the first aggravation I encountered was the usual "how come you can't get to the kickstand bolts without removing the fricken muffler?" After finally getting the bolts off it was apparent that I was not going to be able to just re-Locktite and re-assemble. One of the bolts was bent . . .and under closer inspection was cracking with intent to shear off.
If you look closely you can see the cracking at the top thread on the bolt. Has anyone else heard of this happening? Am I remembering correctly that the early recall was supposed to have relieved us of kickstand anxiety and stress? I am headed to High Country Harley Davidson/Buell tomorrow to buy replacement bolts . . .and kudos to HCHDB's parts department . . .they were in stock. I am wondering if in addition to red Locktite . . it might be prudent to safety wire these bolts? Any advice and experience along these lines would be appreciated. Thanks, Don Casto Boulder, Colorado |
Aeholton
| Posted on Thursday, November 01, 2007 - 09:38 pm: |
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Haven't given my kickstand bolts a second thought since having the recall done. Also, I didn't think your '07 was even included in the recalls. I'll have a look under my bike this weekend just to be sure, though. |
Old_mil
| Posted on Thursday, November 01, 2007 - 10:12 pm: |
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My riding partner (the one with the long, lithe legs) held the Uly upright I need to find myself one of these...it'll beat paying someone $450 to lower the thing. (Message edited by Old_Mil on November 01, 2007) |
Maximum
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 12:32 am: |
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Same thing happen to me Don, maybe it is a Colorado thing? Actually it happened to me after heading down Gross Dam Road (rocky dirt road) with my wife this past summer. I had my wife hold the bike upright and I was able to tighten up one of the two bolts. Once I got home, I too had to take the muffler off to fix it right. I'm not sure if the dealer had to remove the kickstand to do the recall, but maybe that is what caused this to happen. |
Ftd
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 07:41 am: |
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Exact same thing happened to me. I stopped for gas and the ULY just kept leaning more and more. ~6 months earlier the kickstand recall was performed and I figure using thread locker wasn't part of Seminole HD/Buell's plan. I replaced the bolts using red Locktite and so far everything is fine. I now check them monthly though. Frank |
Xbimmer
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 10:34 am: |
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Maybe the "techs" never replaced the bolts during the recalls? Scary thing is the '07 failure... I thought this was a done deal. |
Iugradmark
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 10:41 am: |
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Does anyone know when the change-over took place? Do you need to go by build date? |
Treadmarks
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 10:49 am: |
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Man, that sucks. They look like the bolts on mine. I replaced the factory upgraded pivot pin with a hardened shoulder bolt. I did not change the two smaller bracket bolts though. Anyone know the size and length, I will see what I can find that won't bend. |
Froggy
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 10:49 am: |
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The kickstand recall happened in Febuary 2007, so i would assume that anything with a March 07 or newer build date should be fine. |
Gsron
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 11:16 am: |
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Since I'm test riding an 08 tomorrow and will buy it if all works out. These sort of threads are very good info as to what needs to be watched. I'd bet that if the bolts in question were checked ever-so-often they wouldn't bend since there would be no flex allowed at the mounting point. It sounds like the bikes need a complete going over with a bottle of lock-tite and a torque wrench at purchase ( I did that with my GS as well) and a follow up twice a year, or so, depending on mileage.... RON PS still beats $300+ at the BMW dealer every 6K.... |
Gotj
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 01:48 pm: |
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"PS still beats $300+ at the BMW dealer every 6K...." Get a quote on the 10,000 mile Uly service with Syn3 - just got one of $550. The 600 mile service was $325. |
Iugradmark
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 01:59 pm: |
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Gotj: Agree with your comments. Before buying the bike, there was a lot of discussion on the boards on how inexpensive the bike is to service. Those that do their own service generally can save some money but I don't find the dealer service to be any less than other bikes that I have owned (BMW, Honda, etc.). That has been a surprise to me as the bike has little plastic to remove and does not require valve adjustments but yet the costs and hours to service seem similar. -- Mark |
Court
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 02:41 pm: |
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>>>>Get a quote on the 10,000 mile Uly service with Syn3 - just got one of $550. T I just bought (unexpectedly) a set of high performance tires for a Mercedes-Benz convertible this morning . . . wanna swap invoices? Damned road debris and tires that have to be replaces in sets. |
Michael1
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 02:50 pm: |
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How do you mount the bike? Some riders stand on the peg, swing the leg over and mount that way. I've seen them break the side stand mounting bolts doing this. Thats a lot of force acting on those bolt heads. Just my thoughts on why they went. Mine are just fine on a 06 with the recall done. |
Gotj
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 03:05 pm: |
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"I just bought (unexpectedly) a set of high performance tires for a Mercedes-Benz convertible this morning . . . wanna swap invoices?" I don't get your point. Are you just venting? |
Court
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 04:28 pm: |
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I was just funnin' ya . . . it seems anything related to wheels is expensive . . I put new mirrors on my Ford pickup last week. . . damn things were $600! My BMW F650 just got serviced. . . . $1,534. Now tires. . . . Ahhhhhh . . .but here sits my old Cushman . . . I have fond memories of filling the tank for $0.25 and putting a $0.75 quart of oil in every couple months. . . it, of course, had no oil filter so there was never any commotion about if Cushman had copies the Aprilia filter.
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Anonymous
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 04:39 pm: |
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600 mile service?- as far as I know, the first service is at 1000. Some owners choose to change the original oil at 500 miles. Another thing you can do is ask how many hours your are being charged for the service and then ask to see the flat rate book. You might be surprised, especially if they actually let you look. They're not that much different from the tube frame rates, just longer intervals. Many dealers "bump" flat rate because they feel the factory times are unrealistic for many repairs, and in many cases they seem to be correct. Some dealers seem to abuse this practice. It also seems that services, generally being very straight-forward, should be done for actual flat rate as a way to support new and returning customers. Just my personal opinion. |
Gotj
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 05:17 pm: |
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"My BMW F650 just got serviced. . . . $1,534." WHO/WHAT got serviced? Not your bike my friend. |
Spike
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 05:27 pm: |
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Court- Overpriced tires are a thing of the past: tirerack.com |
Gotj
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 06:08 pm: |
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"600 mile service?- as far as I know, the first service is at 1000." I stand corrected. I was thinking of my Multistrada for the 600 miles but at 1,000 miles, I DID have a $325 bill for my Uly. |
Murraebueller
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 06:53 pm: |
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That's how much I paid for the 1k on my TT using syn3. |
Jlnance
| Posted on Saturday, November 03, 2007 - 11:40 am: |
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Any advice and experience along these lines would be appreciated. Be careful what you're doing with the long legged, lithe riding partner while you're on the bike. |
Doncasto
| Posted on Sunday, November 04, 2007 - 05:59 pm: |
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Update: As of a few minutes ago the Uly is back up and running. I picked up new bolts from High Country Harley Davidson/Buell on Friday . . .and spoke with their service department about the problem. It was the first that they had heard of on a 2007 Uly. They were able pull up the records on my bike via the VIN# and determine that the kickstand was factory installed . . .and not an after delivery recall. So . . . I drilled the boltheads for a 1/8 aircraft cable safety wire, applied liberal amounts of red Locktite (even though the bolts came with some sort of "threadlocker" on them) to each and bolted them up . . .with stainless steel safety wire as the final step. I am figuring that the safety wire will keep dem sumbeeches from backing out again any time in the near future . . .and I won't be compelled to crawl around on the ground checking them every time before I ride. As for being careful with what I am doing . . .too late! YMMV and always consider the source. Don |