2007harleydavidsonroadking06

NEW INFORMATION...NEW INFORMATION...NEW INFORMATION... THERE IS A FIX FOR THE TRANNY!!!! Saturday 9, December. If the noise your bike is making in 5th gear is so bad that you can't stand it then help has arrived. Of course it is not coming from the MoCo. Baker has developed and released a drop in kit, if you can call opening your transmission a drop in operation, that is supposed to have your tranny as quite as a sleeping mouse. What I find interesting is a company like Baker making a fix for a problem that Harley-Davidson says doesn't exist. Hmmmm... Follow the link to their website for the full story. As soon as someone reports on how this works I'll post it up.

This fix looks good to me on paper and on Bakers website but you do need to ask yourself some questions before you do this. Is your noise bad enough to risk voiding the warranty on your transmission. I would bet my last nickel that if you install this then you warranty is out the window in the event of any other transmission issues down the road. If ours was as bad as some of the others out there I would probably risk it.

Tuesday September 19, 2006. We have approximately 2,300 miles on the 2007 Road King at present and all of our engine heat problems are just a memory at this point. The parts swaps and remap that the wrench recommended have really fixed us up. While there is minor surging in third and fourth gears when applying hard power it is acceptable in comparison to what it was. There have been no more hints of electrical shorts so we feel that this issue is probably in the past also.

Now it is time for the not so great news. We now have the nasty 5th gear noise that many others are complaining about bad enough to notice. The dealer told us simply that all of the '07's make that ugly noise in 5th gear. They fed us the party line about 1st and 5th gears being cut differently and that the noise is normal. Now I am wondering if this is going to start with 1st gear. Here is what H-D told another customer about this issue:

I called Harley on it and they said it is simply the way the gears interact. 1st and 5th are helical gears, while the others are spur gears, thus the noise. They said that putting a higher quality/synthetic tranny fluid will help quiet the noise and with time/miles it should subside. We'll see...........

Actually 1st and 5th are spur gears and the others are helical but a little confusion in terminology does not change the fact that the tranny noise exists. Now here are several other emails from folks that are experiencing transmission problems with their new Harley-Davidsons.

My problem is mainly 5th gear...
It sounds like somebody beating spoons inside a tin coffee can. Fifth is also almost useless... no range. Can't shift into 5th until 55mph (and better be still accelerating) and must shift out to 6th at about 63 or so. Riding from 50 to 55 must be over-revving in 4th. 6th gear on the highway is terrific.

My issue with the 5th gear noise is still a big one. I have 1400 miles on the bike and the noise is getting worse, not better. The local dealer is suggesting the noise is coming from the "valve train" and not the tranny. I told him I still think it is the tranny but I have an open mind about it... because... we WILL get to the bottom of this. It is just too objectionable to live with.

My dealer is one of the large ones. Has sold many, many 2007's already. As I expected, though, he's telling me he hasn't encountered any other bike with tranny noise! "I'm the only one!" Right...

Tuesday September 26, 2006. This latest email is a mind blower. This poor dude has paid for a new bike and the dealer has quarantined it. He can't get his bike back. I don't think they are in a hurry to give him his check back though. This is utterly disgusting.

Tennesse

9/22/06

Wish I had caught your web site a couple of weeks ago. I traded in a Road King for a ’07 Street Glide last week and I’m seeing the heat and 5^th-gear problems, and to a lesser extent, the surging issue. The bike only has 300 miles on it and I didn’t notice any of the problems until the last 100 miles. I should have known better than to buy an early release of a new product.

Wish I had seen your site sooner. I traded in a 05 Ultra for a 07 Road King Classic. First thing when I got home I called about the noise in 5th gear .I was told they were aware of it and it was normal and the factory sent out a memo to it's tech's.

I really hadn't noticed excessive heat or surging but I did have a problem with leakage from the gear box and clutch cable. Cable replaced and so far good!

Guess I should extend the warranty!

A.l., NJ

Picked up my new 07 RK on August 10th. I noticed the vibration and noise with 5th gear right away. Took it back to the dealer immediately. I was told that it would subside by the time the bike was broken in. Long story short: 4,100 miles later and the noise is worse than ever. Now I'm told that that's just the way the tranny is designed and pretty much I need to learn to live with it. One service rep even told me it was all in my imagination. The actual performance of the bike seems OK, but the noise is driving me crazy. People I ride with all know when I'm in 5th gear. They can hear the whine above the sound of the pipes and even their own bikes. 1st gear still seems to be OK. One other thing: After the bike was broken in I rode to Maine, across Canada and down through Michigan and the midwest home to Florida. Threw both balancing weights off the rear wheel. At the time I didn't know what it was. Awful racket as they struck the inside of the fender. Thought I had run over rocks or other road debris. Turns out they're just stuck on with a not so good adhesive. I keep taking the bike over the 5th gear noise and at least make them write it up so I'll have a record in case there's some kind of class action in the future. Good Luck.

Hi,

I was given your web link from a yahoo tc88 user group where I had asked if anyone is having trans noise in 5th and 6th gear.

I too have been riding Harley's for the last 30 years, and just sold my 72 shovel flh that I had been riding for the last 16 years.

I purchased a new 07 flht, in the beginning of September, when I got it home a called the dealer and inquired about the noise. their answer was to bring it in at the 1000 mile service. I have 500 miles on it now and will most likely bring it in next month for the service.

I see from some of the posts that it was described as a coffee can with spoons banging on it.. which is exactly the best way to describe mine.. I live in So CA. and the temp was in the low 100's when I picked it up.. I have not had the surging or the excessive heat issues.

should you hear any thing from HD please let me know.. I will update you when I get mine serviced..

I bought this bike (first one I ever bought new) to replace my shovel which was great for short hops, but could not trust it for long rides or commuting.

The new bike rides like a dream and i love the power, the trans shifts smooth but 5th gear noise drives me nuts..

thanks for the web site

thom

11/19/2007

Oh yeah! Thought I was the only one until opening up this email from a friend. Bought my 07 street glide June 24 2006. Within 100 miles a loud whinning grind sound in 5^th gear starts. I have yet to do the 500 mile check I was out of country for 2 months,and just now spun to 500 after the Love ride (a whole topic of it’s own). Talked to dealer when it started, said they would “look at it”. So now I know im in for some crap. I’ll keep you posted. I did notice more than normal heat as well, no surging, but now that I’m aware, I bet I do notice it.

Thanks, B T in SoCal

I found this thread in hdforums about the transmission issues. There are over 20 pages of folks griping and complaining about their transmissions and the differing amounts of help they are getting from H-D and their dealers. Check it out but you need to have some time to wade through all of this!

From here on out we will be buying bikes from individuals or independent shops. I just bought a silver and chrome evolution crate motor straight from Harley-Davidson for the 78 FX project but I feel that is a tried and true platform. The independent dealer that is going to do the rest of my frame work says not to worry about the evo crate motors. Was thinking about a H-D transmission but after our experiences with the 6 speed tranny on the Road King I am going to buy a RevTech. They come with a 5 year/50,000 mile warranty and the independent wrench said he has installed many of them and only had minor problems with one back when they were new. He said RevTech went out of their way to take care of the issue.

As the word about these problems gets out I am sure the folks at H-D will be scrambling to address and fix these issues. They can't afford to lose sales or reputation. Until they do and make it right not only to future purchasers but also to us who are having to fend for ourselves I am going to keep running in circles screaming "the sky is falling, the sky is falling". I think that H-D at least owes us a refund on what we have had to spend out of our pocket to fix the '07 Road King.

If they would give us our check back on the entire deal we would probably walk away from it and just build a bike from scratch that we could depend on. I have a twin cam 88 in a box that could be rebuilt with a few aftermarket tricks such as gear driven cams, S&S stroker kit and a Mikuni carb. I think it would be much more dependable and better running than the new 96" engine. Once again; if you have something to add, good or bad, email me at biners@crowderinc.com.