It always distresses me to some degree when I hear a person make a comment that they are ready to throw in the towel on a brand. Whenever the sale of a vehicle occurs, several things take place. The purchaser agrees to pay for the vehicle in negotiable currency and the manufacturer or his representative agrees to support the vehicle with a level of service which includes making satisfactory repairs should the vehicle develop service problems that are unacceptable to the owner. The problem that invariably develops is there are varying opinions as to what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. The owner in this case has expectations that the engine should not vibrate to the degree that it does, and expects, rightfully so that the manufacturer correct the situation. The manufacturer does not do repairs himself, instead he "hires" the person who delivered the vehicle, and took the end users money, to remedy the situation. But, what happens if the dealer argues that the problem does not exist, or heaven forbid, all of the vehicles that the manufacturer delivers to the dealer have the same sort of problem, so that it is normal for them to vibrate. "They all do that" argues the dealer. Ah yes, the customer stipulates, by design of the 45 degree crankshaft they all vibrate, but some vibrate much more than others, and I have one that vibrates so much that it is unpleasant to use this vehicle. Unfortunately, the fix for this problem of an excessively vibrating crankshaft is expensive. The dealer who sold the vehicle does not want to incure the 3 or 4 thousand dollar expense on his own because he feels the fix should be paid for by the manufactuer. As such, the vehicle does not get fixed because the manufactuer will not reimburse the dealer to expend the funds to cause the vehicle to be repaired. When things get to this point, a normal person would think the manufacturer would send his own representative out to the customer who purchased the vehicle and perform his own diagnosis of the problem which involved driving the vehicle. At this point, the manufacturer could determine if the crankshaft vibrated excessively, or the customer had unreasonable expectations. But, the problem is complicated because the purchaser has learned that recently the manufactuer has increased wildly their acceptable limits of tolerance for crankshaft slap.
At the end of the day, the public will realize that certain manufacturers stand behind their vehicles more or less than others who manufactuer the same type of vehicle. Some manufactuers have better warranties, or better designed products. Ultimately, the future of an industry will depend upon the level of satisfaction that is enjoyed by users of its product. Smart manufacturers realize that not all problems can be solved easily. The really smart ones also realize that sometimes they have to "bite the bullet" and make the repairs at their expense, even though they are not at fault. Over all customer satisfaction should be the ultimate goal for a manufactuer instead of short term bean counting. Ultimately, the end consumer has few options when they get a lemon. If the dealer/manufacturer absolutely refuses to remedy the situation of a bad product, the end user can not make them comply. Oh, you can sue them in court, but that is a lengthy and expensive undertaking and the manufactuers take advantage of that. If you bought the vehicle at a local Walmart, you could just take it back within 45 days and either get a new one or get your money back, pretty much the result of a smart retailer. As far as I know, most Harley Davidson dealers have chosen not to rise to the same level of customer satisfaction as the worlds largest retailer has. My experience with Harley Dealers is that once you slide your money across the counter and it goes into their cash register, you are pretty much on your own. You won't see"Satisfaction Guaranteed" above the door of any Harley store that I have entered. Maybe I have led a sheltered life.
So, I would echo what others have already said: "Get in touch with the manufactuer and give them one last chance to do the right thing". Personally advise them that up to this point their authorized dealer has not fixed the problem with the excessively vibrating crankshaft, which they manufactured.
Suggest that they send their own representative out to evaluate the problem and see where it goes from that point. Hopefully, their area representative will come out to ride the vehicle and say the eight magic words to the dealer, "Replace the crank and send us the bill". Lastly, keep the members of this forum advised how this is playing out. How they handle things like this should play a big part in how the rest of us spend our money in the future. A manufacturers whose warranty policy is unduly restrictive will get a reputation for having a poor warranty and people will say their warranty is not worth the paper it is printed on. Before long potential customers will vote with their feet and take their money elsewhere. Money tends to go where it is appreciated the most. Good luck.
