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Lost Again! Please help me locate the vibration

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1melted1

New Member
Ok folks, my name is Steve and when I was 21 I bought my first Harley Davidson, a 1988 Heritage Softail Classic. I guess when you party like I did........anyway i sold it in 1994 and regretted it ever since. After many rough years I finally got clean and a dream that was lost, came back after 5 years of not picking up that first one and thank God I'm still clean. Last year (20 years after I sold the first one) I bought the same Make, Model, Year and Color bike that I had when I was in my early 20's. I'm 47 now and after putting a lot of work into the bike over the winter trying to eliminate some vibration, it still gives me grief. I believe the source my be the primary drive. If anyone has a check list of things or ways to systematically eliminate possible causes please let me know. Any suggestions are always welcome. Thanks for letting me share.:s
 

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Welcome to the Forum, congrats on your sobriety, Check your motor mounts first, nature of the beast with Softails, make sure your exhaust is not in a bind touching the frame or if you have floor boards. You may also check your clutch hub, seems to me that was a weak point, see if there is any wobble in it Good Luck:s
 
Welcome from So. Texas. Jack has you pretty well covered. The Evo Soft Tails did have a good vib. to them.
tourbox
 
If I remember right your tranny main shaft is tapered not spline d, the tranny pulley locking set up worked lose on alot of these models I would check it out:s
 
I thought it was normal for softails to vibrate. My 2013 model Heritage vibrates like crazy over 55mph. The faster I go the worse it gets until it feels like it's shaking the bike apart around 85. I feel it through the seat first then the floor boards and handlebars. Mirrors are useless at this speed. It's vibrated since I bought it new, I am used to it now.
 
VicB said:
I thought it was normal for softails to vibrate. My 2013 model Heritage vibrates like crazy over 55mph. The faster I go the worse it gets until it feels like it's shaking the bike apart around 85. I feel it through the seat first then the floor boards and handlebars. Mirrors are useless at this speed. It's vibrated since I bought it new, I am used to it now.
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wow, my 08 is very smooth (stock suspension) and little to no vibration at any speed. had her up to 95 the other day verifying my fix and no more vibration at that speed then my old 83 gold wing in the day. I don't know about the newer bikes but if yours is seriously that bad, maybe have a look at it...
 
Mine is also stock suspension. stage 1 with V&H staggered pipes. I have removable saddlebag kit. One of my bags fell off when passing some cars around 40mph, luckily everyone stopped while I ran back to pick it up. It was scuffed but otherwise ok. When I checked the lock mechanism had vibrated around to the open position allowing the locking pin to release. I know it was properly locked on because I checked the locking pins before I left. I suspect this was due to vibration. I now put cable ties around the pins to stop them vibrating loose.

I already had the bike back to the dealers but they say there's nothing wrong, it's a softail, they're all vibey! If I wanted smooth I should have got a road king. Btw, when I'm stopped the mirrors already shake like a road king!
 
VicB said:
I thought it was normal for softails to vibrate. My 2013 model Heritage vibrates like crazy over 55mph. The faster I go the worse it gets until it feels like it's shaking the bike apart around 85. I feel it through the seat first then the floor boards and handlebars. Mirrors are useless at this speed. It's vibrated since I bought it new, I am used to it now.
Click to expand...

My 08 custom is very smooth. If wonder if you are experiencing problems with the front end or is it the engine you are talking about.
 
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