Hopefully in this page I am trying to bring forth a few people's opinions and some trusted
people's ideas to light. I may just get them out of magazine and I may talk to a local mechanic for his
opinion. If you have some foresight into what is happening to your scooter and why, don't be
afraid to voice what you have to say. Send me what you have or attach your piece into my e-mail
box Maddog I'll post what you send and maybe we can get comments or
thoughts on it.
*****I guess I'll start with a little problem of my own and that is about early evo cases. If you
haven't had the pleasure of your lower end taking a dump yet on your early(84-90) Evo then be very aware that this
could be a potential problem. Harley-Davidson has known that this was a problem and tackled it by
replacing early failures with the new style of case, that being the support for the bearing races
cast into the cases instead of the old press in fit. Up to this point they had replaced at least 16
sets of cases, at a very familiar H-D shop in Vancouver, but when approached by the shop for replacement
was told no. I pleaded my case, no pun intended, with customer service, but was told "We have to stop somewhere."
Now my own personal opinion on this is if you have previously admitted to a problem and replaced
cases in the past for faulty design then they should be relegated to fix the problem until there is
no more. I will try and get some pictures of the old cases and the new ones that are replacing
them.
*****New light on the story. As of this date I am still trying to get a set of cases($758) from Harley Davidson
paying the rest of the tab by myself, that being the crankcase assembly($600), oil pump assembly($300), cam
and lifters at around $300. Now those are just parts, not counting time invested in taking out motor, motor disassembly,
having lower end setup, assembling upper portion,and putting bike back together.
*****Take into account the fact that I had a whopping 52,000 miles on the bike, but wait, that same bike shop up
north replaced one of our officers cases which had 58,000 miles on it.
*****Now when I contacted the service representative in Milwaukee, I was told that they were not singling me out, but
they had to stop somewhere. A fax received at the dealership later denied parts and labor and quote "Let the customer know he
will hear about the decision by mail only!!! We do not give out review board decisions over the phone, or to the
dealers,etc. He just has to wait for the answer."
*****What happened to that old fashioned service that we have grown to know over the years and where is the service
they proudly advertise at their web page that I will soon take off of this site.
*****Well the end is yet to come. As of this date 11/1/98 I got tired of not being on the road so I just said F@#% it
and decided to buy a new motor. Well I ordered it was told it would take about 2-3 weeks. After 5 I
called and thought I'd check to see if it had come in and maybe they had forgot to call. At that point
I was told more like about 3 months. I called back then and was told it would be at least 1 1/2 to 2
months more. Now I'm trying to figure just how f*&#$%@ long does it take to get a damn motor???? Today is Feb 15th
*****Here it is the 26th of March and lo and behold my motor came in two days ago. I was so happy to get it
I went in and took a big HD. I hope the rest of you out there never has to deal with all this political bullshit. I sure hope to
see you all on the road very soon!!!!!!
*****Here's a new one for ya!! Tom Clark from Illinois talks about new starter relays and instead of scootin'
to the HD dalership, boogie instead to your local auto parts store and buy a mid 80's starter relay for a Ford Escort.
The parts are identical, and auto parts store will save you ten or fifteen bucks. This will fit most big twins
********One more tip for those of us with high mileage and are concerned with our alternator output. Ads in magazines sell
"Battery Monitors" typically for 30-45 bucks. They consist of a small black box with three diodes (red, yellow. green) showing
on one end. You "hardwire" the Battery Monitor anywhere into the bike's electrical system and voila' you can, at a glance, check
the condition of your battery and charging system. While that's a nifty gizmo to have, for about 25 bucks less, you can scoot to your
nearest Radio Shack and purchase their "Battery and System Analyzer" for the whopping cost of 5-6 Bucks! The only difference
between the higher priced alternatives is the Radio Shack model has a built in plug so that it can be plugged into an existing cigarette
outlet. Aquire a cigarette lighter(parts store) and attach it to two wires (positive and negative) anywhere in your electrical
system. The Radio Shack unit is exactly the same as the higher priced gizmos in that it monitors
charging output by the amount of current flowing through diodes of lessening resistance. Green
means "good", green-yellow means "OK", and red means "trouble".
*****I thought for all you computer genius' out there you might be interested in this one. I picked it out of Yahoo tips. If you spend much time living out of hotel rooms and want to keep in touch electronically, think twice before you plug your portable's modem into the hotel's phone jack. Many hotels use digital phone systems that can send a killer voltage through your phone line. At minimum, you're likely to end up with a dead modem. How can you prevent the problem? This month's tip suggests one more essential device to pack with your notebook if you want to get online with a smile and not smoke. Dear Alfred: After many business trips with my notebook computer, I have found the RJ-11 jack tester to be an inexpensive tool that's a potential lifesaver on the road. Available from computer supply stores for about $30, it plugs into a standard RJ-11C phone jack and checks it for high voltages present on digital lines, indicating whether an analog modem can be attached safely. Also, some hotel clerks simply can't answer the question of whether the phone lines in rooms can safely accept modems, so a checker is a cheap investment. Tray Murphy Ft. Lee, VA Dear Tray: Thanks for this traveling tip. Fortunately, more hotels are installing phone sets that have an RJ-11 jack on the side of the phone that is clearly labeled "DATA" or "MODEM," so your next home-away-from-home may be more computer-friendly. A jack tester sounds like cheap insurance if you have to plug directly into a wall jack. I have heard of similar devices that cost even less--some under $10--so it pays to check around with a few sources. A problem with the tester, though, is that it can only tell you that it's unsafe to plug in your modem; if it's not safe, you're offline until you can find a safe connection. Fortunately, there are adapters that will permit your existing modem to work with a digital phone system. Some of the newer portable modems even have this feature built in or available as an option.
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