Up keep, maintenance, on 100,000 mile 99 FLHRCI

[Cooner]

The bike is a 1999 FLHRCI, Hippo build that I assembled at 60,000 miles.  Runs great but now at 100,000 I am thinking of doing some things to it to keep it running good and on the road.  Bike looks like it came off the show room floor, or close to it, so I want to keep it looking good.  Lots of maintenance while I have had it, which is since new, drove it off the floor myself.  Not thinking of any engine work other than changing the plugs. 

Some of the things I have thought of:  New motor mount, new swing arm bushings, new stabilizer bushings, it needs a new rear tire, would like to find a set of used front crash bar, probably put some braided cables on it (Barnett's?), clutch (what kind.....stock, Barnett's), what else? 

I have recently moved to New Orleans, the bike is in Olympia, WA, I will have Greg Coen in Eugene do the work and ride it back to New Orleans.  Looking of having the bike work done soon, come home for Christmas and find a weather window and head south.

Any thoughts of what I might have done while Greg has the bike would be appreciated.

TIA, Mark 

[Paniolo]

Instead of changing out the swingarm bushings, you may want to change out the whole arm to a '02-'08 style. The earlier ones were prone to fine hairline cracks. How's the stator and the rest of the electrical?

[Cooner]

Is that a worthwhile change out?  It won't lead to more trouble down the line, will it make it better and worthwhile?  No problem with electrical at all, had the wire (?) relocated, the one that leads to the stator, it was moved up on the frame, if you know what I mean.

Should I do the conversion to the bigger axles that I have read about?

TIA, Mark 

[Paniolo]

Mark,

The earlier ones have a "Box Tubing" design which is hollow inside. What happens is that over time and miles, the box "crushes" right at the axle hole, and a small hairline crack can develop right infront of it. Over on the old HTT some member reported having to replace at least 2 swing arms on his bike. In 2002, HD went to a solid arm right at the axle joint to prevent that. The whole design is poor. With the rear shock mounted behind the axle, and the rest of the bike weighted in front of it, the axle acts like a teeter totter fulcrum absorbing the strain. This is exacerbated with lowering kits which move the rear shock mount even further to the rear adding even more strain. Some folks have upgraded to the later arms which are not too hard to find on e-bay. A lot of the parts are available as people trike their bikes. Over the past year I picked up a swing arm, axle, spacers, and pivot shaft in anticipation of swapping out the one on my bike. I only mention it as 100K is a lot of miles on the original swing arm and if you are going to keep the bike it may be worth it.

Mark

[Hillside Motorcycle]

I'd change the lifters on that when doing your check over.

[Ed Y]

Cooner,

I've got a 99 FLHT with 129,000 miles on it. You've pretty well got most things covered. As Hillside said, lifters are probably due. How about shocks? Have they been replaced? I've had no problems with my swingarm but have started to collect 02-03 parts to eventually replace the swingarm, rear wheel, rear brake with them. I'm also a big fan of replacing the stock axle adjusters (regardless of miles) with the solid ones which helps a bunch to fill out the hollow swingarm where the rear axle holes are.

I'd also do some measurements on clutch fiber and steel plates. At 101,000 miles, mine were just fine.

[bouncingVman]

Cooner,

I'm also a big fan of replacing the stock axle adjusters (regardless of miles) with the solid ones which helps a bunch to fill out the hollow swingarm where the rear axle holes are.

Ed Y... do you have the part numbers or recommend a place to get these axle adjusters. Are they the same for the EVO, as I've found those before in a few catalogs ?

Thanks for the info. I'm kinda doing the same thing as Cooner

[Ed Y]

Cooner,

I'm also a big fan of replacing the stock axle adjusters (regardless of miles) with the solid ones which helps a bunch to fill out the hollow swingarm where the rear axle holes are.

Ed Y... do you have the part numbers or recommend a place to get these axle adjusters. Are they the same for the EVO, as I've found those before in a few catalogs ?

Thanks for the info. I'm kinda doing the same thing as Cooner

Yes, same as the late model Evo's. A company called Ride-Str8 also sells a stainless version but they are pricey.

[dakota224]

Be very carful living in New Orleans,, its the Murder capital of the USA..   209 murders in 2007 ..

[smoserx1]

I've got a 99 FLHT with 129,000 miles on it.

Ed, I'm catching up with you.  I have 120K on mine now.  I had to replace my swingarm a few months back, and when I discovered it, it was cracked completely through on the left side.  It was kind of scary, as I thought I had been keeping an eye on it.  Not too long ago I finally needed to replace my ignition module.  The old one got to where it would briefly cut off while I was riding, sort of spontaneously "rebooting" for lack of a better term.  If I was giving the bike a lot of gas when it happened it would backfire really loud out the exhaust and scare the hell out of me.  And last week I replaced my original stator.  The old one still worked, it just got to leaking too much oil through that rubber grommet where the wiring goes through the engine case.  I am on my second drive belt, and my third set of cams (2 stock and now SE 203s), but all in all it is still doing pretty good.  I still get about 150 psi on a compression test, use about half a quart of oil in 5000 miles, and can climb the same hills without downshifting anymore often than I did when the engine was new.

[Cooner]

New lifters when I did the engine work at 60,000 miles, put new Progressive 440's on the rear at the same time (lowered the front with the Gold Valve Emulators), I have never messed with the axle adjusters.

Replace with new stock clutch or after market?

TIA, Mark