01 Electra Glide swing arm cracked at the rear pully.

[176]

Friends 01 Electra Glide swing arm cracked which I realize
Is a known problem for that year. We were wondering if there was a
Recall on this by the MOCO since it was a known issue? He doesn't
Want to go with the upgraded swing arm due to the cost of changing
Everything, and this is not his main bike that he rides all the time.
Thanks in advance,
176

[Rags722]

No recall but there is a upgraded axle block.  As soon as Truck see's this post he will probably either direct you to his old post that contains all the info your friend needs or he will post it here too.  When you get right down to it, your friend has very few options. 
1. buy a new swing arm
2. fix the old swing arm
3. buy a used one off Flea Bay and hope it's not cracked
4. scrap the bike.

OK, 4 is not an option, so he only has 3 choices unless he's one of those guys that's papered up enough he can afford to let the bike sit there and rot away rather than fix it.

[les]

In addition to using a solid adjuster to fill the space, I had a machine shop fabricate me a conical spacer.  The side that goes against the wheel bearing is exactly the same dimension as stock.  The side that goes against the swing arm is thick so that it distributes the load over the entire swing arm rather than just the little bit from the stock spacer.

The combo of this conical spacer and solid block adjuster seems to enable the swing arm to hang in there.

[BulldogBiker]

If looking for a good swing arm with both axles, adjusters etc only has 8k and looks new shoot me a PM.

[176]

Thanks Bulldogbiker,
we found one here locally from a trike conversion.

176

[Rags722]

Thanks Bulldogbiker,
we found one here locally from a trike conversion.

176

Just let him know he really should pick up the new style spacer blocks to prevent this from happening to the used one.

[176]

Thanks, I will let him know.
176

[tbird]

I did same as les did. 78,000 miles looks good

[texaskatfish]

176 - I smell whatcha steppin in for sure (2001 FLHR here) - I only wish I had had the cash to upgrade to the 1" axle set up when Gracie's swing arm fubar'd (amazingly enough I rode approx 1500 miles after it broke and never even knew it until I went to my indy for a new rear tire  ) - I did get 120,000 miles out of the original so tough to bitch I reckon...........and I have the old one here - will get a talented welder to doctor it up sometime

[Rags722]

"They all do that"   

[hd06]

 Check the trike shops.

[2talljack]

Where do you pickup the new style spacer blocks.

[Rags722]

When you look at a picture like the one above, you can't help but wonder what purpose the NHTSA actually performs other than trying to keep us wearing helmets.  To me, this is a clear case of a design flaw that should be recognized as a severe hazard. Why a mandatory recall was not issued requiring replacement of all swingarms built under these specs is just beyond me.  However, I have a 2000 Pontiac that has a flaw. IF you have a rocker cover leak AND IF you are involved in a major front end collision, enough oil MAY spill on a hot manifold to create a fire in the engine compartment.  So far, I have received about 15 recall notices for this.  Since the fix involves removing the plastic spark plug wire tray on the front of the motor, and my car runs just fine with no leaks, I refuse to let some dealership hacks screw up my car. 

[176]

Katfish,

His looks just like yours.  It has around 75K on it, and he just came back from Sturgis to find this because
he needs a new tire real bad.  He thought it was squirley due to the bald tire.  Found one with
around 7K on it from a trike shop here in Az. 

I do wonder how the MoCo is getting away without having to recall this.  I would think due to the age of
the bikes affected, there will be a lot of failures as the miles log up.  I would think this is a major safety
issue for HD, and they would want to get the bikes affected recalled ASAP! But what do I know? 

176

[hd06]

 Check on Ebay one starts for 50 bucks

[Hossamania]

Mine broke exactly like that also, and rode probably a thousand miles on it before I found it. Had my neighbor, who is a master welder, fix it. All he had for steel laying around was some 3/4 inch iron fence square stock. Looks ugly as hell, couple of big rectangular steel warts top and bottom, but a lot stronger than it was stock.

[Ultrashovel]

I had a 2004 Ultra and the changes to the swing arm were quite extensive. I think the damage to the earlier ones should have been recalled but I don't run the Moco.

[2talljack]

it was mentioned earlier about an upgraded axle block. Doe s anyone know where to pick one up?

[truck]

J&P cycles doesn't sell them anymore (at least from what I could see in their on line catalog) and the company I bought mine from seems to be out of business, but it wouldn't be too hard to make some.

[Snag]

J&P cycles doesn't sell them anymore (at least from what I could see in their on line catalog) and the company I bought mine from seems to be out of business, but it wouldn't be too hard to make some.

  Send me the height and width of the inside of your swingarm , and the axle size and I'll send you a pair .Cost can be determined later .  Height needs to be where the shock mount protrudes into the space unless you want to grind that off <I wouldn't> . I made a set for my '90 Ultra , made a difference . I'm also considering making spacers that have a larger diameter at the swingarm for my bike, also to spread the force - I think that was mentioned somewhere upthread also . The fact that these are cracking indicates a seriously under-engineered part .
--
Snag
Always Fiddlin'

[Ultrashovel]

J&P cycles doesn't sell them anymore (at least from what I could see in their on line catalog) and the company I bought mine from seems to be out of business, but it wouldn't be too hard to make some.

  Send me the height and width of the inside of your swingarm , and the axle size and I'll send you a pair .Cost can be determined later .  Height needs to be where the shock mount protrudes into the space unless you want to grind that off <I wouldn't> . I made a set for my '90 Ultra , made a difference . I'm also considering making spacers that have a larger diameter at the swingarm for my bike, also to spread the force - I think that was mentioned somewhere upthread also . The fact that these are cracking indicates a seriously under-engineered part .
--
Snag
Always Fiddlin'

The earlier T.C. swing arms were not really up to the job  I've heard about lots and lots of them cracking. I guess it was in '02 or '03 that HD changed the swing arm. I recall that my 2004 Ultra had the large 1" axle and a very heavily-built swing arm. It's not unusual for HD to do this, however. If you want the latest and best, you need to buy new about every other year. It's not your grandfather's Harley-Davidson any more.

[truck]

1995 through 2001 were the problem years for cracking.