I had my techs keep their cell phones in their tool boxes unless they were OFF the clock
I worked on flat rate being a lead tech
The trouble ( with flat rate) was the other techs took SOOO many short cuts I ended up fixing their come backs for free
After I complained for a couple weeks they put me on salary
Nuff Said," Were Burnin Daylight, Lets Ride"(Sober 37 years)
Current ride : 2021 FREEWHEELER M8, oldest ride 1960 FL
I'll say it and I'll keep saying it till they pack me in ice and haul me away.The most reliable drive setup is like I have on my Superglide. Belt primary and chain final.Not a single problem since '77.
My 17 Tri-Glide was less than a year old when it got something (either a rock or a stick) hung up between the guard and the belt. It wore a groove half way through the belt the full length. Got my insurance to cover it under comprehensive with a $100 deductible. I believe the bill was $900 to $1000 with about $200 being the belt.
After that I fabricated an extended fender skirt for the front that is 3" longer than stock. https://www.triketalk.com/forum/thre...519#post584519
I drive about 1/2 mile of gravel 1 way daily before I get out to the highway then I run small county roads that tend to get a lot of limbs and crap in them when it gets windy.
It can happen but I would say it is rare, I do like the peace of mind the extended fender skirt gives me.
Bob
Here are some photos of belt damage I noticed just today. It looks like a really small pebble, which might still be lodged in the belt, but not on the surface. I've read where some say it's not enough to be a problem. My bike will be under warranty through next june before the extended warranty starts. Question is; Am I gonna have to pay out the A$$ on this? or will Harley cover it? I'll take it over to the dealer tomorrow, but I'd like to hear what some of you experienced riders have to say. Thanks in advance.
And... does this look right. The drive belt is riding at the far left side of the front pulley. Looks like it's been like that since day one and haven't had any problems with it.
2018 Tri Glide Ultra Classic. Vivid Black.
Very doubtful (almost guaranteed) that HD will not cover that as it is not really a defect in the belt. And I've heard of belts that broke while in warranty and HD would not replace saying they are a 'wear' item.
I've also read that if the puncture/damage is in the center of the belt (like yours) and does not reach to the edge that the belt is not really compromised. But I think I'd be concerned if taking a long road trip far from home.
Don't know if your 'other than collision' (which we used to call 'comprehensive') insurance coverage might handle it for you like the other poster's did. Might be worth a call to check.
Best wishes for getting it all sorted out and hopefully a satisfactory resolution.
When my belt was damaged by a rock ... Harley covered it and my local owner told me it was just good business. Trust me ... he didn't just eat it so I'm confident that HD actually paid for it. I was told that the belt is a wear item and if it fails from wear ... no warrantee .... but like even tires, they do have road hazard type stuff warrantee.
My take ... Harley knows the Tri's don't have any protection for the belt unlike the two wheelers ... so on the rare cases, when pressed, they will just replace them under warrantee ... but ... I have nothing to back that up except my personal experience ... but ... it does show a willingness to do these under warrantee.
As to the time involved ... every mechanic can do things quicker than any other mechanic. When they did my belt replace on the 15 Tri, they did about 10.5 hours. Granted, my Tri was the first Tri they had replaced the belt on. I talked to the Service manager and he said there was a huge learning curve in doing this, but, Harley was not charged for any of that (who knows if this is true). They actually had the Tri for a bunch of days ... so a mechanic that worked for 10.5 hours on this should have finished this in two days. I want to say I dropped the trike off on a Tuesday and didn't get it back until the following Thursday .. or like 9 days (2 weekend days and one Monday the mechanics don't work). I did tell the service manager that I understand he might have had to pull the mechanic off the job for other stuff and he told me, "Nope, we were concerned that it was a big job and kept him exclusive on it. We wanted him to do the research and then train the other mechanics. We did have other mechanics learn as he went along how this is done to increase our knowledge base. "
SO ... do I believe the Service Manager? Yes ... he'd always been straight with me before (the new one not so much). This guy did get tired of the "Politics" in the shop and the owner pushing to cut costs and took a demotion to a service writer position. The service department has gone down hill since that happened and I hesitate to have anything done there. I also talked to the mechanic about what was involved and it was a bunch ... mainly aligning the whole trike afterwards (at least that was the big part because they hadn't done it before).
Before the trike caught a rock in the belt ... it refused to go in a straight line for any amount of time. I constantly had to "steer" it to keep it between the lines ... after ... I could easily take the hands off the bars for short periods of time. Disclaimer: I don't ride down the road with my hands off the bars. I mainly wrapped my hands around the grips and didn't actually grip them. Suffice to say, the trike was much easier to ride after the repair and alignment. I suspect because this was the first one this dealer had done, the alignment was done to within a nat's a$$ because they really didn't understand the affects of "being off".
In any event ... in my case I believe the mechanic (call him that because he did actually do it right, not just replace the belt) actually spent 10.5 hours working on my trike. I also believe he spent more hours than that learning how to do the job. He told me he was on the phone with Harley many times verifying his understanding of the shop manual procedures to do the job.
Do I also think that a tech could do this job in 3-5 hours ... sure ... do I think it would be done right???? NOPE.
I'm back from the HD dealership. The service writer said belt damage is not covered by warranty. I tried to be friendly and maybe persuade him a little, but it's a no-go. He also said that he's seen many damaged belts go for thousands of miles before being replaced (for whatever reason). Also told me there is no recommended mileage to replace a belt. So.... I guess I'll ride it as is for a while and when it starts to bother me I'll do the work in my garage. Thought about buying a backup belt... just in case, but I could end up packing it around for a couple years before needing it. Botton line is that I have roadside assistance... and insurance so if I'm on a ride and it breaks I'll spend a couple days in a motel waiting on the fix.
As for the alignment. I'll check my manuals, but if the bike rolls straight, like Fuzzy says, I'll just leave it for a while.
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it?"
2018 Tri Glide Ultra Classic. Vivid Black.
David, since Fuzzy posted that HD did in fact cover his damaged belt it might be worth a call to HD customer service (is that an oxymoron, lol) and ask them. Nothing to lose and you might get lucky and at least get part of it covered.
Several years ago I bought a used FXR3. It was almost three years old and way out of the one year warranty HD offered at that time. Developed an oil leak which turned out to be a cracked inner primary. Asked service writer to call HD to see if they'd cover it. He said they would not since I was not the original owner and it was way out of warranty. But I did and HD agreed to repair it if I paid $100 deductible. Heck yeah I jumped on that. Made me suspect I was not the first to have this problem and it was a known issue so not quite the same as your damaged belt. But HD sometimes does come through for customer goodwill. Never know.
HD must have changed as I had a belt where at 33k at 18 months the teeth on about every tooth had separated from one side on about half the belt and they refused to warranty it. And supposedly my dealer fought hard to get it warrantied. Unless you are there listening I don't know how you would prove that though. But yep, it was a wear item which I said BS to.
The only reason some people are still alive is it's illegal to shoot them.
American Legion Rider
At 30306 miles and still under warranty, I had to get the belt that never breaks replaced. I was told that it is a wear item. Cost me $1125, two weeks of no motorcycle to ride and a motorcycle trip in the car. Cost Harley the sale of a 2020 TriGlide. Decided to upgrade my 2019 car instead and pocket the rest of the money.
I'm the last person to defend Harley.......But lets call a spade a spade the belt is a wear item , ...A very expensive one to replace at that... And no belt can last for ever....
Sometimes a Cigar is Just a Cigar.....
2019 Tri-Glide.......
And if you ride on gravel a lot like I have to, replacing the belt is a very good idea as dust alone accelerates the amount of wear. It's an expensive wear item but it is a wear item none the less.
The only reason some people are still alive is it's illegal to shoot them.
American Legion Rider