Broken Gear Tooth?

[robbie1968vt]

In preparation for an upcoming 2500 mile ten day road trip, I just drained the primary chaincase fluid so I can switch it over to Amsoil synthetic. When I removed the magnetic drain plug there was a chunk of metal attached. After I cleaned it up, the best I can figure out is that it is a tip of a gear tooth. It is a small piece, but now I am worried that there is a major issue going on and we are leaving in less than a week! Anyone ever experience anything like this? We have just over 9,000 miles on the bike and there are no noise, mechanical or performance issues. Thanks in advance for any input!

2007 FLHTCU
Stage 1 intake kit
Screaming Eagle Touring Performance Exhaust

[freeriderogur]

Dude, take it apart to see what's wrong! It could get very worse.

[Furcifer]

I'd definitely be inspecting the gears...

[old skool]

welcome to the forum from FL, listen to freerider he knows what the hell hes talkin about. just pull the primary and see what you can see, if ya can't then ya might have to get into the clutch. you said you only have 9k miles on the bike, is it new? is it still under factory warrenty? if you are handy witha wrench i would pull it make sure ya know whats going on. being stranded during a road trip can seriously dampin the mood of the trip. keep us posted

[robbie1968vt]

I got the bike into the dealer this morning (On a Sunday, no less). They took it apart and said the piece of gear tooth came from one of the ring gears in the clutch assembly. They placed an order for a new clutch assembly today and with expedited shipping we hope to have it installed before we are scheduled to leave Friday afternoon. They want me to pay the extra shipping charges which I don't think is too unreasonable (although if it failed catastrophically on our trip it would cost them a whole lot more than just a clutch and some shipping). As long as we can leave on schedule we will be happy!

[pltnsgt06]

Let us know how it turns out and post some pics of the ride. Be safe.

[freeriderogur]

Great, good that you caught it before it made a good trip bad.

[robbie1968vt]

Picked up my bike from the dealer on Wednesday night, all fixed and ready for the trip! I have to tell you, Green Mountain Harley-Davidson in Essex Junction Vermont ROCKS! They got my bike in on a Sunday, closed on Monday, ordered parts on Tuesday, installed them and had my bike back to me on Wednesday. What did it cost? Not a penny! They took care of everything under warranty, even the expedited shipping! For the record, the broken part was a gear tooth from the outer ring gear (starter) on the clutch. Just one little piece, not likely to have failed on our trip, but we feel a lot better now that it is fixed!

[chchfatboy]

Hey, great feedback and good info. Nice to hear a dealer looked after you. All the best on the trip and we'd love to see pics.

[fxdwg1998]

great you got your bike fixed have a safe trip 250 a day sounds like fun

[robbie1968vt]

The trip went great! Only had two issues with morons in cages, but that is another story (see my post on air horns). Anyway, to clarify our trip...although we were gone for ten days, we only actually spent a total of five days traveling to Michigan's Keweenaw Penninsula and back (including Million Mile Monday when we logged 626 miles). The other five days were just local trips in the U.P. Not quite sure where to post the story of our trip, but we had a great time.

[DaFish]

You could post in trips and rallies.
Be sure to give us some pics of the U.P.!

DaFish