| Author | Message | ||
     Thump4fun |
Last evening I found that my header on my Lightning had burned through the rubber boot and partway into the clutch cable cover. What prompted me to look was all the rattling I was hearing from the front end of the bike. The retention clip that holds the cable away from the bike had broken and the cable was pressing up against a very hot header. I removed the broken and loose part of the clip using the Leatherman I had just recently stashed under my seat. A buddy I was riding with loaned me a bungee cord which I used to pull the cable away from the header. Later that evening as my wife and I rode over to a bike night and then home aftewards I continued to hear some significant rattling. Too tired to deal with it last night I took the time after work today to investigate further. I found that the horn bracket had broken in half right at the bolt and the horn was hanging loose and rattling all around inside my flyscreen! If it wasn't for the horn rattling around I probably wouldn't have noticed the clutch cable problem until it was too late and ended up stranded somewhere - or attempting to ride home clutchless (ok, more likely calling the AMA help line for a trailer tow). While I'm curious as to why the clutch cable seems to be mere millimeters away from a very hot header, I'm even more curious as to the frequency that things like this shake and break due to the significant vibrations of our v-twins? I have just under 3,000 miles on my XB12 and have only last weekend ridden more then 100 miles in a single day (352 mile round trip - yeah me! LOL) Burned through clutch cable? Broken horn bracket? More a question then a complaint at this point. | ||
| Ourdee |
It smooths out if you open it up some.  | ||
| Nik |
They redesigned the clutch cable retainer thingy for 08; its a much better part and a direct fit to older bikes. | ||
| Panhead_dan |
front isolator? | ||
| 2008xb12scg |
I had my clutch cable retainer thing replaced under warranty/recall as well as the cable. | ||
| Jeffroj |
I had my horn bracket break twice within 6 months, who ever engineered that part must not have known it was going on v-twin. Expect it to break again, unless you fab a new bracket. The best solution I have heard is to use 1" wide C-section aluminum stock. Search for it, you will find pics. | ||
| Thump4fun |
It smooths out if you open it up some Yup, no problem there. I usually run it above 3k, but it's the idling and low revs in stop and go city traffic that really vibrate. They redesigned the clutch cable retainer thingy for 08 My XB12 is a 2008, so if what I have is the redesign, the original must have been really bad. front isolator? The front isolator "appears" to be fine visually, but otherwise I don't know how to verify it's working properly. I'll look further into that. I am getting both the horn bracket and the clutch cable replaced under warranty. I'm also considering replacing the stock horn with an air horn, so probably will need to fabricate my own bracket then anyway. I'm really just wondering how many people have experienced issues like this with the vibrations and what more I should look out for or expect. | ||
| Glitch |
I had a weird shake once, it turned out that the front muffler strap had loosened. | ||
| Glen |
my 08 came with the old style clutch cable holder also, when i read about the problem on here i called my dealer and they swapped it out 4 free. just did my own 5k service and my horn seems ok, but if it was a problem i'd prolly just toss it as ive never used it yet. | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
Stock horn bracket sucks. I replaced it with a 3/4" x 1/8" thick pre-drilled piece of steel I bought at the hardware store. No sense in refitting a stock one, it is just not up to the job. | ||
| Akbuell |
If the clutch cable holder (or in your case, the remains) look like a piece of chromed wire, you have the old one. The upgraded part is made out of sheet metal that appears to be close to .125 thick. Much nicer piece. There is a service bulletin, good for a free upgrade (IIRC) for the '08s. Replaced the one on my '08TT months ago. Ride safe, have fun, Dave | ||
| Spacecapsule1 |
make sure they do the recall properly. if you compare 09 to yours, you'll see what i mean. they did the recall on my 08, but it still burns through the cable boot. i noticed the 09 were held much farther away then mine. seems they angle the new retainer away as well as turn the lower clamp downward to pull the cable farther away from the header..... | ||
| Thump4fun |
Thanks to Akbuell and Spacecapsule1's explanations, it would appear that I have the old cable holder. It is a twisted wire that holds the clutch cable right now, and that's what snapped off allowing the cable to lay against the header. I'll definitely take a look at what the retainer looks like when they get it in, before they start messing with my bike. And I'll also take note of how it looks after the fact to ensure it's angled properly. Should have the parts in at the dealer late next week. | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
Got me worried about my '04, Never gave it a thought before. In matters of this nature, a picture may be worth a thousand words. To coin a phrase.  | ||
| Thump4fun |
Ask and ye shall receive...pics, that is! :-) These two show where only the top half of the retaining clip is left. The bottom half broke off and allowed the cable to lean against the header.   Here you can see the burn through.  My bungee cord setup so I can ride in the meantime.   | ||
| Thump4fun |
Warranty work completed. The horn bracket was replaced - simple enough. I'll be replacing it was something better myself when I upgrade it to the Steibel air horn. The clutch cable was also replaced, and sure enough, there's a completely redesigned bracket for it. Looks like this is something that will actually do the job properly now. It looks plastic in the pic, but it's metal.  A couple days before visiting the dealership I noticed an oil leak from my primary case at the gasket. Figured I would have them replace that while I was in there (they may have had to anyway depending on how the tech replaced the clutch cable). Come to find out, it wasn't my primary case gasket though. It was my rear rocker leaking and dripping oil directly on to my primary case. So I had to leave my baby in there for an entire day to get that fixed. But hey, it was all warranty work and she's fixed up now. Finally, I asked about the issue with checking the oil on the 2008 bikes. Come to find out this tech has had multiple people ask him the same question and he had just last week talked with the techs directly at Buell. Surprisingly they told him we need to check the oil WHILE THE BIKE IS RUNNING...after it's been warmed up, of course. And as long as the oil measures anywhere within the XXXX area, it's good. Hmmm...never would have thought that. Do that with a car and you get all sorts of bad readings. But sure enough...I've checked the oil a couple times since getting it back with the bike hot and running, and it seems to be in the same place each time so far. I'll make mention of that for others in another post. |
