Road Trip Woes

[narcosis]

My brother-in-law headed and I out on Friday, he from Foley AL and me from Niceville FL.  We met up in Greenville AL, miraculously arriving within seconds of each other (he was two cars ahead of me on the offramp).  Over breakfast he told me that cruise, turn signals, and brake lights went out 65 miles into the ride.  After breakfast we replaced the blow fuse, only to blow again before we got back on I65.  He elected to press on and made it to VA to meet up with our wives.  Next day we made it to our destination, Falls Village CT.  Sunday morning we set out on a beautiful day to ride an 80 mile route I had programmed into the Nav V.  Eight miles into the ride his bike died.  It was a nice 8 miles though.  So, 1400 miles to get here for an 8 mile ride.  We'll try and figure out something today.

[Dennis Andress]

U-Haul van.

[Redman]

Ew.... Bad .....

 

Awaiting update . . . . .

 

What is your BIL's bike ? (something that has fuses)

 

My experience in getting a rental pickup truck in a somewhat similar situation: If call and the call gets transfrered to the nationwide reservation system, they take your reservation and say truck is available, that doesnt mean there actaull is such a truck at the location. THe local location is suppose to somehow get one somehow from whereever, and probably cant in a matter of a couple of hours. So, verify if are talking to the local location.

[narcosis]

My brother-in-law called his mechanic and he thought the dying issue was the crank sensor.  Tomorrow we'll call the Harley shop and see if they have the part.  If so, we R&R that.  If not we'll probably look into renting a U-Haul trailer, put both bikes on it, and ride back with the wives.

[9Mary7]

H-D........ I've been on rides with those folks before. Always end up fixing' somethin'

[Hosstage]

What year and model Harley? It is a common problem on older HDs to have the main relay fail, the fix is a new, larger relay, 35 amp to 50 amp. Crank position sensor is also a common problem, both easily fixed. HDs in general are usually pretty easy to troubleshoot.

9Mary7, my HD has only been towed home once in 20 years and 125,000 miles when the belt broke with 60,000 miles on it. It was not the belt's fault, it put with my shenanigans as long as it could.

[9Mary7]

2 hours ago, Hosstage said:

my HD has only been towed home once in 20 years

In that case, I would be happy to go riding with you!!!

[narcosis]

It's a 2012 but Harley is questionable.  It has a 2200cc S&S motor and a 7 speed transmission.  So, this bike has been modified and rewired a bunch.  We'll see how today unfolds.

[Dennis Andress]

15 minutes ago, narcosis said:

It's a 2012 but Harley is questionable.  It has a 2200cc S&S motor and a 7 speed transmission.  So, this bike has been modified and rewired a bunch.  We'll see how today unfolds.

 

Chrome don't get you home.

[TEWKS]

If you’re going to roam don’t polish the chrome. 
 

 Sorry for your woes but you probably know, you can’t blame Harley for this one. 

[Hosstage]

Good luck, hope it's something simple.

[Hosstage]

11 hours ago, 9Mary7 said:

In that case, I would be happy to go riding with you!!!

Sure, you say that now, but after waiting for me to catch up thru the turns all the time, or worse, riding near me and listening to the ThunderHeader pipe for a while, you'll be rethinking your decision!

[Redman]

Hey, your botherinlaw with the broke down H-D, I am not going harass him about anything, not after riding from Alabama to Connecticut this time of year.

 

Awaiting update.......

 

 

[narcosis]

The bikes will be traveling home in a U-Haul.  We found a new crank position sensor but to change it out would have required removing the aftermarket oil cooler.  Between that and the electrical issue we decided to quit, enjoy the rest of our stay here, and make sure we and the bikes make it back.

[Don McFerran]

last summer my bike broke down in a tiny town 100 miles from missoula MT.  Ended up buying a 20 year old pickup from a junkyard for $600, Drove home to Oregon. Sold the pickup to my stepson for $600.

[narcosis]

1 hour ago, Don McFerran said:

last summer my bike broke down in a tiny town 100 miles from missoula MT.  Ended up buying a 20 year old pickup from a junkyard for $600, Drove home to Oregon. Sold the pickup to my stepson for $600.

We may end up doing something similar.  Nearby 6' x 12' U-Haul Trailer w/ramp has to returned to the same location.  Now looking for a trailer to buy.  Worse case is we'll rent a  smaller trailer for his bike and I'll just ride back.

[MichiganBob]

Really. I thought you can drop a U-Haul rental at any U-Haul. I was going to rent on in January for a trip. I will surely get that clarified.

[John Ranalletta]

3 hours ago, narcosis said:

We may end up doing something similar.  Nearby 6' x 12' U-Haul Trailer w/ramp has to returned to the same location.  Now looking for a trailer to buy.  Worse case is we'll rent a  smaller trailer for his bike and I'll just ride back.

 

Suggestion:

 

https://nwct.craigslist.org/tro/d/sherman-motorcycle-trailer-lightweight/7393076593.html

[roadscholar]

 

I'd think twice about putting a 900lb Road Glide on that little trailer. Plus with a 63.5 inch wheelbase it may not fit on the rail, not to mention tire width, I'd at least have them measure both. And check the 1x6 ramp, that ain't happenin : ) 

 

 

[Hosstage]

1 minute ago, roadscholar said:

 

I'd think twice about putting a 900lb Road Glide on that little trailer. Plus with a 63.5 inch wheelbase it may not fit on the rail, not to mention tire width, I'd at least have them measure both. And check the 1x6 ramp, that ain't happenin : )  

But if you try, please make a video!

[narcosis]

This morning the Road Glide was taken to Ronnie's Harley-Davidson in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.  While that was happening I went on a 75 mile ride from Falls Village, CT up the east side of Mt. Washington State Forest, back down through Bash Bish Falls to the west side of the forest, and then back to Falls Village.  Although the roads and scenery were good, I think I'd prefer riding through a bunch of old, small towns.  I really like looking at the old architecture.  Maybe tomorrow.  The weather is supposed to be good again.

[narcosis]

Road Glide is roadworthy. Ronnie's came through.  Will pick it up in the morning.

[TEWKS]

What it end up being? 

[narcosis]

The crank position sensor was the bike dying problem. The other problem with the blinkers brake lights cruise control and so forth was a loose shorted wire under the seat.

[Dennis Andress]

14 minutes ago, narcosis said:

The crank position sensor was the bike dying problem. The other problem with the blinkers brake lights cruise control and so forth was a loose shorted wire under the seat.

 

I'm glad you got a good fix!

[Hosstage]

9 minutes ago, Dennis Andress said:

 

I'm glad you got a good fix!

Yup, that! Good call by your long distance mechanic. Told you Harleys were pretty simple to fix!

[narcosis]

Picked up the Road Glide and asked for a good route back to Falls Village.  The recommendation was to pick up Route 8 to the east of Pittsfield and head south.  The route did not disappoint.  We took Route 8 down to Winstead, across to Winchester, on to Goshen, and then back to Falls Village.  Great roads, beautiful scenery, and no pictures...sorry about that.  Tomorrow's not shaping up for a good ride day and we're heading home on Sunday.  We are thinking about detouring to the Asheville NC area for a few days.  We'll see what the weather looks like.

[Bud]

All's well that ends well. Congrats

[narcosis]

The saga continues.  We left Sunday morning, heading to Wytheville, VA for the first leg on the way home.  On a cup of coffee we knocked out 200 miles and stopped in Wilkes-Barnes Township on I-81 for breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  We got back on I-81S and the Road Glide went into limp mode, throttle frozen at 2000rpm.  Tried lots of on-the-road repair tactics (reseating plugs, clearing fault codes, etc.) but nothing would hold.  After periods with the engine off, the bike would crank and run okay for maybe a couple of miles.  We managed to limp to the closest Harley dealer in Orwigsburg, PA and left it there.  The wives backtracked and picked him up and I pressed on.  The dealership duplicated the problem but as of yesterday couldn't pinpoint it.  We're all home now with another 2933 miles on the RT.

[Hosstage]

That's a bummer.

[Dennis Andress]

That sucks.

[TEWKS]

Glad you made it back. 

 

Not to sound like a wise ass but if your buddy likes HD ( which I do too) he needs to buy one and leave it all HD.
 

Some dude just put a 100, 000 miles on one in a hundred days. I don’t know the exact details of the trip but it sounds like no engine failures were reported.

[narcosis]

My brother-in-law has 140,000 on the bike.  He's had issues all along the way but he loves that bike.  He also has a K1600GTL that he was supposed to take on the trip but the #2 coil went out a few days before we were to leave.  They say bad things come in threes...what's next?

Quote

 

 

[TEWKS]

The Tiki God Trip!  

[MichiganBob]

There has to be at least one "at leasta" here. 

[Hosstage]

1 hour ago, TEWKS said:

The Tiki God Trip!  

I use the Brady Bunch Tiki trip all the time to point out good luck/bad luck interpretation! Was it bad luck that the big wall hanging almost fell on Peter, or was it good luck that it didn't?

Was it bad luck that the bike broke where it did, or is it good luck it didn't break in a precarious situation causing great injury? Hmm...

Perspective.

Narcosis, It's too bad your brother-in-law has had so many problems, takes the fun out of it.

[TEWKS]

Admittedly not easy all the time but, it’s the better way to navigate life! 

[MichiganBob]

I have a riding buddy for 37 years now. We always say when something goes wrong, like a flat tire or electrical issue, that it might have prevented us from being a decoration on the grille of a Peterbilt.  Sometimes things happen for a reason, sometimes not. Glad your all safe from this road trip. More trips to come I'm sure.

 

MB