IDS Bearing Failure

2

214 Metroline

New member
Spent Labor Day weekend with my brother riding my 2007 Ultra down Skyline Drive, the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Cherohala Skyway. After we hit Tellico Plains, we decided to take the scenic roads home to Indiana.

After stopping for gas in Crossville, TN, I pulled out onto the road and heard a "click, click" noise. I initially attributed this to the compensator, but when it made the same noise coming to a stop at the next light I knew it was something else.

We pulled over and checked the rear brake, thinking I might have broken something with going up and down the mountains for the past three days. Took the saddlebag off and the rear brake looked normal. Took the left side saddlebag off, and moved the bike a few feet. The IDS sprocket moved sideways a tad and made the click noise. Damn!

Gently rode 45 miles to Cookeville where I found Boswell Harley around 5PM. At this point it was making a lot of noise. Thomas was able to get me in right away, and found the IDS bearing was pretty much in pieces. They didn't have a replacement bearing in stock, but Tony had a take-off sprocket at home, and would bring it in the next day.

I got a lift to the hotel from one of the techs and he picked me up in the morning. The sprocket went on without issues and I was on my way home.

I want to give a big shout-out to Thomas, Roy, Bill and Tony of Boswell's Cookeville Harley-Davidson. They went above and beyond in my book, and I truly appreciate it!

BTW - This IDS sprocket has been on my Ultra for the last 3 seasons and approximately 30,000 miles, give or take a few. I think I will be replacing this bearing with every other rear tire change from here on out, just to be safe. If this had happened on the Parkway I would have been up a creek without a paddle!

Kevin
 
Mine has about 30K on it at this point too...no sign of trouble so far. I just did a tire change and we took a good look at it, all appeared OK.
 
Just wondering if you felt a big difference going back to a stock sprocket ? And are
you going to put the IDS back on? Sometime when I'm backing out of my driveway I hear a click
Like a single ball bearing dropping or some thing?
but the pulley dosen't move at all, just the sound.
 
Boy that is really above and beyond service.

My IDS bearing went out once and I have been changing it every other tire change, It's not expensive for some piece of mind
 
Did it look something like this? This was after 6000 mi. Happened again so I put a different IDS sproket and bearing in. I carry spare bearing in my saddle bag all the time and will have the IDS checked at every service. If you notice a streak of grease on sprocket your bearing has lost it's grease and is shot. Spare bearing will prevent you from being stranded and isn't that expensive. Got 4000 on new sprocket. So far so good.
 
I'm at 28k on my bearing with no problems yet. I check it at every tire change, but at the rate these E3 tires are wearing out that's about every two years (20k miles). I often wonder how the stock sprocket would work with the SE compensator, which I installed a year ago, but I'm not likely to try it. I've thought about changing the IDS bearing at every tire change but don't see the justification. It may be that this one will last indefinitely and the new one will fail prematurely, kind of in the spirit of "if it ain't broke don't fix it."
 
I also added the SE compensator last year to get rid of the stock comp. I can tell you the ride with the solid sprocket is much better than before, but it's not the same as with the IDS attached. The felt change is subtle, but enough that I can feel it.

I will definitely re-install the IDS drive when I pick up my ordered parts tonight. Along with the bearing, I ordered the six rubber bumpers and the five grade 8 bolts. Does anyone recall how many foot-pounds the bolts need to be tightened to? I recall there was a service bulletin released increasing the rating, but don't recall how much.
 
I'm not going back to the solid sprocket, but I was curious how it would work with the SE comp. My bike clattered so much with the original setup that I don't want to take a chance on living through that again.

The '07 IDS instructions say to torque to 65 ft/lbs., but in '08 they released M1216 for '08's that specify 60 ft/lbs., loosen, then 80 ft/lbs. I think if I was redoing mine I would go with the '08 spec., used either red Loctite or new bolts. Both of my hubs (two wheels) are at 65 ft/lbs. with blue Loctite and have been since '07 with no problems.
 
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