2023 frame issues

Code said:

Well, the local Service Department installed the new upper frame section. I went to pick up the bike last week, and....IT IS STILL misaligned. After looking over the bike carefully and pulling off the front fairing clip, it is obvious. THE NEW FRAME SECTION HAS THE SAME LOWER NECK TAB DEFECT. It is a manufacturing defect. I went into the showroom and looked at all the Pan Ams they had. All the 2023 had the same defect, and the new 2024. Harley has obviously not addressed the manufacturing line; the neck tabs are not aligned. My bike was a York, PA produced bike.

When returning it to the service department I was talking with the Service Writer who was on the phone with Harley Customer Care about my problem. I overheard some of the conversation and talked with him about it a bit. The Customer Care rep said they had just left a corporate meeting about this very frame issue, and Harley knows they have a problem. They talked about the problem turning into a huge recall for all these bikes, and it was going to be a mess. I left the bike with service department because the customer care rep wasn't sure what the next course of action would be, and wanted detailed pictures of the bike. That was Saturday, this morning, Tuesday I get a call informing me they are sending out a tech from Spokane, Washington to evaluate the bike. I have a strong intuition the Tech is going to attempt to shim and contort the the fairing into alignment. This is not a fix of the defect, just a temporary band-aid. We will see. I am not going to accept the bike until the frame tab is fixed, I would recommend everyone else do the same.

Harley is going to avoid this recall, and duck the responsibility like they did with the defective Twin-Cam spring loaded cam chain tensioners that destroyed many engines. That was a design defect. This frame issue is a manufacturing defect, plan and simple. I am getting ahead of myself a bit, but I see where this is going. The conversation at corporate about the issue, and sending a tech from Washington instead of a Quality Assurance Rep from York, PA is the writing on the wall. Recall 6+ months of product, or try to appease the persistent few who won't accept a defect product. I wonder if the new "CVO" PA will have the same defect?

To be continued.....

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Chris97038 said:

The fairing mount being off does not cause the wheels to track wrong. It is just the faring that is off. Think of it like a cars bumper. You could move the bumper grill and hood over to one side, the car would still drive straight. its not the frame that is wrong Just the faring mount bracket

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DetroitDan said:

Thank you for clarifying.

It looks like it might be me that is wrong about the nature of the problem. I might have misunderstood the part of the front frame that is misaligned.
The way the dealer described it to me, I thought that the frame neck that holds the bearings was not centered with the rest of the motorcycle. It might be only the fairing mounts.

Again, thank you for explaining.

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DetroitDan said:

I am not sure right now.

Here is what I know for sure: I had the motorcycle for less than 4 hours. I only put about 22 miles on it. While I was riding, I noticed that the handlebars appeared to be turned to the right, and it felt like it was crabbing, while I was going straight. Being turned slightly to the right was not only in relationship to the TFT, but to the "gas tank." I stopped at home, because I had to adjust my shifter anyway, and did a real quick measurement from a couple of points to the TFT display, because my first hunch was that the TFT was mounted crooked. From my quick measurements at least, I did not see a difference in the measurements from one side to the other.

I did not actually check for crabbing by riding through water and looking at the tracks or anything like that.

I went back to the dealer immediately. One of the employees came out and went from the front to the back several times looking close to the ground and telling me to straighten the handlebars out. He said clearly there was an alignment problem. They had me pull it inside. While I was explaining the symptom, I looked down and realized that the rear axle was adjusted unevenly. In other words, one of the adjusters was significantly different than the other, maybe by a centimeter. I said that if I had known that was all that was wrong I would have adjusted it myself. The dealer service writer said, No you paid for VIP service we'll straighten it out."

I did not hear from them for a week, so I went back to the dealer to ask about my bike. When I inquired about the bike, they said that the front frame was welded incorrectly. They also stated they would have to replace the front frame. I was tremendously less than happy. I won't go into that right now. It's been over 3 weeks since I bought it, and it's still not done.

So, I am not exactly sure what part of the front frame was welded incorrectly. It may be the same problem addressed in this thread, or it may be a problem with the steering head geometry being incorrect. I do not know right now.

The crabbing effect could be caused by the misadjusted rear axle.

So this bike might have a couple of separate issues.

If they finish the repairs someday, I will get explicit details and share them in this thread.

Click to expand...

DetroitDan said:

I am not sure right now.

Here is what I know for sure: I had the motorcycle for less than 4 hours. I only put about 22 miles on it. While I was riding, I noticed that the handlebars appeared to be turned to the right, and it felt like it was crabbing, while I was going straight. Being turned slightly to the right was not only in relationship to the TFT, but to the "gas tank." I stopped at home, because I had to adjust my shifter anyway, and did a real quick measurement from a couple of points to the TFT display, because my first hunch was that the TFT was mounted crooked. From my quick measurements at least, I did not see a difference in the measurements from one side to the other.

I did not actually check for crabbing by riding through water and looking at the tracks or anything like that.

I went back to the dealer immediately. One of the employees came out and went from the front to the back several times looking close to the ground and telling me to straighten the handlebars out. He said clearly there was an alignment problem. They had me pull it inside. While I was explaining the symptom, I looked down and realized that the rear axle was adjusted unevenly. In other words, one of the adjusters was significantly different than the other, maybe by a centimeter. I said that if I had known that was all that was wrong I would have adjusted it myself. The dealer service writer said, No you paid for VIP service we'll straighten it out."

I did not hear from them for a week, so I went back to the dealer to ask about my bike. When I inquired about the bike, they said that the front frame was welded incorrectly. They also stated they would have to replace the front frame. I was tremendously less than happy. I won't go into that right now. It's been over 3 weeks since I bought it, and it's still not done.

So, I am not exactly sure what part of the front frame was welded incorrectly. It may be the same problem addressed in this thread, or it may be a problem with the steering head geometry being incorrect. I do not know right now.

The crabbing effect could be caused by the misadjusted rear axle.

So this bike might have a couple of separate issues.

If they finish the repairs someday, I will get explicit details and share them in this thread.

Click to expand...