Hey folks. Let me pick your brains for a bit.

The last time I rode my bike I noticed a persistent ticking clacking noise coming from my bike (2018 LowRider w/ 720 miles). The noise happened at all RPMs and got louder/more frequent as the RPMs went up. It happened on cold startup, after it warmed up.... I used a mechanics stethoscope and isolated it to the rear cylinder exhaust part of the valve train. The bike started sputtering a bit about this time as well.

I took the bike apart and pulled the rocker covers off. Long story short the exhaust pushrod for the back cylinder would not spin when I got the lifters on the base circle of the cam. At this point it was late so I let the bike sit till I could work on it again. So a couple days later I went out to do more trouble shooting and all of a sudden I can spin the push rod with my fingers. My suspicion is that the lifter isn't bleeding down. Is there any way I can confirm this?

Also, when turning the engine over I put the transmission in 6th gear and I'm using the back tire. I have seen videos of people doing the same thing and they can do this with one hand. I can't do that on mine. I have to get behind the bike and use both hands and it still takes a lot of effort to turn. Is this because the bike isn't really broken in or should I look for another issue?

 

I stuck an endoscope down the spark plug holes to make sure there weren't any valves making contact with the pistons. Didn't see any contact marks but it looks like I've got some oil residue on the pistons. First two pictures are rear cylinder, last two are the front.

Rear1

Rear2

Front1

Front2

 

You could have a valve that is sticking in the valve guide. Carbon build-up on the valve stem can cause this, usually if excess oil is getting past the valve seals and burns onto the hot exhaust valve stem.

 

As I was turning the motor over I was watching the rocker arms. They appeared to be working smoothly, none staying down and popping up all of a sudden. Or would it be more noticeable when the bike is running?

 

Those pistons look fine for your mileage, they look better than mine with 3,500 miles.
Unless somebody has a better idea, I would put new lifters on that cylinder. Great care must be taken when removing lifter blocks, guides etc., do your research about broken bolts, especially in early M8 engines.
Another idea is since you do have some things apart, if you have any ideas about doing a cam change.............do it.

 

I was thinking the same thing about the cam change

 

In the videos where people are turning the rear wheel with one hand they most likely removed the spark plugs on the primary side to ease compression. Your rear wheel will be very hard to move even in 6th gear if your spark plugs are all in....

With only 720 miles in 2 yrs you could just have ‘sticky’ lifters, Harley lifters are known to not be of the best quality.

BTW, your pistons look to be in great condition, very little buildup.

 

All the spark plugs are out when trying to turn it over.

 

For what it’s worth, I just did a cam install on my 114 the other week and the rear tire was still pretty hard to rotate even with 2 plugs removed. Yesterday I was rotating the rear tire in 6th gear with all plugs in place and it was significantly harder than with 2 plugs removed.

 

Most reports are less mechanical sounds after a cam change, my stage II is like that.

Ya, tire not easy to turn like in video.