I'm a new owner of a 98 road king police.(80 cu.in.)She runs great and sound great but a slow speeds through town I hear tappet noise.Not loud but its there.Is this normal or can i adjust them.Its my first Harley so i'm not sure how they should sound.

 

I have a bit of "tick tick" too. I was told it is normal.

 

Thanks.Nice ride man.

 

A sewing machine sound is normal, more or less. I also have a 98 RK. I rebuilt this at 80K this winter, and it still sounds like a sewing machine, a little louder though with the new cam.

Word on the street is that the tappet rollers on these engines need to be replaced at 20-30K miles, something like that. When I took mine apart, one of my tappets was indeed whipped.

 

So you're saying a new set of lifters will be needed soon as a preventative maintenance project

 

This is so called tappet noise actually results from slight play between the crankshaft and the camshaft gears. In theory it could be eliminated by matching those gears precisely, in practice it's considered ok and noone would bother.
The opposite of that (when there isn't enough slack) would result a gear whine noise - then the intervention is necessary.

 

They do say to replace them at around 30K miles if memory serves. But your noise may not be related. I had 80K, and were getting replaced no matter what. Who knows when that tappet wheel broke on mine. If you have high miles like that its a possiblity.

 

My 99 Softail Custom's tappets are quiet, but I still have the stock cam, and only 33,000 miles on her. I have heard after market cams can increase the valve train noise depending on the shape of the cam lobe.

 

i really might be cursing myself here...but, the rapping that was happening after i rebuilt my engine with an ev27, etc...is starting to go away after nearly 400 miles logged

everything is settling in i suspect

 

Yea......an angry sewing machine!