Interesting thread. I have a loud **** noise under load as well and this gives me some things to go on.

 

I too have a great deal of noise I had not noticed before I replaced the tensioner shoes and lifters. I noticed the noise right away, but was unsure if it was a real issue. However, its very annoying and loud enough that I hear it under warp load.

From what I can tell (I like the idea of the mechanics stethoscope) the abby-normal noise is comming from the front cylinder. My thoughts are that I was sloppy putting the rockers back and I have introduced slop into the valve train.

I am going to get a scope and really listen to the bike. If I am correct and the noise is from the front, I will pop up the tank, whip off the rocker cover and attempt to realign the rockers.

If not - I will be looking at the other issues mensioned in this post. This post has been very educational. I need to make sure this is not dammaging before I hit the road for my 2K run through the rockies.

...gene

 

I just realized that editing does not bump the post. So here is what I am doing.

EDIT 090701 : Well the stethoscope provided no information and in fact confused me as no place on the engine I listened had any decernable difference. That leads me to believe that the lifters (unknown aftermarket from ERW) are not filling as rapidly as the stock ones. Soooo - I have basically four choices - put in gear lube to up the viscosity (tomorrow), yank the unknown lifters and replace with old stock as a check (hummm, maybe), get adjustable pushrods and "deal" with it (EZs cost $130), or ride the hell out of it and fix what breaks.

EDIT 090704: I dumped a 1/2 quart of Amsoil 75w90 in the engine, no change in noise at all. I had a new tire put on the back and talked to the mechanic there (Matt at American Motorcycles in Colorado Springs) and he also recomended adjustable pushrods. So that is what I am going to do. Now which ones... I have a stock motor so I really dont want to dump big bucks for pushrods that are overkill. I am just debating the cost/benefit of easy install ones over the normal ones.

EDIT 090706: I bought Andrews EZ Install pushrods and they will arrive Friday. (crosses fingers) I will post Saturday on my experience.

...gene

 

So you will know.
Gear oil and engine are measured differently. The numbers are not the same,
50 we engine oil is very close to 90 wt gear oil. Maybe higher viscosity.
Would have been better to add Amsoil 60 WT racing oil. I have done that some. It also has all the additives an engine needs. Some Racing oil doesn't. But you change every race .

What I finally ended with is this:

20-60 Redline in the engine in the summer and Amsoil 20-50 in winter. SE Texas.
I have adjustable pushrods, 32 TPI.
Fueling lifters, which look just like HD's, by the way.
S&S travel limiters in the lifters. These things are set at 2 flats from the bottom. S&S calls for 6 flats but I have tightened some. Comes out to 0.0105 from the bottom.
Makes very little noise now, a little at 2050-2150 RPM.
3000-4000 Miles on this, no problems. I figure the Cilinders grow more that the steel pushrods so things will loosen up as heat comes up.
Also starts easier cause little bleed down in the lifters.
If they wanted to pump up, not far to go with the limiters, maybe 0.05 is all. Pump up a stock lifter can go up, at least, 0.100 more, whick is why I like limiters.

I think a lot of the noise is lots of slack in the system which is based on SB Chevy lifters which have way too much travel build in. 0.200 total when all needed is about0.060.
I run Woods cams and springs which are a lot more stout that most SM Chevy lifters were designed for. They rarely see those pressures. But they were cheap and avaliable for HD.

There are some aftermarked lifters that do this but they cost a lot.

 

I let the bike sit all day before I started, it was as cold as a 80 degree days allows.

OK, my Andrews EZ Install pushrods arrived and I was all set. I positioned the crank to the top of the compression stroke, cut out the old pushrods installed the new ones, and, as instructed, turned them down 3 turns after zero lash (actually it says 3 to 4 turns). Then I did the back cylinder.

At first I would not get compresstion in the rear cylinder. So I backed off a complete turn on all 4. That made everything appear to work. I was able to rotate the engine, I saw compression and exhaust in both cylinders. And I heard no metal to metal touching. However...

It started but ran very badly and I shut it off in less than 10 seconds. I figured OK, a little tighter and moved all 4 1 face. OMG I though the machine was going to blow up. Rough running is not the word. So I backed off 2 faces. worse.

I am lost -

I now have the bike back apart (praying I did not break anything) and I plan to reuse the old HD lifters. The aftermarket lifters I have did not come with specs - so I hope to eliminate them in the morning.

At least with the old HD lifters back in place (26K miles on them and they look fine) I will know how much preset I need to get toward something like normal.

On a side note, the Andrews EZ install lifters seem very fragile. Just bumping them with the wrenches mared the threads. That is not what I expected.

...gene

 

Ok
Time to go back to basic, gonna be OK.

Front cilinder sounds like you did OK.
Rear cilinder you must rotate and get "that" cilinder on it's own compression Stroke.

I may have read wrong but reads like you got the front on it's compression stroke and then did both cylinders. Thats why you couldn't get any compression on the Rear, at first. Backed off some more and completely unloaded the lifter. You can't do that. Each one individually. One at a time by itself.
I haven't though about this a whole lot cause the info is around but when the front is on compression, I bet the rear is on exhause and that valve is open.


Main thing With EZ adjust is they wont take much side load. Of course they should't see any anyway.

 

Old Gunny - thanks, I was very tired last night, let me be more specific.

After I did the front, I did the same procedure for the rear. That is:
- I had the bike in 5th gear
- rotated the tire until I felt air being pushed out the sparkplug whole.
- looked in the spark plug whole until I could see the piston and both lifters were not moving.

I did this for both cylinders.

At this point I have the bike tore down:
- pushrods and covers off the bike
- lifter block covers off, gaskets off
- aftermarket lifters removed.

I am going to put in the HD lifters and see if I can get the bike to run correctly. To find TDC, I plan to watch the lifters and when the intake resets to its down position, watch for the cylinder to be near its highest point, but not going down, to find TDC.

I still hope I did not break anything.
...gene

 

Following what I described above, I got the bike together using 3 turns on each pushrod to start. It runs OK, and the noise is half or less what it was before I started the pushrod replacement, so I consider this a partial success.

But, I used the old HD lifters (26K miles on them) and there is still alot of noise especially when stomping on it.

So, my next question is; exactly where do you try and listen to identify noise from a particular valve,rocker,pushrod,lifter?

...gene

 

Guys,
The big deal here is that my 03 RKC had NO clack before the the cam tensioner service. And yes its WAS wonderful thing.

Now I have clack.

By reason of deduction, I think I have a wee bit of alignment problem with the rocker arm support. Now that I have backed up, torn down, eradjusted, that is the only thing that I need to verify.

sooo

I have heard only one opinion where (exactly) the rocker arm should be hitting the valve (or pushrod). Anyone want to weigh in here?
...gene

 

Keep on giving your dealer hell, you paid for a extended warranty and they are giving you the run around. I cant believe they said all those things to you what a bunch of A-H*LES!!!. But that aside these engines do make noise, it seems you have been around bikes for a awhile ,i have had japanize bikes to and they do run a lot quieter but i totally understand your fustration and concern about you bike. Do you have a good indy wrench near you that you could get a second opionion from. The dealer that said oh just run it if something major happens is just looking for $$$ on a warranty repair, am am sick of the moco too and its rockstar attitude they have about thier bikes. I have had somewhat major modifications done to my motor by a good indy that doesnot have the corperate intrest that Harley does. With that said i would check my lifters,oil pump and pressure,pushrods make sure one is not bent rare but can happen,and my rocker arm assembely good luck to you.