I'm in the middle of doing a cam install on my '09 Rocker and everything's been fine but I can't get the cam support plate to go in all the way. The distance from the back of the oil pump to the front of the plate is about 6mm but it's only going in about 4.5mm. I can feel that there's metal to metal contact somewhere and my suspicion is the shoulder on the crankshaft but I'm not sure.

I have little experience with Harley engines (or any motorcycle engines for that matter) so speak to me like I was an idiot - which I might be.

In all the videos I've watched, the plate slides in easy as pie. What did I do wrong? Please help.

 

probably hanging up on oil pump. i prefer to unbolt oil pump from cam plate , install oil pump, then slide cam plate on.

 

Pump gears out of alignment where they slip over the drive flats on the pinion shaft.

One other thing, be sure to install new o-rings on the pump neck and cam plate; othewise you may end up with wet sumping.

 

Thanks a lot for your help guys. It turned out to be a lifter that was a little low just hitting one of the cam lobes.