I have a loud tapping noise on my Harley it is a 1998 Softail 1340 motor I was wondering if there's somebody out there that could lead me in the right direction it doesn't happen all the time but when it does it sounds like a car tappet tapping loud my name is Gary

 

You don't say how many miles are on your bike or exactly where the noise is coming from. If it's a knocking noise coming from the gear case that comes and goes, my guess is that you have a tappet roller shedding the needle bearings. Evo roller tappets are a known wear item and should be inspected/replaced, some say at 25,000 mile intervals, I generally replace mine at 40,000 mile intervals. Then again, there could be other causes that may be unrelated.

I speak from experience, as this cost me an otherwise perfect running motor.

You can also try posting this in the Evo forum, where you're likely to find more knowledge on these older bikes.

 

Tappet. I'm one those who say 25,000 miles
.

 

I usually replace tappets at around 40,000 or sooner if I'm already in there doing something else, cam, bearings, etc.

If I had one making noise or causing doubt, I would replace them regardless of miles.

 

 

LOL! You don't have to scare the heII out of the guy. Yeah, check the lifters. It might just be collapsed. Worst case it has come apart, but not likely if the bike has been well taken care of.

 

Have a look in the gear case , like most have suggested. The cam bearings in these are not of the best quality , if it's still the original , the lifters are suspect too. We are assuming , of course that a 1998 will have some miles on it by now , me ? , I'd go into the gear case and change some aging parts. Camshafts are another part that see's considerable loads and they are known to wear / fail.

 

The easy answer - something is either going or has went south. If this was my bike, i'd bring it in immediately as anything potentially throwing metal or not oiling scares me.

 

I wouldn't term this 'scar[ing] the hell out of the guy". I would call it being realistic, because if what Uncle G describes has happened, it's truly gone beyond simply replacing the parts.


Were I the OP, I believe I'd get that bike into a qualified mechanic to take a look. I doubt that OP is probably gonna wanna do that himself...if he had the bona fides, I doubt that he would be on a forum asking strangers about the problem! He'd already have a pretty good idea, because it is a fairly common issue for Evo's.

 

Does the noise come & go with RPM?

Take a look around my website in the lines below... might be your problem

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