perfect. I'll give that a try and hope the fix is that easy. I'll update tomorrow with the diagnosis

 

Great! I look forward to hearing about it.
pg

 

you sir, are the man. took all if 2 minutes. I left it off and clicked first. the bike didn't move. got me all excited so I took a break. then fired it up for a few minutes and went around the block. carb is off and it spits a little. needs a tune up and I'm gonna go through the whole thing to be safe. but it went around the block on it's own power. thanks a lot for the help. I'm stoked for this weekend!!!!

 

Glad to hear things are improving and thanks for letting us know how it went.
Keep in mind that a Sportster clutch can become 'sticky' if the bike sits without being run for a while. Just the nature of the beast.

When this happens you think it is not disengaging when you pull in the clutch lever. And in fact, it is not disengaging because of the 'stickiness'.
The solution for this is to simply start the engine, roll it down the driveway and jump aboard.
While the bike is still rolling pull in the clutch lever and drop it into first gear.
Ride it around the block and when you return it is no longer failing to disengage. Clutch fixed!
pg

 

thanks for the tip. the clutch is actually spot on. it runs too rich with the air filter on. it has a 86-91? carb on it and i can't find any air/fuel mixture screw on it to adjust for the idle and part throttle. i threw some new plugs and wires on, replaced the leaking front brake line just to find that the other guy stripped the threads on the master cyclinder. so i gotta source one of those on egay or something. but i took it on a 2-3 mile cruise of the neighboorhood. ran really well without the filter. tons of power up top.

so to narrow the list down of things to do:

-figure out how to adjust carb and dial it in, maybe change jets after reading new plugs

- adjust the pushrods, barrowed neighboors manual for that. hopefully that's why the rear cyclinder has more pop and backpressure than the front

- change the oil

- confirm the random "clunk" the left side of the trans makes at idle is normal. isn't too loud. but i can hear it

- do a nice hand wash and polish the exhaust pipes, wheels, heads

- and do a thorough maintaince check on the usual stuff that gets looked over. i know the chain is super loose



hopefully i can get it up to par by sunday for a nice cruise with the boys. dont' have many nice weekends left here in colorado. i'd like to take advantage of this one

 

On your list of things to do...... move adjust the pushrods to the top of that list! Very important that the pushrod adjustment is correct and also equally important is doing it correctly. So any questions, just ask.

If you have a newer carb there may be 'caps' pressed on over the adjustment screws to prevent 'operator adjusting'. I have never heard of that being done on a bike but it has been done on cars long ago. There you just pop off the caps and do your adjustment.
I am not recommending that for your bike however, unless you find there are caps in place.

Do you have a lot of air openings in the air cleaner plate OUTSIDE the zone of the filter? If not, then an air restriction of air getting to the filter may exist.
pg

 

yeah, the push rods is the next thing i'm doing after the oil change. that way all the adjustments after that are correct for the motor. i have the clymer manual, and the search button on here, so i should be good.

and the air cleaner makes perfect sense. thanks again. it's just a solid piece. it's a cheap one piece with a punisher skull on the side of it. i wanna get a different one.

and the caps on the carb makes sense. i just got rid of an xs 650 that still had them on there. but i didn't see em on this one. i still have to clean it off good. i taped a plastic bag around it when i washed the motor. need to get in there with a toothbrush and get it straight. that's tomorrow's goal and maybe the pushrods if i have time. i'll update again when it happens

 

another thing i just added to the original list is confirm the random clunk that i hear out of the left side of the motor. it's at idle. just a random solid metal sound. either this is normal for an old ironhead i remember hearing about, or there is a problem in there. luckily i met a guy who is a certified harley mechanic and is gonna help me go through the entire motor and tranny this winter. so we'll find out either way

 

The metal noise on the left side may be a loose primary chain adjustment and the chain is slapping the crankcase at times.

When you adjust the pushrods make sure the engine is stone cold.
Also, make yourself up 4 of these little items out of two paper clips and a rubber band............



These will hold the pushrod covers up out of the way when you adjust the pushrods. You will need a 7/16 inch 'thin wrench' to do the adjusting.
pg

 

Can you post a pic of the top of the carb? The CV started about 1989 and continued to 2003. The first year did not have an accelerator pump. Here is some detail on adjusting pushrods ...

Ironhead Push Rod Adjustment

Do this procedure with the engine stone cold. I usually do it first thing in the morning.

1. Remove the spark plugs. Remove A/C to make room to work.

2. Using a flat blade screwdriver pry the spring keeper off of each push rod; the bottom of the keeper pops out first, then the top. Alternately, use a 3/4" open end wrench to push down on the top of the spring retainer, then pry out the spring keeper with the screwdriver.

3. The lower push rod covers may be stuck tight against the bottom o-rings, but they can be loosened by pinching between thumb and finger [or carefully using a shop rag and a pliers] and twisting or rotating. Lift these up and secure each with a tall-S-shaped piece of 12 or 14 gauge household wire [not cable] [or a long piece of Plumbers solder such as 95/5 hooked over the rocker cover and under the push rod cover.

4. Jack up back end of the bike so that rear wheel is off the ground, shift to 2nd gear, rotate wheel until it clicks, repeat until you get to 4th gear. Now by rotating the rear wheel you are rotating the engine. Almost impossible with the plugs in; very difficult in lower gears.

5. To adjust a particular push rod, its valve must be fully closed [the valve spring is relaxed]. Valve position for a particular cylinder is determined by observing the corresponding push rod of the other cylinder. For example, when the rear cylinder intake valve tappet is raised [valve fully open, spring compressed], the front cylinder intake valve is fully closed, and the front intake push rod can be adjusted.

6. Check [and adjust if necessary] the push rods:

[a] use the rear wheel rotate the engine so that the rear cylinder exhaust push rod tappet is fully raised. The front cylinder push rod is adjusted correctly if it has no vertical or horizontal play, and you can just rotate the push rod between thumb and forefinger with no trace of binding or dragging.

[b] to adjust if needed: hold the adjusting screw in place with a wrench; with another wrench loosen the split locknut. Then turn the adjusting screw using fingers only until the pushrod's ball end is seated in the tappet with a "slight amount of play". Then tighten further as follows:

Option 1: Adjust on the tighter end of the range: There should be no vertical or horizontal play, and you should be just able to rotate the push rod between thumb and forefinger with no trace of binding or dragging.

Option 2: Adjust on the looser end of the range: Set the adjusting screw to finger tight so that you cannot turn the push rod between forefinger and thumb. Undo it a tiny bit so that it is just barely loose. Then loosen it 1 "side" for an exhaust or 1/2 "side" for an intake. "Side" refers to one side of the 6-sided adjusting nut.

[c] hold the adjusting screw in place with the one wrench; with the other wrench tighten the locknut.

[d] recheck the adjustment; it is common for the adjustment to go out as you do step [c], in which case [b] and [c] must be redone.

[e] repeat for the other push rods.

7. Use a flat blade screwdriver to push the upper push rod covers up, and seat them into the upper o-ring or cork washer.

8. Install the spring keepers, top end first, by prying them in under the bottom with a flat blade screwdriver.