OK,
Today I noticed a loud sound coming from my bikes engine area I thought. It sounded almost like a rod knocking or something coming loose. I decided to take the bike home.

I used a piece of pvc for a stethescope to try and narrow down the source of the noise and it seemed to be comng from the primary. I pulled the primary and found the compensator nut to be loose. I took it of cleaned it and put red locktight back on it and torqued it down to 180 ft pds. I left the primary cover off and cranked the bike and it seems to still be making the noise and I think it is coming from the clutch area. The Screamin Eagle clutch appears to be wobbling but is not loose when I grab it by hand.

I decided to pull the clutch and sprocket and check the splines and retorque it back on. Still it seems to be making that noise. Should there be any noise coming from this area with the prmary off? It almost sounds like a loud rubbing noise. Should the clutch be running perfectly true to the mainshaft?

The bike has 55000 hard miles on it. I have a gear drive and replaced cams also but the noise does not seem to be coming from there. With the clutch off I spun the mainshaft and it spins freely with no noise. Could the bearings in the back of the clutch basket be going bad? I don't know how to check them.

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

With the cover off your going to hear a lot of noise from that big *** chain. You allready found the comp bolt loose so go ahead and put the cover back on, With oil and the cover the noise will probably be gone.

 

I disagree - if your still hearing the 'same' noise, you fixed a problem but have others.

At 55K miles, pull the clutch apart and look at everything. See if the basket teeth are worn, see if the clutch plates with fabric are worn, look for groves in the metal clutch plates. If you see any scaring, ask, post pictures, but understand if this is "OK" wear.

The look at the primary chain. Does it sill flex easily over the entire length? Do you have tight spots that, with your hands, don't move? Look at the teeth and see if they are symeterical - that is even on both sides. If not replace.

You must have a service manual. And a parts manual. I demand you get both. Both are critical if your going to do the maintenance.

OK, this is a little paranoid, but, having a primary fail under load is very bad, like you can die bad.

...gene

 

The clutch has 10k on it. It is a screamin eagle replacement. It is working fine. I do have the manuals. I will throw the cover back on this morning and see if I still hear it. I will try to take a video with sound to post. With the compensator nut off I am able to frely sping the chain and clutch basket and it sounds fine by hand. Hell I may still have a motor problem and just got lucky to find the nut was backed off.