Here's the problem. For several months now the bike has been making a fairly loud rattling noise on startup. It only does it about a third of the time, maybe less, and if I give it a little throttle it will sometimes go away quickly. If the little bit of throttle doesn't work it's usually gone by the time I get down the road a bit. As near as I can tell it's coming from the pipes. That's what a local indy thought too. They suggested that I take the heat shields off and make sure a weld attaching one of the shield clamp brackets wasn't broken. I did but they are all intact. I've also tried tightening all of them and the noise comes right back. I also put a allen wrench on the screws holding the baffles in but they didn't budge at all. I'm at a loss here as to what it could be. The pipes are Vance and Hines BSS that have been on my 2012 Fat Boy Lo for about 6-7000 miles or so. The bike seems to run just fine. Thanks for any help.

 

Definitely verify that it is the pipes. Could be coming from ANYWHERE. I know that the endcaps of my V&H BSS are tight as I can get them but the cap is still a bit loose. Have a buddy rev it a few times as you crawl around the bike and do a 'search and destroy.'

 

I'll keep searching but it is quite a bit louder near the pipes and oil tank. I think I'm going to completely uninstall the pipes and reinstall them to see if maybe I can fix it that way. Just in case it's something off as far as the original install.

 

Sounds like you may have had a small screw or nut dropped into one of the baffles during installation?

 

I had a rattle show up and it turned out to be the small hook shaped bracket that comes down over the back of the license plate.
It really sounded like the pipe. I loosened it and pushed it firmly onto the top of the plate and the noise went away.

 

I'll have to add that to the list of things to check. I have changed out the stock license plate bracket but maybe a bolt on the new one or my saddlebags is loose. Since the problem goes away when the bike warms up I'm still leaning towards it being exhaust related.

 

Yeah, I'm betting on license plate bracket. I notice all kinds rattling noises coming from my bike as I coast down my street hitting speed bumps after killing the motor. One is my plate slapping against the mount (only 2 mounting bolts in Japan). Another is my clutch lever. Pipes are so loud when the motor's running that I can't hear them when riding as usual.

 

Check your foot boards also, Mine would rattle if you banged on them. had to add washers.

 

I had a little rattle in my pipes (V&H pro pipe). Turned out, one of the 3 small allen screws that assemble the baffle itself, (not holding the baffle in the pipe) had worked it's way out. Just pulled the baffle out and put it back in and tightened the other ones too. It wouldn't rattle all the time, just enough to drive you crazy wondering what and where it could be.
On a side note; what bags are you running?

 

Tinmarine, sorry I didn't reply to your post. They are C-130's by Leatherworks. I got them from Leatherneck Jims. He's a former Marine of course. Back to the thread I think I may have found the source of the rattling . I couldn't fire it up tonight with a two year old in the house so I'll found out for sure tomorrow. I've had the rattling going a lot lately so today I went around and tried tightening the exhaust shield clamps and found one that needed replacing. Since I had the shield off I decided to pull the baffle and see if anything was broken there. The first one is fine as you can see from the picture. The second not so much. The mesh part wasn't tack welded to either end cap. I'm thinking the rattle was coming from the closed end that goes towards the header side of the pipes. That would explain why it went away after running the engine for a while I think, since things would heat up and therefore tighten stopping the rattle. I hope so anyways. I had to use a magnetic parts retriever to get the end cap out. I thought I was hosed for a minute when the mesh part came out but not the end cap. Anybody think I should contact Vance and Hines and see if they'll replace them. I put the stock baffles in but I think my wife and neighbors would prefer the quiet baffles.