I don't think its exhaust. Mine clatters in 5th and 6th and also as stated above with very low throttle. Give it some gas and it all but goes away. I think the compensator is not able to do its job, but I don't know why.

 

I agree with ezlife. With my 07 S.G with stage 1 60mph in 4th gear keeps
me at 3000rpm which is where my bike likes to run. I try to always run
above 2500 rpm. I had one instance around 2000rpm when i got the rocks
in a can noise for a second it disapeared as soon as i got it back in the
sweet spot. To me it sounded like it was in the primary. Its a new bike
and i've had it up to 70mph but its still not seen 6th gear yet. I hear guys
on this forum talking about doing 60mph in 6th gear all the time, i can't
even imagine that.


scott

 

First, I don't think it relates to the exhaust at all. Second, mixture and even ignition advance may play a part if it smooths the torque pulses of the engine, which is apparently causing the noise. I had two conversations with HD Tier 2 tech support several months ago and was told it was an issue with the compensator that translated into the transmission, which makes sense to me. A friend who has inside info with HD told me the issue originated with the gears, which are cut correctly but in heat-treating they take on a different shape. Not sure about that one.

I asked HD about using 20w50 in the primary and was told it might help, but probably not much, and also mentioned that this oil was a bit thick and might interfere with clutch operation. If the clutch drags, he said, go back to 10w40, which is about the viscosity of Formula+. This helped a bit, but the biggest change came with using 85w140 gear oil in the tranny. That didn't help much with 5th-gear whine, but clatter mostly disappeared in 6th and is greatly reduced in 5th. It is now at a tolerable level, IMO.

One poster on another forum said he nixed the clatter by retarding the igntion timing 7° in the "clatter zone," which would be below 2300 RPM's for me. He is using SERT and I have PCIII, both of which allow changes to ignition timing. PCIII won't tell you where the timing is at a given TP/RPM, but I think SERT will. PCIII software gives you the ability to go plus and minus on A/F and timing from the value given by the ECM, but won't tell you that base value. I haven't messed with this yet, but may try retarding it at 2000 and 2250 at 2-10% TP. What concerns me is that this may increase heat and decrease mileage, as I do often cruise at around 2300 in 5th and 6th gears. What might be a good starting point would be -7° at 2000 and a bit less, say -4, at 2250--as the clatter is much less as RPM's increase, mostly going away by 2500.

 

Bob,

cj's explanation in relation to retarding the timing certainly seems plausible as this would remove a shockload from the engine that may alleviate this "Chatter".............however, after reviewing the service manual, and the fact that I hear my "chatter" in a certain MPH range in 6th gear only, it seems to me the compensator mechanism, including the sliding cam between the compensator sprocket and rotor/spring cover assembly could be the culprit as well. Watcha think?