Check all of the clamps on your exhaust heat shields. I had one break on the left rear shield that sounded exactly like that video. I thought the motor was coming apart. More than likely, it is a cam bearing or bad roller bearing on a lifter though.

 

True dat, Overhead cam engines have followers. Me.....I'm just a leader...LOL....

 

Some people call them tappets , some call them lifters , some call them cam followers , I've been a Mechanic all my life and called them all of the above at some time or another. The term cam follower is certainly not exclusive to overhead cam engines.

 

Thanks for all of your thoughts. I am hoping to get the bike on the table this weekend and start going over some of the simple things. I'll report back.

 

When you said follower I assumed you were talking about the cam chain tensioners that TC's have as I haven't heard that term used for lifters.

I apologise for the misunderstanding.

 

Apology not required .............

The British call lifters cam followers , they have odd names for lot's of things, like , the hood on a car is a "bonnet" or , a wrist pin is a " gudgeon pin".

I've seen lifters listed as "cam followers" in more than one catalog.

 

They also drive on the wrong side of the road....

 

I've done all kinds of wrenching, fabrication, machining, but this is my first HD. I do have the service manual as well, but it's always nice to have some experienced guys filling in the gaps and helping to fast forward diagnosis etc.

I had a little time this morning to fire up the bike. Checked all the exhaust flanges, nuts, studs, clamps, etc and they all looked good. Then while the machine was idling, I started feeling the pushrod tubes and the furthest one rearward was vibrating whereas the other three were not.

I then focussed my attention upwards following the noise to the rocker/valve cover area and am pretty sure that's where the random noise is coming from. It sounds rocker arm/valve spring-ish....again, it is not a constant ticking sound, it's totally random, comes and goes, just making one click.

I suppose first thing Sat I'll crack open the rocker cover and inspect that. I've attached a picture of the push rod. Again, the bike is a 1995 - are these stock or aftermarket rods? Seems to me stock pushrods in the manual look non-adjustable.

Let's see where this goes now...thanks guys

 

That is an adjustable pushrod.
Definitely not stock.

Probability is that your pushrod is bent.

 

And hopefully whatever is going on up top will spell out why it's bent and what's causing my noise...