I am noticing that when I ride my early 84 ironhead that I get a hard clunk when I go into first. Now when the bike is cold she is okay. When I ride for a while she clunks. But I did notice that When I down shift with the clutch in she down shifts good i do not let the clutch out. Any sugg. or is it the nature of the beast thanks charly

 

It's the nature of the beast. I have never seen an ironhead that does not clunk when standing still and put into first gear........pg

 

It just clunks? Mine goes BANG! Makes people look over at you at stop lights and wonder if your bike just blew up. Its just one of those wonderful sounds that a real Harley makes.

 

Yeah that is what I figured. I just did not want to tear down the clutchs etc to see what is wrong. Once i figure out how to put pictures on I will Thanks Welcome back pinion

 

It's ****ed, sell it at a 50% loss. 2me

 

That's a fact Pinion, but sometimes the clunk can get worse after the bike is warmed up and the primary chain loosens up. You can't get rid of the noise but you can lessen it by making sure the primary is adjusted properly.

 

Should you adjust the primary when hot or cold

 

In my opinion I would adjust it when it is cold. If you set it when the chain is hot, most likely it will be too tight when you crank it up cold....pg

 

its actually the opposite in the case of the primary.. it tightens when the engine is hot. the factory manual for the 59-69 says to tighten the chain to 3/8"-5/8" when hot, or 5/8"-7/8" when cold (i've heard someone with an 80-something iron say its the same for them). i'm going to do mine tomorrow and planning on doing 3/4" cold.

hope that helps!

 

My '08 Fatboy also clunks going into first gear. If someone were to ask, I would just act dumb and say 'What's it supposed to sound like?' I kinda like it myself.

Big Al