First of all, whats up yall? I am brand new to the site but not new to ridin.
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I have an 07 Heritage with 16000 miles and have noticed a weird little rattling sound coming from somewhere up front. It only happens when going over bumps. Most people tell me "thats just what a Harley does". I dont think so. I have only had the bike since August 07 and the noise has really started bothering me lately so I know it hasnt always been there and just not noticed. I am fairly competent with maintaining and upgrading my own ride and am at a loss to figure it out. I cant recreate the problem with it in the garage.
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There has been no problem with the bike at all and its not affecting anything as far as I can tell regarding performance. So if any of yall have had similar issues please let me know what you did to fix it.

 

sounds like the "known" steering neck issue. usually on hard bumps you hear a rattle/knock.&nbsp\\; should be able to find quite a bit of info on it. has to do with the washer and torque specs on the neck.&nbsp\\;

 

here is some info on it

https://www.hdforums.com/m_2709503/tm.htm

 

maybe something in the headlight housing

 

Tried that with no luck.

 

If its more of a pinging rattle I would be apt to think that it is your headlight or your passing lamps. If it is more of a thud rattle sound it is with the neck and steering. Could be a lose fender too???

 

My '96 Heritage has a squeak that I was sure was coming from the front end. It only happened when I was 2 up. My dealer tightened the suspension and "presto" no more squeak. It was "belt chirp".

 

I took&nbsp\\;my 07 FXST in about 4 weeks ago complaining of the same thing a definate clunk noise over bumbs and stuff. they said they couldn't find anything wrong or couldn't recreate the noise, so i road the bike home. 2 days later i had grease all over the front end to include the tank, front cylinder and all hoses, wires, it was everywere, needless to say i took it back, this time i had a slight additude and next thing i knew my bike was down for 10 days waiting for parts... but now that i have it back the clunk is defenately gone, my bike is spotless and am happy once more...

 

Just read up on that. Doesnt sound like the clunk that everyone there is decribing. More like....how it sounds when you shake a can of spray paint. Not sure exactly when it started but since I have started paying attention to it I have been goin crazy everyday. I am sure I look like an idiot ridin down the road leaning all over the bike tryin to track it down.

 

My gas cap has a rattles when I go over bumps, took me awhile to figure it out.