If your tired of the tick,tick,rattle,tick. You've clicked on the right thread. I have covered this issue once b4 so I'll just repost this reminder. I have been experimenting with my bike since new always looking for ways to improve it. I have an '09 Road King with a 96 c.i. I notice the new 103 c.i. are even worse when it comes to top end noise. The first challenge was figuring out where the noise was coming from. I would get this noise around 2500 Rpm in all gears once warmed. I narrowed it down to the top end, all that rattle is coming from the ROCKER arm support plate assembly only!!! its not the lifters or the cam assembly. What I found is the end play( the gap between the rocker arm and rocker arm support plate) should be no more than .006 or you will get a rattle. You can resolve this by installing shims that were once used on the shovel heads for similar reasons to reduce the end play to about .002". Harley says that .004"-.025 is acceptable. If you have a stock engine I would recommend leaving about .005" for expansion when experiencing very high temps. However if you have a stage one with pipes and oil cooler and happen to be running synthetic oil you can go as low as .002" end play. I have had this setup for two years now and engine is still VERY QUIET in fact I have a 2012 Sierra and my 96 c.i. is quieter then my 5.3liter V8.

P.S. You can also run thinner oil 10w-40 in mild weather or 15w-40 in hot weather with a stage 1 setup and oil cooler this will allow the oil to reach the top end faster and lubricate the engine better with the tight tolerances prolonging the life of the upper end and yielding better MPG.

 

That's have to give that a try mine is noisy as crap

 

I did this fix when I was in my top end. It did not make much of a difference. The Woods lifters did.

 

there is rattle, then there is tap tap tap. mine was lifters, still rattles a bit, but no more tapping. I put in hylift lifters and se pushrods. 42000 miles on 09 103 ultra.

 

These will do more than anything else "Guaranteed To Work"

 

Did you have the adjustable pushrods, I have seen post that revealed the SE adjustable pushrods make contact with the tubes and sometimes make noise when not adjusted properly. I used the stock pushrods with the SE255 cams and its super quiet

 

Sorry to break the news...

This has been stated in quite a few threads over the last 3 years or so. Maybe some older that I haven't seen.

I once had the bright idea to drill and tap the end plates on my engine guard so that I could install hose nipples on each end and use it for an oil cooler. Then I found out Harley had done this on earlier models, straight from the factory. Still think it's a good idea though.

 

No apology needed, I think I was apart of that very informative group three years ago. I just noticed a few post that popped up here recently that mentioned the dreaded tick tap. I figured I would be a Good Samaritan and repost my experience.

 

Yeah I do. These bikes are noisy. My top end is still noisy some of the time, but the woods lifters and adjustable pushrods do help. I think this fix helps too if you really have a lot of slop in the rocker arms. If it's minimal then this is not going to help. In the end a noisy top end is just the nature of the beast. You can waste a lot of time and money chasing down noise in these motors or just realize you are dealing with old technology and noise is just the nature of the beast.

 

Directional lifters and adjustable pushrods.