I am very new and want to be sure that I don't do any damage in riding my bike. The thing is that at idle the noise coming from the motor is as loud as the exhaust. I may be paranoid and tuning in to the sounds but is it normal for the motor to be making alot of noise? It is reminding me of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. This is my first bike. How can I tell if I have hydraulic lifters or solid? Any help for this newb is greatly appreciated!
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I just changed the oil about 300 mi ogo. The level is good. If it was any higher I wouldn't be able to remove my guage/dipstick without an oil spill. The motor is not the original. I have no way to tell how many miles it has. I am running leaded additive as I am not sure if the valve seats ae hardened. I figure it is better to run it and not need it than otherwise....
What year and model bike?
Most Shovels with have hydraulic lifters but they still sound off.
Harleys do make a lot of mechanical noise with being a pushrod motor and the Shovelheads had a noisey dry clutch and primary chain.
You want to hear some noise listen to an old Ironhead Sportster with four single lobe cams and solid lifters lol.
Should be hydraulic lifters,the old iron motors are pretty noisey but you might have someone who knows Shovels have a listen to ease your mind or tell ya something is a miss.
Pretty hard to tell over the net lol,it's a 30 plus year old bike and you don't know what it should sound like so have someone who does give a listen.
My `79 has a `78 engine w/ solid lifter conversion kit and YES it is noisy. I adjusted my lifters 4 or 5 times trying to get it to not sound like an old iron head sportster without any luck. BTW, even slighty loose solids make a LOT of noise. Ran into an old biker bro of mine this past weekend and he just laughed at me when I asked about what sounded like top end noise. Told me if I wanted to get rid of the noise, buy a set of hyd lifters... Yet another thing on my wish list....
If you feel confident to pull loose one of your push rod tubes it's REAL easy to tell if you have hyd or solid lifters.... It's not a hard job. Again like most have said here, with out actually hearing the noise it's hard to just say " Yes, that's normal."
I was searching to find an answer for pretty much the same thing. This is my first harley, don't know what year shovel. It has an S&S case and supposedly a complete rebuild 3700 miles ago. No oil leaks, no smoke, the bike sounds great, runs great except for the engine reminds me of every Jeep 360 engine I have ever owned. If anyone has owned one I'm sure you know what I mean. My last Jeep truck was clattering like it was out of oil when I got it 10 years ago. My boy is driving it now and the sound hasn't changed and the engine runs fine. Well, that's pretty much what this shovel reminds me of. I don't know about the HD motors but if a knocking rod in one sounds anything like one knocking in an automotive engine you'll probably know it. A rod knock sounds about like taking a ball peon hammer and tapping on a hard piece of steel. As you rev the engine it will get louder and solider sounding. But I have occassionally pulled along side an older Harley and have noticed the engines rattling about the way mine is. So, personally after reading this and some other post I'm convinced that the sound in mine is probably normal.
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headn' down the road, tryn' to dump a big load
could be anything no oil pressure on the hydralc lifter will do this or a poor fit on the wristpin bushing will cause a pecking sound. If it is as loud as you say, it may get worse enough that you will have to fix it.shovels have their own sounds, a loud sound doesn't sound good to me
Shovel Noise
