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Sound to me like your in too high a gear range for the rpm. Your lugging the motor and your definitely going to fill it and hear it if it's excessive.
A Harley since the connector shares a common crank pin, and the pistons fire opposed but not 180, so, the uneven push rocks the compensator back and forth.
That what you probably are hearing. Now just an opinion. Not sure what harley has evolved to on what a 2024 compensator looks like but sure this may be similar.
Don't fall for the it's too weak or such.
It's designed to smooth the ride.
This is what hooks the motor to the sprocket on the clutch hub.
Last edited by Jackie Paper; Apr 11, 2026 at 01:37 PM.
Howdy
Well, I'm stumped, I went to the dealer, in my truck, and they agreed to pick up the bike from my house and take it to their shop to have a look. Sometime next week. Maybe by the time they're done it will quit being winter.
So when I get home I'm about to put the bike on a jack stand so I can mess with it some more. It's in first gear, so I pull in the clutch lever to move it. It is the same as in first. The clutch is not disengaging. I push it for and aft and it just clunks away as if the clutch was fully engaged. It was letting me change gears yesterday and stop at a stop sign and red light with it in gear and the clutch lever pulled back. I've owned a lot of bikes and ridden a lot more, but never had one that would disengage the clutch with the engine running but not when the engine is off.
Could this be my problem?
Thanks,
Al
Thanks Jackie.
I've never dealt with compensators, but I would think there would have to be some torque on it for it to move along the ramps. I'm just pushing the bike back and forth without much effort involved. But when I get a chance to take it out again I'll ride with more rpm for the speed, I ran a belt drive in the primary of my Panhead with the drive pulley right on the crank with no compensator.
Al
Sorry for not getting back, been in and out of hospital.
So dealer says nothing wrong, two guys across the street who ride Softails says there is, Also said this dealer would say it's normal if a cylinder head blew off.
Once I get healed up I will ride it more and then take off primary if it still seems like too much slop.
The primary has a compensator. Three fingers driving the bike to smooth the twin cylinders.
It works both way, so there is more play there then in the transmission.
The dealer told you the truth. Your two friends sadly don't know what there talking about or there just feeding you BS to run Harley owners off to a Honda.
My guess is you ought to get one. Your Harley is what it is. There is nothing wrong with it.
Learn to modulate on and off the throttle if you don't want to here the clunk.
Last edited by Jackie Paper; Yesterday at 02:03 PM.
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