Hey guys,

I recently picked up a custom build Harley softail. The bike is titled as a 91, and appears to have a older Evo on it but not 100% on much else. I bought it running and driving and had an issue on the way home and got it fixed, and drove the **** out of it the past couple days but now I've got a bigger issue and I'm thinking I have some major motor, maybe drivetrain issues.

Anyways, I bought it Sunday and on the way home with it, the clutch started slipping. Pulled over and let the bike cool down some before deciding to hop back on it and ride it to my sister's house. Letting the bike cool down seemed to help out as the clutch was no longer slipping but as I turned onto my sister's road, there was a pop and the bike stopped pulling. Motor was still running fine but it was as if it had suddenly went straight to neutral. The clutch cable had come off the actuator arm and I immediately assumed the clutch had messed up and gotten stuck completely disengaged. The bike would start and run just fine but no matter what gear you clicked it into, you could push it around as if it was in neutral. Trailered it home, removed the clutch actuator arm and flipped it around to put some leverage on it to check and see if there was any clutch feel to it and as I did that, something clicked and I had tension on it again. Put it back together and it seemed fixed.

Drove it the next day to work and to a few friend's house to test everything out and put some miles on it and the bike performed great. I decided to drive it to work again Tuesday and that morning, it did fine once again. When I went to leave for lunch, the bike seemed to lock up. I was starting it and all of a sudden it stopped turning over. If you hit the starter switch, it would just thud. Tried to roll start it and no-go. Once again, the bike was acting as if it wasn't in gear. I had a couple local guys come look at it but they were stumped. Trailered it home.

I took a look at it today and I have a bad feeling the motor may be the issue. I pulled the primary cover off and started checking everything out. I looked at a few things and tried turning the motor over with a breaker bar. The motor turns but not a full 180*. There's maybe 1/8th lacking of a full rotation and when it gets to that spot in either direction, it stops. It spins freely up until those points when it's almost like it hits a wall.

This is my first Harley and I know very little about them. I'm fairly mechanical and have worked on plenty of cars but I'm stumped when it comes to this.

 

You need a service manual. With the primary cover off, make sure when you pull in clutch, you see the plates break apart to see if it may be something broke in the transmission. No telling what type of clutch is in it but trying to go simple to see where your problem is. Remove the two spark plugs and see if you can turn engine over in gear with rear wheel. (that is how you normally turn a Harley motor crazy as it sounds) If that gets you nowhere, lock the chain and break the compensator and clutch nut(clutch nut is probably left hand thread) Remove primary chain and turn engine and see if pistons are moving up and down. Just how hard is driving the **** out of it to you. Your bike is an antique. They break easily. Want a sport bike, buy a sport bike. The attachment, that block is how you lock chain. Or put a long piece of flat bar across from sprocket to sprocket.

 

The clutch lever is NOT pulling the plates apart. Appears that the whole shaft that the clutch is attached to is sliding in and out instead of allowing the clutch to seperate. I have a feeling that once the chain comes off, that shaft will slide out quite a bit more.

The transmission has seemed a little quirky about going into gear sometimes, especially 4th and 5th, but just assumed it was due to it being an older bike- didn't really expect it to be a possible sign for larger transmission issues but seems to be pointing that way.

I need to do a bit more research to find out exactly what transmission this bike has. It is a 5 speed bike, but I've been told it looks more like an older transmission. The clutch actuator arm is over on the far right side of the transmission and instead of the clutch cable adjustment being made in-line like other softails, it is on a bracket that I believe is coming off the frame, but hard to tell. The transmission is stamped with BB3514 I believe, phone was dead so couldn't get a picture to be sure.

I didn't abuse the bike the past couple days, just been putting miles on it and getting more comfortable with it and figuring it out- that's what I meant about driving the **** out of it, not bouncing it off redline and seeing how fast it could go. Sold my ZX6R so I could buy a cruiser like this and finish up my supermoto for the shenanigan riding.

 

You need some old school guys on here on that transmission and clutch. Hopefull, it just out of adjustment or a keeper has came off locking it up.

 

As suggested. I would take the compensator off from the primary and check engine rotation. Sounds more like a main shaft problem in the trans.

 

Took a few minutes yesterday to pull the primary chain off and examine everything a bit more.

Transmission is spinning fine and I believe I may have been overreacting about the clutch.

The motor is now the issue for sure. Like I said before, the motor does not make a full revolution. After I got the chain off, I put the compensator nut back on it enough to spin the motor over and marked it so I would know where I was starting from just to see exactly what it was doing. For the motor to do a full rotation, that would be 360* so I started with it as far back at 12 o'clock and marked it and rotated it all the way around back to probably 10-11o'clock and it would stop again. Everything feels fine until it gets to that point. I can spin it back the other direction until it hits that same point at 12 o'clock with no issues or weird noises.

Makes me think I have an issue in the top-end. I feel like bottom end would make more noise and give me more resistance at least. Dropped valve maybe? Not sure. Planning on getting the shop straightened up enough that I can start pulling this bike apart to see what I can find. I've got a local guy kind enough to let me borrow a couple DVD's he had of old Harley tech videos about the topend so I'll know what everything should look like and maybe figure out my issue.

Anyone got any ideas on what to look for?

 

Are the plugs out? Spin in the correct direction of course (by hand easy). Hopefully, it's only the top end. Maybe something broke in the cam train and a valve is hitting. If you hit it with the starter, sure the valve is bent but some valve work and cam galley work looks to be in your future.

 

Pull the alternator rotor off first to insure you don't have a magnet segment loose/binding, then your going to need to pull at least the heads, and perhaps the cam chest as well.
Scott

 

This alternator rotor can make a bind..good thought Hillside...Can a valve actually hit if cam timing got off due to a breakage in cam chest?

 

Yeah I would pull the alternator and cam cover before going up top. Might be able to look in the plug hole too. Good luck...