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My '96 FXDL just recently had the cam bearing swapped for a Koyo B-138 and new lifters installed (20,000 mi).
My goal is longevity, so I'm being very fastidious with maintenance, everything else is stock except the air cleaner, carb and Thunderheader (they were on when I got it).
The last couple of rides I've noticed two things that may or may not be new:
-When engine braking, the bike makes a very audible whine sound (like a turbine spinning down). This doesn't happen under acceleration.
-As the motor spins down to idle if I pull up to a stop with the clutch in, it vibrates very heavily on the way down from about 2200 to 1000 RPM.
The only other things I've done are fluid changes, carb cleaning with gaskets and clutch / primary chain adjustment.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, I'd be happy if this is normal (my Kawasaki makes pretty much the same sound under engine braking but it's a parallel twin so I'm not sure if that's a valid comparison), but if not I hope that it's not something that cannon be fixed / requires a replacement solid gold diamond studded crank coated in dinosaur blood or something equally expensive.
Primary might be too tight, they tighten up a lot when the motor is warm. You may have a tranny bearing singing to you.
Front motor mount may need attention.
That was my inclination, it was adjusted cold (didn't warm long enough and it took too long to get in there the first time). I ask anyway because two heads are better than one (although ultimately given that I'm an HD noob you may be the only substantial head in this thread so far).
The motor mount in front has to be sagging, it's got about a half inch gap between the rubber and metal on the front, not sure if that's normal but it doesn't "look" new. I've also considered that the local wrench I had put the cam bearing in might have loosened the mounts to get clearance to the rocker boxes and didn't get them put back correctly.
Thank you for your reply and I'm still open to suggestions.
I normally DON'T engine brake, I'm glad I did it once so I could notice the noise and diagnose it.
I recently cleaned my carb, and I'm sure it was pulled and replaced when my mechanic did the cam bearing, any chance the shudder is just a stumble from lean condition as the RPM's decend? (Manifold vacuum leak or something).
Here's my motor mount, sorry for the poor picture, it's the best one that showed the gap well.
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new brake pads are much cheaper than engine builds
Is a little whine while engine braking normal?
