Background

I have a 2005 softail with 88ci motor that I fear I have spun the crank. I will be checking the run out as soon a s I can but I am pretty sure it’s gone.

My upgrades to the engine/drivetrain thus far have been: air filter / exhaust with DFI fuel adder , Andrews 37 roller conversion, adjustable pushrods and 3:37 primary. My thought here was to finish the path I was on by going up to 95CI with new pistons with some street head work with the CR dialed in for the 37. This was all set for the 95 plan. Now that I may have to repair or replace the crank, should I be thinking stroker? Is it a no-brainer?

I am a hot –rodder for sure but I don’t want to end up constantly messing with the setup.

Thanks in advance for your opinions

 

If you want to stick with the 4" crank, you could bore cases (have to be split anyway), and make it 107". Or, if you're thinking stroker, you could build a nice 117".

 

All bore 107"; the Axtell package is a good one. Hoban Brothers can do the crank work and the Timken upgrade. If headwork is planned, more cam would be appropriate.

What makes you think you have spun the crank?

 

You may be way happier in the long run by just doing the 95 with head work like you had planned in the beginning , with the gearing you have it'll run good. Try to resist the, bigger is better-there is no replacement for displacement , temptations. Check out the guy on here Dalton he has had every sized motor there is(almost) and he is selling his 120" motored bagger and is going with heads ,cams, a/c, exhaust, tuner, for his new bike. But I guess he could get caught up in it again, time will tell.

 

Long story short

Very mild lay-down on grass/guardrail - that only reason I mention this is this is where I think the crank spun. picked her up and sarted her up there was a "whinning" or "howling" noise comming from what I thought at the time was the primary. The noise increased with RPM and was constant. sounded like a real tight primary chain.

Over the past 1 1/2 years I have been chasing this annoying problem!

checked / changed comp nut and added spacer and new torque procedure
adjusted primary chain many times then put in auto-tensioner
replaced primary chain
replace inner primary bearing
replaced clutch basket (included new bearing)
all made no difference !

I next thought it could be a bad cam-tensioner shoe transferring noise through to primary side where it acted like an "echo chamber".
So I decided to change out the cam to the roller upgrade while I had it apart. When I opened it up, the shoe was worn but not like I expected. What I did see upon further disassembly was the bushing where the crank goes into the plate was worn bad, like I could catch it with my fingernail. Well I went ahead and finished the upgrade with the new cam plate etc.. put the bike back together without checking runout. at the time I hadn't researched enough to do it, shame on me. Fired her up, oil pressure was nice and high wirh the new pump from the conversion kit and I was off.

I remember the noise was much less but not gone. figured that this was how noisy it was from the conversion kit. done.

Over time the noise has increased back to annoying level and I am sick of it.

I wish I cound start the motor somehow with the chain out of the picture, this way I could at least narrow it down to primary or engine side, but I know you need a starter to do this!!

Next..
I am going to buy a dial ind and check the runout. I bet that it is way out and that the bushing in the cam plate is toast again.

BUT man does this soung like a super tight primary chain !!

Lately I have been reading that if the runout was out, it could cause me to have all kind of a noise issues.

sorry for rambling...I've had it with this thing!!!!

RANT OVER

 

Sounds like you are all over the problem but if runout was that bad you should be experiencing very noticeable engine shake and vibration. Have you checked the trans main shaft?

The cam bearing wear doesn't sound good but checking runout is the only way to elminate that as the problem. Check it with the cam plate off.

 

At this point, there is vibration but I cant say its exsessive.

Please tell me more abouit then trans mainshaft if you can. I will start to search as well.

 

Is the noise always there? I was thinking throw out bearing, trans main shaft, inner primary bearing or trans case bearing as possible sources of the noise. However, if the noise is present or does not change in neutral with clutch out and/or in gear with clutch in, the problem is most likely not trans related. First thing you need to do is check runout and establish or eliminate that as the source.

 

Yeah, the noise is always there....always...everytime...did I say always, no mater what I do with the clutch in out , decel, acel...always

I'm with you on the runout. I don't have a dial indicator so I will be buying one... I saw a specific runout measurement tool made by fueling on e-bay for 92.00. I may go for it as all the threads I have read say the readings could be off if the indicator is not perfectly positioned.

thanks for the help, I will post results when completed

 

The Fueling tool works good and is very quick.
We made 2 more here after seeing the first.
Using a 1" travel dial indicator attatched to a plate, bolted to the cam cover screw holes works just as well, and is not as spooky as some are leading you to believe.
Scott