I had the same on a customers engine. I changed the rocker and put all genuine push rods back in. Initially I re adjusted the push rod not realising what was going on. But the noise came back in a few miles. What worries me is the the hard ground up steel floating around the engine before the filter picks it up. Not good.
Chinese knock offs!
Defective rocker arm
Adjusted too tight - should spin freely when off the cam
Oil problem - may have to run it with the rocker cover off and watch it.
Was out riding my 2019 SGS this am when I started to hear a faint ticking from the engine. Sounded like a lifter going bad. Took her home and and undid the rear pushrod tubes first. Sure enough the exhaust pr was loose. Although, not because the nuts were loose either. When I spun the rod with my fingers, it would stop turning half way around. Fast forward,...I removed the pushrod and .I pulled the rear rocker box cover off.
I am not sure why this happened. I have few theories.
1) the end of that pushrod was not sufficiently heat treated.
2) the rocker arm socket from Harley was not finished machined properly and caused the accelerated wear..
3) I thought maybe the pushrod was plugged up or the lifter wasn't sending oil up the tube. But the rocker shaft, rocker tips and valve stem tips are perfect.
Lifters look fine and never made a peep in the 1300 miles they have been in there. I wanted to check the old stock OEM rods for wear on the tips to prove my rocker arm socket theory, but I cut those out when installed the cam
In any event, does anybody have any other guesses?
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The tips of my S&S rods are black, that is heat treated for hardnes. Yours looks like the process was missed.
05-05-2021, 03:13 PM
