It IS the comp. I have a 15 SGS. It started @ 2000 miles. The dealer shimmed it and it was better, but not perfect. Yours WILL get worse! I bought a Baker. After the 2nd one, I took it out and put the old one back in, (with) and xtra small belville, (spring). When I say xtra, I had to purchase a new spring pack from the dealer. There are 3 different size washer/springs in the pack. Use the small one, and put it in the same as the other small one. In other words, (spoon) it with the other. This is what I did to mine after reading a very similar post last year. I wish I would have went this route right away, I would have save over $650 it gaskets, oil, parts and AGGRAVATION! now, I CAN'T get it to rattle no matter how hard I try! By the way, in Manitowoc,WI., that dealer will not waurrantee the comp. Their exact quote," there is nothing more we can do". I think they meant to say, "there's nothing more WE WILL DO" That's ok, that was in August of 15, I haven't been there since. Or buy another new H-D either. Only used ones.

 

Well, I took my bike in to the shop and had them go through it before I rode to Florida and back a few weeks ago. I told them I wanted the lifters checked and explained to them the rattle on startup when it's hot. They found a few of my lifters did have hard spots in the rollers, so they were replaced. (they had an engine there that was apart, one of the lifter's roller shafts actually backed out of the lifter and wiped out the guy's case, it was pretty nasty) Fast forward to Florida... I still have this god damn rattle intermittently at start up in hot temps. I'm just going to say **** it and pull the primary cover tomorrow after work and see what I can see. Anyone who's actually had a compensator fail and replaced it yourselves, what did you see when you had it apart? I've seen some videos online where the splines ate into the helix, etc. I was going to just order the Baker unit and pull the bike all apart then, but spending $500 on something I may not even need, I'll take it apart first.

 

about $400. for the compensator another 150 for supplies 60 for the manual and you will have to buy make or borrow a 40 dollar bar. (primary locking tool)
my brother in laws bikes went out thats how i know you have a good lift you are going to need one.
long story short you may want to run it to the shop and have them do it for about a grand
the will do it in a few hours when you will take all day good luck

 

May I suggest a set of ear plugs or turn the stereo up. My 12 did it 14 did it and 16 is
even worse . If your gonna keep it a ESP plan might be a money saver in the long run.The
14 I replaced at 26,000 and it looked like new. But it sure had that clunk and rattle. The 12 had the shim kit and it still made noise after replacement. The 16 I bought the seven
year esp because I also had lifter failure twice on the 14. And at my age this may be the last new one I buy.

 

It won't take me all day, I'm a mechanic by profession. I'm certainly not spending a grand to pay a shop to do it. I just want to know if there's any telltale signs on these when they're apart that I could say "well, that's what's causing the noise."

I bought my bike new and warranty was up long ago, so I'm sure you can't just go buy an ESP and drop it off for a grand worth of work.

 

you can after 30 days.

 

I was going to start a new thread until I read this one. Took my 2016 FLHTK in for service at 7500 miles and on the way to HD it sounded like rocks in the primary. They put a shim in and pronounced it fixed. It sounded ok for a couple of days, but now it's back, not as bad as before, but annoying to say the least. Stopped by the dealership last week and told them about it. The response "Yeah, we've done all Harley will do under warranty. They won't replace it until it breaks!" My response, "I certainly hope it doesn't break on the way to Sturgis!" To that I got, "They never break! It's a Harley, they're noisy!"

 

A real good test of the Compensator is to pull in the front brake (or use a wall), drop into first gear, let out the clutch slowly while giving it a little gas (still holding front brake) and keep letting a little clutch out and gas at the same time to try to make the engine bog down and die. During this time, if your comp is weak or on it's way out, it will make a huge clacking noise that is 100% unmistakable. It will be loud and sound like metal slapping metal.

If the engine just bogs and you don't hear a thing (clacking) it's still good.

 

Please tell me this is a fluke and that my compensator is supposed to have machined ramps on the helix. And not that HD thought rough, raw metal on metal was a good idea for two parts that move against each other constantly. Did I get a **** compensator that snuck through quality control???? lol

 

Shows signs of galling, but I've seen MUCH worse than that. Can't keep up with all the comp changes within the past few years. Yours have the oiling tray in the primary cover and the wafer bearing?