That's exactly what I've just developed in mine. Not always and only when hot. Interesting. I guess I'll find out eventually what's causing it. My mind is envisioning loss of preload due to worn thrust washer and flattened first thin washer causing some rebound and slight knock. The clicking sounds like the tensioner resetting itself after being smashed down from the start load on the chain. Again, this is only a hunch and meaningless until I pull it apart and measure and test things to find the actual cause. Until then I'll refrain from calling the designers at Harley a bunch of phuc ups, but I am biting my lip.
Ron

 

I have 20,000 on my SE comp. I have no start-up noise and it is as smooth as the day I installed it. I took it off the other day when I was in the primary checking the primary chain tensioner to check it.

My thrust washer and the first thin washer are both like the day I installed them. In fact, the entire compensator looks great.

 

That sure is good to hear! I have one on order as well.

Marc

 

That's what I'm hoping to see as well, but something has changed in the primary, but like I said, it functions perfectly otherwise.
Ron

 

I have read for several yrs now about the earlier 96'' motors clunking on startups.

I had the same issue till I came across this post, (below);

#16 (permalink)
HDWRENCH
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One other way to correct it is to reduce timing on start up at 0% throttle. So with a TTS tuner that is a easy one. HD has 25 of lead dialed in, back it down to 19 and the engine starts easier and clunk removed. At least on the ones I have tuned. If I come across one that does not will deal with that when the time comes
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When I had my cams installed this spring I talked to my tuner about it. He played around with the timing and after he made the changes the startup clunk is gone just as GMR's stated.

I know its still not as heavy duty as the se comp is but I had/have no other problem related to it.

Almost 9k (24k on bike now) on it since the cams and the timing adjustment, she starts just fine, still no clunk or any other comp issues.

 

Yup, dropped the 0-256 start rpms to 1 degree from about 5 long time ago with the tmax. Does make a big difference since tmax fires right off the bat, instead of the Delphi system where you get a couple of revs before spark is induced. Any engine will start, even set at 0 degrees timing if needed. Starts will be softer instead of exploding to life.
Ron

 

Do you know how much the tuner retarded the timing and at what RPM? I thought about going -10° at 500rpm @ 0% TP in the PCV ignition table just to release some burden off the starter.

Does anyone have an opinion about the wisdom of this move if I'm not having any issues with the SE255 cams in an otherwise stock TC96. I also have the SE comp installed and have no more starter knock.

 

If you don't have noticable starting problems like kickbacks or whatever, no gain, but if at times it strains or kicksback to the point the starter clutch sounds like it ground it's teeth off it needs attention big time. Even without noticable problems dropping the start timing will give a softer more civilized start. Don't know about your PC but in my tmax I dropped it to 1 degree at 0 and 256 rpm only. Dramatic difference.
Ron

 

The PCV makes changes in 1° increments, with "0" being the value given by the ECM. Thus, a "-10" retards the timing 10° at that point compared to the advance imposed by the ECM. So, if the ECM is dictating 20° of advance, placing "-10" at 500 RPM @ 0 TP would effect 10° of advance at that point. I'm only able to change down to 500 RPM, so maybe it's not worth doing.

 

I've been reading all the threads re: SE compensators with interest. I ran an '07 Ultra with the weak-assed comp for 50k without a problem. However, that changed when I swapped for a '10 Ultra.

Within the first coupla hundred miles I noticed a :::tick:::tick:::tick::: at just above idle that *appeared* to be coming from the front of the primary. It's frequency and intensity rose and lowered with RPM. I'm not usually one to be suspicious of noises I haven't heard before but after almost a quarter million miles on 4 Twin Cams in the last 10 years I kinda hope I oughta know what sounds normal and what doesn't.

On my 3 previous TCs I had quiet primaries, quiet cam chests (except when those stoopid silent-chain cam chain tensioners took a crap... twice!)... my '07 even had a quiet 5th gear! But this low-RPM 'ticking' had me wondering so much that for the first time EVER I took a new sled back to the dealer for the 1k service. Hey, it was a freebie anyway :-) (and worth what I paid for it)

I asked the Service Manager what he thought of the noise. He kinda shrigged and said he didn't know. The tech that changed the fluids (he sure as hell didn't do any of the other things on the 1k checklist) kinda shrugged and thought maybe it was the "self-adjuster doing some kind of adjusting-type stuff". Nobody seemed concerned. Of course, it isn't THEIR bike!

I'd had some issues with this service department before so I took it to the other dealer.. the one with the GREAT service and parts where I just can't seem to ever buy a bike. The Service Manager drags her ace, old-timer, noise-diagnoser out and they hear it immediately and say it's got to come apart to figure it out. They get the OK from H-D Tech Support for the warranty exploratory and find the compensator is "way out of spec". I'm not exactly sure what they meant but I know one of the things they did was measure the distance of the comp sprocket and the clutch sprocket to the rear of the inner primary. They'd seen similar stuff before and Tech had always had 'em shim with an extra washer.

I told 'em if Tech Services suggests the Band-Aid approach, I ain't interested. I sez to tell 'em if they'll warranty the OEM compensator I'll pick up the difference on the SE comp upgrade. And that's the way it went. I couldn't BELIEVE the difference in the new and old parts side-by-side on the bench!

When I picked up the bike I fired it up and swear I heard the same :::tick:::tick::tick::: sound. However, I decided to ride it awhile and see what I see. Can't say as I noticed any difference in driveline smoothness.... it was exceptionally smooth before. And I didn't do any high-rev, starting line launches so I can't say as the new comp is a serious improvement. After 200 miles it seems like the old noise is not only still there, it may be even a bit more prominent.

So I guess I'll wander back by the dealer and see what they think. Additionally, I'm hearing a lot of noise from the cam chest. Nothing abnormal or dire, I s'pose. There's a lot of stuff thrashing around in there. But it's now noisier than some of the gear drives I've heard and none of my other Twin Cams had noisy cam chests compared to this one.

Over the first coupla hundred miles of the breakin I marveled at how quiet the valve train seemed to be. I generally wear earplugs and when you take 'em out you hear all KINDS of things so I expected more valve clatter. Now at 1500 miles on the clock it seems this is now the noisiest valvetrain of the 4 TCs I've owned.

All these things by themselves aren't necessarily cause for alarm. But the more wrench-twisting I do and the more changes I see to formerly familiar parts I'm starting to realized how badly our friends at the MoCo have cheapened things up to save a few pennies here n there and save manufacturing steps. Assembly isn't too impressive either. When I pulled the front wheel to install floaters one of the lower-leg pinch bolts was finger tight which led me to check every nut and bolt I could reach. The pinch bolt holding the shifter linkage to the shift shaft was way loose and the rear axle nut that's supposed to have around 100 ft/lbs of torque had a tad over 60 ft/lbs. All these loose bolts were discovered AFTER PDI and the 1k, where "critical fasteners" are s'posed to be checked. Guess there's probably some pissed off folks at York that may not give a **** much anymore.....

I've never had much undue concern about reliability before, I ride anywhere and everywhere at all hours of the day and night. As long as I know there's gas to be had it didn't matter whether it was mountains or desert, I went where and when I felt like it. I'm starting to get an uncomfortable feeling about things. Yeah, the warranty is two years, if it breaks they'll fix it. But WHERE I might be when things take a dump is a bit of cause for concern.

Think maybe I'll explore the Lemon laws, just in case......

Appreciate any thoughts or comments.

TL