well a little back story, i ride a 72 Fx, this thing has been through a lot. when i got a hold of it last year it hadn't run in 3. The oil pump had been replaced at sturgis the year before it was wrecked, as far as i'm told its an aftermarket pump, after riding this thing for about 15 mins and sitting at an idle, my exhaust rocker (as far as i can tell) will just start hammering. its bone rattling loud. i've done several things to this bike, except pull this back head. i just don't want to get into buying parts i don't need. i haven't gotten pressures yet. i have gone through the lifters and tappets, nothing looks abnormally worn, and pulled the front head off and checked rockers and shafts and nothing was seized or binding. well i guess the real question is if pressures are low, which i suspect is the case, what are some of the other things i can check?

 

When was the last time the tappet screen was pulled and cleaned?

 

i replaced it recently, found the one that was in there was the wrong one, like it was too big and some one had twisted it to make it fit.

 

The 72 's were still side oiling the pinion shaft 73 was the change over to end oiling the pinion shaft I would pull the oil pump off and make sure it is for a 70/71/72 HD had problems with the right cases back then (like didn't drill the oil feed lines right etc ) Also pull the cam cover off and check the gasket oil feed holes all new cam cover gaskets are universal 70 and up (3 oil feed holes not just 2 )

 

This is a bit of a pain but you should probibly pull the pump, aside from checking what is being recommended by others you can ck. to ensure the gasket isn't the problem. Also you can ck. the drive key for any damage, when you reassemble make sure the gasket is trimmed properly to keep it from ending up in the pump gears or you will shear the key, I made the mistake of not doing that and ended up doing a rebuild, not the most fun I ever had.

 

i appreciate the help guys. this is my first bike and i absolutely love it. i spend more time fixing it than riding it. definately going to pull that pump off this weekend and go through it. from what i've been told this was the only after market for a shovelhead pre '73 don't know if there is any truth to that. but i have been reading other places about oil feed holes needing to be drilled out in the case.

 

well i figured i would let you guys know what i found. i pulled the oil pump off and it looks great, couldn't see anything wrong with it. so i pulled the cam cover off and low and behold, found the oil pump driveshaft drive gear teeth are as sharp as razors. i suspect that when the oil pump had gone out on the previous owner, that it started to shear these teeth. i just can't believe that the mechanic wouldn't have checked that, or did and didn't care. appreciate the advice guys.