Hello all, need some input here. I have a 1972 fl that belonged to my dad. He bought it new. I had the engine rebuilt last fall. just got her back and I noticed that there is a very noticeable whiney noise upon start up and the noise is consistant when I give it gas and even going down the road. The noise goes up and down with the throttle. She always had a slight and I mean slight whiney noise but this is much louder. The mech. says she will loosen up but this really bothers me.I just want to know if this mech is blowin smoke or if what he says is true.Any thoughts on what it could be?...thanks

 

Was the cam changed? If so, the gear pitch may be off. Is the primary chain adjusted correctly? If the chain is too tight, it will whine pretty good.

 

No, I do not believe the cam was changed. I will check though. Iremember him saying that some gears were replaced and also he rebuilt the oil pump. Thanks, I will be sure to look into it...

 

there is a choice of things that bring about this whinny noise first and most likely the problem is the gears that mess together for the cam and the pinion if not the correct ones they will whine, this is about the tooth size between the two, so if you have a whinny noise i would remove the cam cover and check the color on the cam topinion gears. if they are different then change the gear. check with the manual it does discribe this in detail in my book it is under gearcase and timing gears.

 

there is MUCH more to setting up the cam and pinion gears than matching color. the color codes are only for the pinion gear, as a name for the size. you need pins and a micrometer to size the pinion gear if unknown. the mesh is set up when building the cam compartment. you need to FEEL the backlash and tightness. since every engine is different, and every bushing different, you can only do it by feel. if it is the cam gear whining, its not a big deal. if it was way to tight, it would have seized by now. the sound will decrease with time and riding as the gears wear. just change your oil every 2,500 miles untill it settles in to make sure you get any minor metal wear out of the enging and everything will be okay.

but do check your primary chain and rear drive as well, just to make sure its not coming from those. (it does sound like the cam gears though.)

 

I had a whiney noise after I rebuilt a 71 shovel.

But it was coming fromME, because I was young, poor, and couldn't believe how much money I had spent [:-]