Took my first long ride this weekend on the new '98 fatboy and think I have a shock problem. Hit a raised patch going through an intersection and heard a loud clunk, metal to metal sounding, in the front shocks. I'm not a mechanic and have never messed with shocks. Bike has 10k miles on it. I did notice that when I pull into my driveway the shock makes a squeak noise going over the curb. Any thoughts?

 

Can you replicate the noise by shoving the front forks down? If the forks are the least bit low on oil they will make a metallic sounding clunk at the top of the stroke. An old trick is to add a cc or two extra of fork oil when refilling....
David

 

Sounds like fork oil to me too....Let us know..........

 

Don't know how many miles you have on your bike, but while your messing with fork oil, you might as well just change it out. You can go with a heavier weight oil as well.

 

oldgeezer, I am glad you mentioned that (i.e. heavier oil)... My local HD service said that the bikes come with 10W and the Screamin Eagle was 15W and he recommended the 15W or 20W BelRay oil... What are the weights? I have also heard that they are 5W and 10W!!!

 

Most harleys come with 5 wt in the front forks, you can increase to 10 weight which will make a noticable difference in the ride, but a lot of bikes come from the factory with unequal amounts of oil in the two sides and this could cause this problem. It could also be the steering head clunk you are hearing.

https://www.hdforums.com/m_90127/tm.htm


Fork oil weights
https://www.hdforums.com/m_100613/tm.htm

 

That's just f#ck!ng great!!! Anybody want a couple quarts of Bel Ray 20W??? I guess I could mix the 20W with some 5W and have 12-1/2W..... but I will still have an extra quart.... I am going by the HD shop in the morning anyway so I will give the service manager a hard time about this one!!

 

Dave, 20 wt in your bike would give you a hernia

 

LOL!! Yeah, then the loud clunk would be my ********* hitting the ground!!

 

nothing good will come from that!! ROLMFAO