I explained it correctly, and I didn't misunderstand what the service manager said,, trust me. They removed and replaced the entire rocker box assembly, all the way down to the bare head.

That's a very good point you made about the disassembly/reassembly technique under pressure and there is a strong possibility that's what they did. I expected for them to have the bike for at least a whole day. I dropped the bike off in the morning and they called me not more than 4 hours later saying it was ready to pick up. I remember thinking, damn that was fast.

 

I found some pics that may help you understand better...

I recently bought a bike, and then discovered it had a bent pushrod. I never found out how/why the pushrod was bent... but I replaced it. I took pics to send to the shop that sold me this "flawless" bike...

Here is the bike with both rocker covers removed. The rear cylinder has the guts (rocker support, rocker arms, breather assembly) removed. The front cylinder only has the rocker cover and breather assembly removed, but the valve train is still in place... I upgraded both breather assemblies, so that is why they are removed and the only reason I removed the front rocker cover...



Close-up of the rear cylinder... if they needed to replace the gasket under the rocker housing (bottom piece), they would have needed to do this AND remove that bottom chrome piece..



Close-up of the front cylinder.... if they just replaced the rocker cover (top cover) gaskets, it would have looked like this, except I also removed the breather assembly (two bolts). But you can see the valve train is untouched... no way removing just the cover can affect the valve train.



Here is a pic of the rocker support with the rocker arms. This can be damaged if removed/installed improperly.. NOTE: the breather assembly, top, fits into the rocker support with two screws, but doesn't affect the valve train in any way



Hopefully that gives you a better idea of what I've been talking about.....

good luck sorting this out...

 

OK.... my bad, I thought you said they replaced the rocker "cover" gaskets which is why I didn't understand how that could cause valve train noise... I went back and read that you did say rocker box gaskets... I somehow missed that...

Then it is possible they damaged the rocker support, or somehow messed it up during disassembly/reassembly... but it would be a lame shop..!

As you can see form my above pics, it's not that complicated.....

 

No bad on you. I appreciate the post and pic's. The shop is one of the largest Harley dealers in Dallas, but I've heard some bad tales about their service shop. I reluctantly let them work on my bike and now you see why. The dealer I used to go to had a great service department and I trusted them, but all of their good mechanics left due to new management. The ones that are left are there for a reason, if you get my drift.

I think I'm going to get the necessary parts along with new lifters and go back through the thing myself. I'm pretty sure I can detect any rocker arm support damage. Based on your link, they are not expensive anyway. Might just replace them out of spite..

Edit: Would you happen to know if new Harley lifters are precharged/primed?

 

The new Harley lifters ending in "-99C" are considered by most to be junk...

If you want to get new lifters, get S&S standards (made in Mexico) or Premium (made in America)... I don't think I've ever read of anyone having a lifter problem with either S&S lifter....

Some soak'em overnight, some inject oil in the lifter with an oil can, but even right from the package, they will usually pump up rather quickly on initial start-up...


PS- If you're gonna break it down in-frame, make sure you have some dog bone extensions for your torque wrench... you will need'em...

 

Thanks! Got a link on the lifters? Automotive lifters aren't precharged, but with the right tool (which I have) you can prime them as well as the whole engine. I really hate the idea of starting an engine with empty lifters. It's not a good practice.

 

I hear ya.... I usually soak'em and pump'em with my oil can... I don't have a fancy tool for them..

it's been a couple years since I bought lifters, can't remember where I ended up getting them....

You can get them from the S&S website, Revzilla, J&P Cycles, and even Amazon if you know what model number you want...

Have fun... it's really not that bad...

I remember reading a while ago, about a guy who was going into his HD engine for the first time for cams... he was obviously nervous... a poster told him to relax, and said, "These Harley engines are just glorified lawnmower engines... nothing really all that complicated about them.." Kinda true...

 

The Rocker Lockers will get rid of the ticking that comes from the rocker shafts banging against the rocker support plate bolts.

It is very likely that prior to them pulling your rocker support plates that the shafts were frozen in place, but after reassembly, they were loose. This would account for it making noise now that it wasn't previously.

The video below illustrates what I'm referring to:

 

That's plausible as well. I was thinking about the problem that the rocker lockers are correcting last night. Those rotating rocker shafts are not a good thing at all since aluminum is a horrible bearing surface, lubrication or not (or are they steel?). It would be interesting to put a bore Mic in the holes and see where they are with respect to the original specification.

 

Ordered a set of rocker lockers. I've watched the videos and read the installation instructions and I got to thinking. I was wondering if I could remove the bolts on the notched shaft side one at a time and install the rocker locker, then reinstall the bolt and retorque without creating any problems. That way I don't have to mess with the lifter bleeding or the oil breather. I realize the rocker shaft is under pressure from the valve springs, but it might be doable if (big if) the notches are lined up or I can get them to line up.

What say you?