I have a 2005 softail deluxe. i bought it used last summer, it has 17k miles on it. it has been taken real good care of, well it looks like it has.runs great. when throttling at a normal speed i don't hear anything, and if i run it up fast i dint hear anything. when i rev it some sitting still it doesn't make a sound. but when you are going up hill or just giving a little throttle, kind of lugging like. it makes a weird squeaking or rattle type metallic sound, its coming from the right side. Hard to describe. any ideas. would the cam tensioners make a squeaking kind of sound if they are worn. I haven't pulled the cover off yet to check the adjusters. I've checked every bolt and nut i can think of and everything seems tight. unless I'm missing something. thanks

 

Did you check your heat shield clamps?

 

Pull that cam cover and look at both shoes before you run the motor again. At least that will confirm or deny that as a possible cause.

 

The inner bearing on my 2005 made a metal chirp sound that destroyed the cam. Some cams, some bearings, some lifters, some quickie pushrods, some gaskets and some money fixed it.

 

Or it could be as simple as a loose drive belt. Check the simple things first.

 

I’d stick to the things on the outside of the bikes motor to . Commonsense is things that are lubricate with oil don’t generally squeak .
Also did you do anything to the bike in the past month or so .

 

I’ve tried to tighten everything I can . It sounds more external than internal , I think lol . But I can’t find anything and the only time it does it is while riding , so I try to look down and try to pinpoint but I almost crash lol . Not really funny but it drives me crazy . I haven’t changed anything . I may try to mount my go pro on crash bar and see if I can get the sound recorded. I’ll try to post that and see if anyone has a idea .

 

This is going to sound crazy, but check your floor boards. My bike was making a squeak/tick at idol and low rpm. Sounded like a cross between a squeak and a ticking lifter. And since it only made the noise when the bike was hot, I was thinking I had a bad lifter. Turner out of be one of my floor boards making the noise. Tightening the bolts and a little WD-40 did the trick.

 

I’ll check them. I think I already have. But maybe missed it. I have checked so much I can’t remember what I have and haven’t . I’ll get the wd40 on them and give it a test run.

 

Yeah, strange squeaks are hard to pin down sometimes. Since it's making the noise under engine load, check the top engine mount. Just a thought. Sound recording is a good idea.