May not be the same sound. My Heritage had a tinny, rattle sound when hitting bumps. I tore the front end apart and tightened everything I could get a wrench ot socket on. I don't know exactly what was loose and causing the noise but, it's gone.

 

Oddly enough... mine is a rattle as well.

I took it into Harley today. They said the sound I have probably is not the head bolt. He said that would be a single click. Just looking they could not find what was causing the noise... but they did discover something else. He was pushing down on the front end while sitting in the saddle and the bike was moving A LOT... more than we both thought it should. So... He got off my bike and tried it on another Softail that was close by... It moved a lot too but nowhere near as fast. Currently we are wondering if there is not enough fluid in the tubes.

Now... I sorta have two problems with that. 1) If the tubes are low... where did the fluid go? That seems like the kinda thing you would notice. 2) if they are low... why didn't they discover that when they a) put the bike together and b) when they had the bike in there for normal service three different times. According to them the tubes are part of what they look for.

So... dunno... Had to leave the fatboy there and ride home on a Heritage.

But again... thanks for this thread and the responses. Had I not seen this I probably would have gone one without really thinking about it. It does not really appear to be a saftey issue but I have about 1500 before my next service is due and that is way too long to go before finding out what is going on... And I want to make sure all is good because I want to do the NC State Rally in June.

Thanks again!

 

Just figured I would update everyone on what happened with my front end noise...

I did take the bike in on Saturday... They wound up looking at the bike right there and they noticed that the front end was way too spongey for what it should be... He just about bottomed out the forks by mildly pushing on them

I got a call back from the Service Dept. today and here is what I was told:

They took the forks off the bike
The oil on one side was about as black as can be and just plain old nasty
The oil on the other side was a milky nasty color (his description not mine)

They cleaned them up, replaced the oil (he said with something heavier than factory), and reinstalled everything.


So... I am glad they found all that (sort of) but I am a bit miffed that A) it came like that from the factory (that is what he told me) and B) they were supposed to have inspected that when I bring my bike in for service... I got the service plan for the first three years of the bike where basically they are SUPPOSED to do everything to the bike including checking for this sorta thing.

They are theorizing that this was messed up from the factory and that some moisture must have gotten in while being assembled at Harley. Not sure if I buy that or not.

Anyway... This is on a 2006 Fatboy. Just in case anyone else is getting rattling sounds in the front end... Oh yeah... supposedly the rattling was because there was more or less no viscosity in the oil and that noise was the springs moving around with no lube...

 

I have a 05 flstc heritage softtail, and i have been reading,but still confused? When i took the crome cap off after loosing the pitch bolt all i had was a bolt and washer, is this the bolt i need to retorque? Or is it the pitch bolt? Or is the onlyrightway by the drop down method? I have this clunk on most bumps? Please!!!








Thank you

 

Had same problem !

Loosen the pinch bolt then torque the main head bolt down, re tighten the pinch bolt then replace the chrome cover. All the torque figures are in the manual and my bike has been fine ever since I did it myself.







Thank you
[/quote]

 

Thanks PWHOG, but what about thedrop down? the pinch bolt had to be lossened first before i could turn the cover, i just want to know for sure, and do it right,if cover holds the bolt, then how did it get loose?




Thanks

 

I have a 2003 Heritage and whenever it is clanking as you say, it has been the pinch bolts that tighten the tubes so they don't spin. The bolts crack or snap in two. The the tube is loose and may spin causing the cap to come loose then you get a oil bath. The bolts are behind and just above the bottom of the the chrome cover that's behind the headlight. Here in Australia it seems to be a feature of that type of front end.

 

If you are lucky...you got the Harley clunk.....Take off big shiny bolt cover on top of tree...torque up the fork stem bolt. Ask in post for torque spec...I have shop manual for 2010 Softail. Also...find almanite on the fork head...fill it with about 150 hits of grease....until a bit of grease oozed out the tapered bearing.