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so i had a leak and opened the rocker box to find its mising half the bolts and theres a crack in the bottom rocker box plate so i ordered a new one and am planning to bolt everything right front and back rocker boxes but now im thinking because it wasnt right in the top maybe i have to rebuild the engine to know its done properly. i dont know how to inspect the engine based on it missing bolts other than rebuild it. any ideas on what to do here to avoid a whole tare down and rebuild? 1989 sportster supposedly rebuilt to 1200 the crack i found missing bolts
I'd fix what's broken/missing and see how it goes after that. Hope for the best, you'll probably be fine.
When you get it all together and it runs, do a compression test, see what the numbers are.
I forget, but I do not recall "Grade 8" hardware for my rocker shaft bolts, so they may have "upgraded" those while forgetting the other two (four?). Who knows WTF was going through the mechanic's mind. Meth?
John
Last edited by John Harper; Aug 7, 2024 at 08:33 PM.
What bolts are missing? The 4 empty holes in the pic are for the bolts that hold the cover on. The bolts that hold the lower rocker box on all look to be there. The crack also may actually be casting marks, which is what it looks like to me. My rocker boxes were full of them and they do look like cracks.
Last edited by OCSpringer; Aug 7, 2024 at 07:58 PM.
You said you had a leak and opened rocker box.
How well was it running before you opened it up?
If job like this got dumped in my lap tore done (BTDT) with little to no real information on it a leak down test would come to mind.
Pass or fail would give some direction as to what might be needed next.
WP
it seemed to be losing power towards the end but ran fine otherwise it seems to me but im new to harleys so theres that too. its still open with a rag over it waiting for the new/used part to come
its for sure a crack because the other side of the crack has the oil coming through that same spot unless theres some sort of scoring that also looks like burnt oil leaks? im new to mechanics really
theres 4 total holes that the cover uses but are they the ones that go to those 4 holes you can see here? doesnt seem to match up fropm what i think i remember but i bet youre right
Looking at a FSM there is 9 bolts / screws in the inner rocker cover leaving 4 holes to hold the outer rocker cover.
Look at the pattern of the holes in the top outer cover. It has to be obvious if they line up with what you have left. Maybe the screws haven't been placed properly in the inner cover?
Are you guessing because you don't have a manual?
Last edited by Andy from Sandy; Aug 8, 2024 at 03:35 AM.
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not sure what to do in this case
