Noisey Primary
Thread Starter
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Road Warrior
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,252
Likes: 142
Noisey Primary
Any way to quiet a noisey primary chain? Adjusted to 5/8 cold. Checked in three different locations on the chain. Compensator is tight, and running lucas primary oil. Tried formula as well. Bearing is good and the shoe is not warn. Just seems loud when oil is hot.
randy
randy
Tourer
Joined: Mar 2015
Posts: 396
Likes: 115
From: Arizona
Are you sure its the chain? A description of the noise would help. Is it a whirring noise, clattering, etc? Could be the chain or coming from the clutch area? My primary was a little noisey after I installed the Baker Att. Adj. for the first 1000 or so. After that it quited down.
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Road Warrior
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,252
Likes: 142
Definitely not coming from the clutch. Stethescope at the primary I hear noise, I hear a noise at the rocker boxes, I hear a noise on the cam chain side. New in there. I really don't hear it at the lifters. I cant isolate it but when the motor is hot I don't here it hardly at all until the primary is hot then I hear it. I'm lost.
randy
randy
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 38,309
Likes: 6,328
From: Honah Lee
It's the uneven firing order of a V twin Harley. That inconsistent surge of power makes the compensator make that noise that absolutely annoying noise that drive some crazy. Get over it. It won't hurt anything. It's like fixing that idle vibration. If you don't love it, get a metric.
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Road Warrior
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,252
Likes: 142
Rip, I have had this bike for two years. I bought it used with 29k-km on it. It now has 40k. The noise just started a month ago. I listen to my bike. Probably more than I should but I know when something has changed and something has.
randy
randy
Grand HDF Member
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 4,445
Likes: 2,822
From: Oklahoma
Many compensators in your vintage bikes were replaced under warranty when they became noisy. The factory seems to have finally found that loss of spring pressure is causing the problem. There is a shim pack available which can improve the spring pressure in the comp and quiet it down. The shim pack is just a few dollars but a new primary cover gasket is over $40 making this a somewhat expensive experiment. Should you decide to go this way, check the hub area of the compensator for fretting (a red coating of fine dust looking like rust) which is common in the earlier designs. That finding would suggest a compensator replacement. The latest style has also suffered from weak springs and one guy reported adding in his old smallest size belleville spring to the new spring stack and that immediately quieted his new comp. which had become noisy in a few thousand miles.
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Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 38,309
Likes: 6,328
From: Honah Lee
My primary has been apart 4 times in 50K for noise. Twice by the dealer under warranty and he never did fix the real problem of a stripped spline on the alternator rotor. Then I fixed it and again when I put an auto tensioner in it. Only to realize my chain had a lot of uneven wear (typical of a chain) and that let it be tight and loose in places and made even more noise with the auto tensioner. So I went in a fifth time and took it out.
Now with that hunting idle and between 1/2 and 3/4 slop in the chain, it sort of sounds like a tiller in a gravel bed when hot at a red light. But only at idle.
It's fine at speed. That is all that counts.
You need to add a signature line like my bike line so we know what model you are talking about.
Last edited by Jackie Paper; Aug 5, 2017 at 09:17 PM.
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