Hello all, new to the forum, fairly new to HD's. In the 1.5 years I have been riding, this site has been very helpful, thanks to all.

Mine is a 2002 Road King, 48K miles. I aquired at 33K, about 6 months ago. Never had a problem, kept up required oil changes. I have always used synthetic, and I was told previous owner did as well. Recently it started making a new noise. When I decelerate, say I am going 70 mph, I downshift. When I get to third, second, and first, I rev up engine, shift, and I can count to three and I will hear a sound like a chain being swirled around the bottom of a bucket. if I keep driving in that gear, at that speed, it will continue to make the sound. Then I rev up again, don't hear the osund, shift down again, I can count to three, and the sound returns. It is not immediate, but takes about two and a half seconds for the noise to start. If I come to a complete stop, I don't hear the noise, and I don't hear it whan I start back up and accelerate. I don't hear anything just driving aound at high speeds. I can't really tell where it is coming from, just sounds like under the tank. Can't tell if on one side more than the other.

I started researching, thought it might be cam chain tensioners, but I inspected those this weekend and they look great. I did some more research and one guy had what sounded similar, and it turned out to be a bearing in the tranny, and he had to have a complete tranny rebuild. But I don't know if the had the delay in the sound like I do. The sound is not terribly loud. And the bike seems to perform just fine. I just don't want to keep riding it if I am tearing something up. Any ideas? Thanks

 

I can't help you but your description is pretty good so I would think somebody on the forum would recognize this sound. I'm just giving your post a bump.

Welcome to the forums.

 

Sounds like your primary chain adjuster is shot,or way out of adjustment. You might even have a worn out primary chain if you're actually down shifting at 70 mph.