Recently had a bit of work done to the bike - head pipes, cams and dyno. I've noticed after a while of riding there a rattle type sound coming from the right side of the motor. It's definitely metal on metal sounding. I haven't been able to pinpoint the problem just yet but it seems to only happen when the bike is hot. I just haven't had a good chance to do a lot of checking. I was just out there (it's cold now) and was pulling and pushing a bit on the head pipe covers and found that I could push the one that comes from the rear jug about 1/4" where it intersects with the one that covers where the cat was. I attached a pic and I think you could see where my finger print is. My question is, does anyone else's move that freely in this location?

 

Heat shields don't move at all. You must have a screw[clamp] loose. Just snug them up,don't crank real hard.
Bettwr yet,take it back to the 'tech' that did the install,and ask him to tighten them.. They DO sometimes have to be retightened after a short run-in time.

 

I didn't think they should move. Taking it back to the tech would be OK if he weren't over 200 miles away. That would be a nice day ride but I'd have to take time off work to do it, which I really don't want to have to do. I'll mess with the clamps a little and see what happens. The rest of the shields seem to be in place and tight. Just that area that can be pressed in.

 

I put a new FM headpipe on two weeks ago. Saturday night was riding and developed a hell of a rattle on the right side. Turned out to be a loose heat shield.
Retightened all the clamps and was good to go. Like anything else after an install ya need to recheck everything.

 

Best method I've found for finding rattles is using a rubber (when the bike is cold).

Tap, tap, tap on anything and everything until you find the source of your rattle.

I was in Sturgis in 2000 and a couple of guys were at the temp Harley shop tinkering with a Fat Boy.
I asked them if I could help and they said no, "the engine has a rod knocking"!

I told them, "I have to hear this"!

They started the bike and at an idle the engine sounded great.
When they rev'd the engine it did have a definite "rattle".
At a steady 2,000 RPM's the rattle was there but not very loud.

I got my siphoning hose out of my tool bag and put one end of the hose near my ear and the other end near the engine and had them to rev the engine up and down until I found their "knock".
A baffle had broken loose in the muffler/pipe coming off of the rear jug!
'Man, were they ever happy to hear that!

 

Make sure the shield from the front pipe isn't contacting the floorboard. (with you on the bike and feet on the boards.)

 

I had a rattle on the my left side of bike. Turned out to be the baffle in my Rhinehart.

 

I had to do a little tweaking of the shields at that intersecting point even with shields tight. Would rattle on an edge. A little clearance here and there and solved a very annoying and intermittent problem

 

Discovered the clamp holding my heat shield in place was really loose (near the top, just behind down fork bars). Not only was it loose, it was rusted and really hard to re-tighten. Discovered it while cleaning the bike. Had a rattle for quite a while before I found it by cleaning but never knew where it was coming from.

 

Directly under the "six speed" transmission cover there is a carriage bolt with a nut. You can see the head of the carriage bolt if you look between the exhaust pipe and the tranny cover. The nut is visible from underneath. It holds a bracket in place for the exhaust.

I was investigating a rattle and discovered that the nut on this carriage bolt was loose and the bolt was rattling. I thought "easy fix, just tighten up the nut". But noooooo. It is a really tight fit between the nut and the exhaust pipe that I was unable to get a socket on that nut.

You might check that. And if you or anybody else figures out how to get a socket on that nut, pleeeeeeease let me know.


©¿©