Gene,

Compensator, as in, It's supposed to clunk, or compensator, as in, "It's gonna cost"...

I am going to take the pads out, chamfer the leading edges, and put them back in.

I have to take the primary cover off, to put on the reduced effort diaphragm, so I'll have a look in there to make sure everything's good.

Has to be the brakes... please let it be the brakes...

 

My brake noise is completely resolved. Replacing the caliper did the trick. I picked up a barely used take off caliper from an '03 Heritage for $26.

We did find a nail in the back tire...

 

The compensator will clunk under some conditions, but you should not really hear it that much. If you are then -
- The primary chain is out of adjustment, or
- The pinion nut may be backing off. This is VERY bad and in general should not happen, but it has. If you have the primary cover off (not just the clutch inspection cover) then you can check the torque of the pinion nut - look at the service manual.

...gene

 

If this is the case, I suggest that the real issue is dirt in the caliper. The caliper pistons seems to attract every bit of road grime and brake dust. If you look at the pistons and they are black - they are dirty.

The best way to clean them is with them off the rotor, pistons fully expanded, using Brake Kleen (or other aerosol brake cleaner) and a brass brush. Just hose um down with Brake Kleen and brush the grime away. Collapse the calipers so they can be reinstalled and wa-la, most squeeky issues resolved.

Now pads are another issue - I used bad pads on my last change out, never again - Z+ pads only for me. They are worth every penny.

...gene

 

Just a couple of questions: When you fully expand the pistons, will one or both pop out of the caliper? Do you need to put a shim, like a putty knife, in place of the rotor to keep the pistons slightly apart to easily get them back in after using Brake Kleen?

 

Just want to share my solution to the honking goose problem. On my 2015 Ultra Limited the problem is the anti-seize paste on the back of the rear brake pads. It keeps wearing off. When the brake starts honking I remove the pads and sure enough the contact point on the pad where the piston touches it is totally bare metal with no paste. Reapply paste and no more honking. Unfortunately I've had to do this twice in 5,000 miles. I tried CRC disc brake quiet once instead and it didn't work. Anti seize seems to be magic for some reason.