Noisy valve train

[rickr01]

The most consistantly quiet cams I have ever experienced over and over again are V Thunder cams. They tend to be as quiet as stock. Frankly, the most reliable evo carburated bikes to me these days are upgraded with a free breathing air cleaner K&N, no back plates or anything else, just the filter element, a 1988 sportster needle and 2 1/2 turns on the idle mixture screw, and finally Cycle Shack mufflers on stock head pipes! Good enough all around power, reliable, good gas mileage and Yes.....Quiet valve train. consistantly over 100k on stock lifters, and no oil use between changes. I tend to stick with stock cams on my evo's these days, but have put in a number of V Thunder cams for friends with equally good reliability and quiet running.

[ToddM]

Hmmm... I was going to post, but noticed that the original post was from 3 years ago. I doubt the guy is still checking it.

[rickr01]

RUTT ROWW, I hadn't noticed!

[tejanodrum]

I finally changed the lifters in the front. It made a small diffrence but i am definatly getting a ticking noise at an idle and thru the rpm range. Granted it's better but not gone. I listened with a stethescope and the front jug is the culprit. I hear ticking from the valve cover, and at the jug. Could a bad rod or piston cause the whole problem. I guess i'll just have to do a teardown to see what's going on. I just hate to if nothings wrong. The noise is bad sometimes and when cold is hardly noticable but is always there. I've been hearing a rumble on deceleration and a slight roaring at an idle. Not too bad yet but I hear it. The smart start engine program is looking better and better.

[tejanodrum]

OK I think I got it finally. I have been fighting this problem for 3 years now. I finally changed my lifters and adjusted them properly and my bike is alot quiter. I can say that I am satisfied now. It isn't quite as some bikes but I think the Evo is just inherently noisy. I went to my freinds house the other day and rode his new sportster and the engine sounded very noisy at idle. It made me feel better about my bike. It's not perfect but at least i don't sound like a sewing machine anymore!

[MoPower]

Originally Posted by tejanodrum

OK I think I got it finally. I have been fighting this problem for 3 years now. I finally changed my lifters and adjusted them properly and my bike is alot quiter. [...snip...]

Just curious. What sort of adjustment did you make on hydraulic lifters?

[tejanodrum]

Well I know it sounds like hydraulic lifters should compensate by themselves but they still need to be adjusted. I have revtech pushrods so I looked on line and found out how many threads per inch they have. it was 36 threads per inch. So I put a decimal between the 3 and 6 and got 3.6. I adjusted the pushrod until there was zero lash or up and down movement and then tightened the pushrods an additional 3.6 turns. It worked. The pushrod should be adjusted to where it rides in the center of travel of the lifter.

[MoPower]

Ahhh....okay, now I understand.
From your post, I thought you were actually adjusting some sort of "adjustable" hydraulic lifter. Thanks.

[hdracer67]

Something else to keep in mind, is if you guys are installing new springs to match your cams you need to clearance the lower rocker box for the new springs - mainly around the exhaust retainers! I have seen these touch before and cause a ticking noise.

[dbrow6272]

This is all very interesting reading. I have a used 2008 FLHTCU that I bought this year. My 94 FLHTC burned up in a garage fire past January. The previous owner had the engine built to a 103 with Knight Prowler TWG8 .590 cams, SE pushrods (tapered) gear drive cams and other work I am not aware of. Now I was a Harley "technician" at two different shops. Once in the 70's and once in the late 80's. I also had a shop of my own for a few years. I have been riding Harley's since 1968. This engine is the absolute noisiest I have ever experienced. Even after building countless high horsepower v-twins. I have uses about every cam maker there is and have never had any type of cam noise, valve noise, nothing but nice quite fast motorcycles. 80 cubic incher's that would out run 110 inch stroked shovel heads. I cannot understand why this engine is so noisy. It is at the dealership right now and of course the desk jocks tell me this is normal noise. NO I do not believe it at all. I can understand some noise due to cam profiles slamming the valves shut fast but not noise like the pushrod is going to come through the gas tank. Also the knock at shutdown. Same thing, they tell me that is normal noise. I do not believe it one bit. So this winter, I live in Minnesota, so we have a few months to work on them and can't ride due to the weather, I will find what is making the noise and stop it. I do not know if the rocker covers have clearance for this cam setup or what type of springs are in the heads. I do know this, I will put in better hydraulics with bigger bearings, roller rockers, and different springs. I also have the tools to check the coil bind on the springs and clearance on the guides. I'm not sure if they will work on twin cam engines and Trock no longer is with us. In any case this will be checked also. It just makes me angry to have the dealership tell me this is normal engine noise when I know it isn't. Thanks for the input, now I know where to start and will track it down and make a nice quiet engine that I can trust to get me from here to Gettysburg.

[IBDAGRIZ]

Cat down here in Fort Worth makes shims for the rocker shafts that should help you out. Unbelieveable how bad he sees 'em on end play..Seems they are getting worse rather than better, but you know that already I am sure if you've ever discussed gear drive cams. Here's his info..

www.automotivemachine.com/vtwin.htm


Griz