Click clack rattle : V-Twin Forum: Harley Davidson Forums

STS04 · 11-01-2009, 07:50 AM

Had a 04 88b with SE pipes from day one. Never noticed any engine noise. New 2010 Ultra is noisy. Stock pipes and under 1000 miles, strange noises from the engine at all speeds. It might ease up a bit after 2000 rpm. Is this just me being picky or normal?

shrinkman2 · 11-01-2009, 08:39 AM

You're gonna hear everything from "get louder pipes" to "you shoulda heard my shovel" and such...My opinion is NO it is not normal....However, a bunch of them do it. The other side of the coin is...a bunch of them do not (not talking specifically about the 2010's as I don't know so much about them). However, this topic has been going on for awhile. I've got an 05 and it sounded like the push rods lost contact with the rockers...from day one. Rebuilt the motor and it finally got much quieter..but got two different sets of lifters that at least one was defective. I went with 60 wt oil which seems to help (live in deep south). It seems to me that the tolerances are much too loose when these engines are built from the factory and some are looser than others. Hope this helps

20538 · 11-01-2009, 11:04 AM

are you keeping it under 2000 rpms if so that might be your problem. The HD mechanic told me these motors like to run between 2500-3500 rpms.

TRazzo · 11-01-2009, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brownjams

are you keeping it under 2000 rpms if so that might be your problem. The HD mechanic told me these motors like to run between 2500-3500 rpms.

That is what my service writer told me too, don't run them under 2K if you can help it, they like it over 2K much better, and the noises do subside after 2500. Mine is very noisy, my metric was much quieter but it was also OHC.

06roadglide · 11-01-2009, 12:39 PM

Did your 04 have a fairing? If not, then that might be why 2010 seems louder.

STS04 · 11-01-2009, 05:09 PM

No fairing, it was a softail standard. I love the new Ultra, just takes some getting used to I guess. The 88b did not vibrate at all. thats a big getting used to. I will probably get some slip on pipes later, that might take my mind off the noise. Thanks for the replies.

wurk_truk · 11-01-2009, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 06roadglide

Did your 04 have a fairing? If not, then that might be why 2010 seems louder.

This is SO true!

msocko3 · 11-02-2009, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by STS04

No fairing, it was a softail standard. I love the new Ultra, just takes some getting used to I guess. The 88b did not vibrate at all. thats a big getting used to. I will probably get some slip on pipes later, that might take my mind off the noise. Thanks for the replies.

The fairing and the lowers will have you hearing noise you had but didn't hear on your softail. Before getting slip ons you might want to listen to some other 2010's with the stock head pipe and slip ons. I heard 2 Ultra LTD's, one stock and the other had Rinehart slip ons. The one equipped with the Rinehart slip ons sounded almost like the stock one, it just had a touch deeper note but not louder note. The catalytic converter they put in the head pipe also works like a pretty good muffler.