Noises

Hey hows it going

I picked up a 1987 HD XLH1100

Ive been driving it around for about a month now. Pretty nice i like it

Now i went for a short ride to a buddies place last night. On the way home an awful noise started.

Its weird when i release the clutch fully it starts, and then continues with more throttle. But when i engage the clutch it goes away even when I give it throttle.

The noise is like a squeaking.

The first thing I'd do is pull the primary cover off and check the state of your clutch setup. Sqeaking isn't normally what I'd consider a clutch failure sound, however it could be something yuckier going on in there. If you've actually got something making physical contact you HAVE to take care of that sooner than later.
Is the sound present idling in neutral? Only in motion?
How about during/after shifting.
I don't know a lot about these engines specifically, but is definitely sounds like something downstream from the clutch. Scary question....is your transmission full of oil? A dry transmission is bad and can make some awful sounds. Is there resistance to rolling it if it's in gear with the clutch pulled?

Swagger said:

Is the sound present idling in neutral? Only in motion?
How about during/after shifting.
Is your transmission full of oil? A dry transmission is bad and can make some awful sounds. Is there resistance to rolling it if it's in gear with the clutch pulled?

Click to expand...

Not present while in neutral.. only in motion and clutch is not engaged

not during shifting but after i release the clutch

I have no transmission oil window.. I'm going to be changing the oil probably later today

No Resistance to rolling when clutch is engaged.

Well a little fucking pissed now

Changed out the tranny oil.. any guess to how much was even in there???


too late

1-2 ozs

service manual calls for 24 ozs

I hope there isn't damage.. I'm not pulling it all apart to find out though


Now onto the next project. Planning out z bars w/ reverse levers
andddd.......drum roll please

wooden grips and pegs.. gonna go with some kinda red/cherry finish i think.


Edit:
on the line whether i should get the engine rebuilt over the winter or not.. I need to start saving now.

Hope the tranny is alright. Make sure to post pics of that woodwork!

Uh-oh.....if that trany ran dry and long enough for it to start making noise......it might be worth while to split the cases mate. Sorry....generally when metal rubs against metal with enough energy to chatter (what you're actually hearing when metal shrieks) it's trying to friction weld together and breaking apart at a near microscopic scale. Once metal transfers to a rotating piece like say....and transmission main shaft, that shaft becomes a grinder. Oil or not........

I hope you prove me wrong though mate, I'll burn one for you and hope for the best!

Yea i hope so on the tranny.. I can't afford to have it looked at and to be honest i don't want to mess this bike up. I have a bike that i'm building this is supposed to be my just ride it bike.


And I'm going to be using red oak. Found a couple good sources for all the pegs. Having a hard time finding dowels big enough for the grips. May need to go to 7/8" bars with 1.25" wood and just router out the inside idk ill figure it out somehow lol.