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primary noise

2000classic

2000classic

Active Member
Trip coming up and might be letting every little noise bother me but...... I have a 2000 Ultra with about 50k miles on it. Thinking something sounds "loose" after bike warms up. Especially when I kill the engine and everything is coming to a stop. Sounds like in the area of the clutch. So what I am wondering is just what might some symptoms be of the bearing , that is mounted in the inner primary behind the clutch, going bad? If it is bad is there someway to determine this before pulling it all apart? I only have one week before heading to TN. Any help greatly appreciated! :31:
 
As a precautionary measure, I would pull the primary cover or at least pull the oil filter, cut it open and check for orange bits...could be your cam tensioner shoes have worn or desinegrated...! Do not do anything elese before checking it out...see TQ's Primary chain and cam temsioner changeout photo essay...in the self help section.
 
I agree with what has been said above about opening up the primary cover to look. Most likely, it is just a tensioner adjustment, but you want to rule out the compensator nut backing off. Getting in there will only cost you some time, and the price of a primary gasket and Formula + from HD. Worth it. If those are not it, while you have the primary open, get the rear of the bike off the ground, put the tranny in neutral and rotate the rear wheel. Any noise like you have been hearing? If not, put the tranny in 5th, pull the plugs and rotate the rear wheel. Any noise now? If so, is it coming from the nose cone (cam cover) or that tranny/clutch?

Let us know.

TQ
 
Thanks TQ. I have gear drive on the cams, so no tensioner issue there. Had the primary open a couple of weeks ago for the reasons you stated. Everything is tight in there. Compensator nut, clutch nut and chain adj. all checked OK. Figured it was my imagination in overdrive, so closed it all up. Recently started thinking of the area of the clutch and the bearings in that area. So, will try your suggestion of lifting the rear wheel and see if I hear anything. One thought, if I pull the derby cover after the bike is warmed up, and try prying around on the clutch hub, would I see any movement of the hub even if all is good, or would this indicate a possible bearing issue???? Really would like to find one solid reason to go in there and start replacing stuff other than " I think I here something ".:(

I popped the derby cover to give a listen. No matter what I did the only sound I had was of the belt on the pulleys. Nothing out of the ordinary. The one thing that I did find is a small amount of primary oil coming down the back side of the inner primary. Looks like it's maybe coming from the area of the main shaft seal. So do I look at replacing that bearing, seal and all that goes with it, or do I also look at replacing the bearing in the clutch hub also?:(.
 
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I have a similar prob with my 89 soft tsil springer when it warms up. yet its only when im on the throttle. any ideas anyone?? the motor only has 11,000 miles on it. so i really cant see it being something searous, yet then again i look at it and think since iv only put a few miles on it each year for quite some time, and untill now im starting to ride this one a lot and then think again...
 
2000classic said:
The one thing that I did find is a small amount of primary oil coming down the back side of the inner primary. Looks like it's maybe coming from the area of the main shaft seal. So do I look at replacing that bearing, seal and all that goes with it, or do I also look at replacing the bearing in the clutch hub also?:(.
Click to expand...

Before you do all that, do you have a J shape piece of tubing venting the tranny on the back of the primary? If so, that played heck with me trying to find an oil leak when it was only the spray from that J tube on the back of the inner primary cover. Got a 2' piece of tubing and ran it over to the right side. Problem solved.

TQ
 
I remembered reading that TQ. So was the first thing I looked at. It was bone dry. At the moment I have the entire primary side off. No question the seal on the main shaft was leaking. The bearing inner race which is press fit to the main shaft looked doubtful, so I replaced that along with the bearing. Just now getting started putting it all back together and when I do, I will let you know if the noise is gone or not.:31:
 
OK. I guess that could have been the noise you heard, but if so, that bearing should feel pretty rough when you have it out and you turn it with your fingers.

Let us know how it goes.

TQ
 
Got it all back together and all sounds good again! Put enough miles on to get it all warmed up and it all sounds tight again. Once I got the bearing and the race out, they did not seem bad until compared to new. Only slight difference, but seems enough to cause the noise or rumble I was hearing, letting me know it was going.:D
 
When it comes to bearing/seal damage it does not take much to cause brunelling (metal pitting) of the hardened bearing surfaces...the noise is just the start of a catastrophic failure which you do not want to happen. When you manually or visually inspect, especially with high speed bearing, you will not feel or see the problem without a microscope, only the straw color may give it away.
 
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