Valvetrain noisier after cam upgrade

[dolt]

Thanks for all the tips and info. Ive tried so many different procedures Ive got muscles in my fingertips now. S&S said forget about tdc and do each lifter one at a time at its lowest point. wait for bleed down after each one. I havent tried that yet.

Ive rotated rear wheel where exhaust rises falls, then intake rises and falls and I can hear the compression come out spark plug hole. I go to other side of bike and roll rear wheel till I find the highest point in piston. I have a long skewer marked where the highest part has been. I can say that I have not seen the top of the piston through the spark plug hole.

Ive done this over a half dozen times and the piston always seems to be a couple to few inches deep in cylinder. I will admit it is hard to roll the wheel and get it to hold steady whole I check the height of piston through spark plug hole.

Should I be able to see the piston?

Im doing this while bike is on floor lift and the wheel always wants to move a bit more after compression.

If my math is right, 32 tpi x.140 = 4.48 or 4 turns 3 flats.

Thanks for any confirmation or change to my procedure above.

The piston doesn't have to be precisedly at TDC on the compression stroke, just close either coming up or going down; don't worry about being able to see the top of the piston. 4.5 turns will set preload at .140". I am not saying you have adjusted pushrods wrong, just saying that it is easy to get it wrong by simply watching the lifters and adjusting when both are at their lowest point. If you are confident in your pushrod adjustment, time to start lookng at the lifters.

Did you have stronger valve springs installed as part of the upgrade?

 

[anthonyflhx]

Have not touched valve springs. I may pull the heads and throw stock solid pushrods in to see if theres any difference. That should rule out pushrods completely then.

 

[TQuentin1]

Ive rotated rear wheel where exhaust rises falls, then intake rises and falls and I can hear the compression come out spark plug hole. I go to other side of bike and roll rear wheel till I find the highest point in piston. I have a long skewer marked where the highest part has been. I can say that I have not seen the top of the piston through the spark plug hole.

Ive done this over a half dozen times and the piston always seems to be a couple to few inches deep in cylinder. I will admit it is hard to roll the wheel and get it to hold steady whole I check the height of piston through spark plug hole.

Should I be able to see the piston?

Im doing this while bike is on floor lift and the wheel always wants to move a bit more after compression.

First of all, you can position your bike lift back towards the rear wheel so that only the rear will raise up as you jack up the lift.

Second, make sure you have the tranny in 5th or 6th gear and both spark plugs removed.

And I assume you are turning the rear wheel in the direction of travel as when the bike is going forward.

I have always been able to see the top of the piston through the spark plug hole. May need to get a bit more light shining in the hole, but the piston should be almost to the spark plug hole.

After the intake lifter falls back down, the piston is on the way up for the compression stroke. Doesn't take too much more movement (rotation) of the rear wheel to have the piston at TDC of the cylinder you are working on. You may want to have a piece of 2x4 handy to wedge the rear tire when you have found TDC.

March back around the bike and set both intake and exhaust PRs of the cylinder you are working on (I am assuming you DO NOT have the compression release cams). 4 turns and 3 flats is a good setting for 32tpi PRs.

Take a break for 15-20 minutes after the last one, and when you come back, the PRs should rotate fairly easily with your index finger and thumb.

Button up the covers and move on to the other cylinder repeating the process.

That's it!! Back it out and ride.

If after 1000 miles you still have a tapping sound (and you have tried everything suggested here), then change out your lifters.

If you do all that and STILL HAVE THE NOISE, it is something else completely!!!

Check this out as a confidence bulder:

Cam Replacement on a Harley Davidson Twin Cam, including Pushrod Removal • JP Cycles - YouTube

Cheers,

TQ

 

[dolt]

Have not touched valve springs. I may pull the heads and throw stock solid pushrods in to see if theres any difference. That should rule out pushrods completely then.

The 48 cams have a .020" smaller base circle than the OEM cams. Half that distance is .010", so with stock pushrods you will have .010" lash in the valve train. JMHO but I think that exercise is a waste of time.

Do you still have the OEM lifters? How many miles on them? IIRC, your bike is a '10 model which means the lifters should be the "B" lifters; the "C" lifters (made in Mexico) were intrduced in the '11 model year and had roller issues. Drop the "B" lifters in, readjust the pushrods and see how she goes.