[Doug Carlton]

Need a little help finding a clicking sound comming from the top of my engine .Its a 04 hertiage st with 7k on the engine,just a faint clicking at most speeds less noticable at 50to60.Though maybe it was a lifter? The bike runs fine just anoying.Thanks DC

[chucktx]

have you recently added a wind screen??? it is amazing the noises that are heard when you cut the wind noise.......just a thought.

[rickster]

the guy I just bought my ultra classic from told me he had a similar noise on this bike. they found that the set screw that holds a chrome head bolt cover on had backed off slightly. don't know if you have 1 on yours, but maybe this gives you something easy to check.

[Doug Carlton]

Thanks guys will try both.The wind screen could very well be tne cause

[scottf]

This is a little embarrassing, but happened to me. I was riding my 96 Heritage,(with w/s), and kept hearing a clicking noise that just drove me nuts. I checked everything I could think of on the bike, but kept hearing it only while I was riding. Finally after a couple of weeks of this while riding in the rain, I ducked down behind the w/s to get some relief from the rain, and presto the clicking stopped. Are you ready for this? It was the visor on my helmet rattling that I was hearing. Now how embarrassing is that, but funny anyway.
It's amazing what you can hear when you ride a bike with a windshield!!

[Doug Carlton]

Scollf I will take a little embaramessmentif this solves the problem.Its got to be something simple like that or a loose screw or bracket something for sure thanks Big D

[kools20]

thats what i kept hearing on my bike was a small clicking noise, got worse whenever i put the windshield on sound always got a little louder when i let off the gas. Take a screwdriver and listen to your lifters as you can see by my post of How Bad. my problem eventually led to a lifter going out on me. such a small clicking noise ended up being a big headache.

[Doug Carlton]

this will be my next try.will let the engine warm up and give it a go

[ridehard95]

Originally Posted by kools20

thats what i kept hearing on my bike was a small clicking noise, got worse whenever i put the windshield on sound always got a little louder when i let off the gas. Take a screwdriver and listen to your lifters as you can see by my post of How Bad. my problem eventually led to a lifter going out on me. such a small clicking noise ended up being a big headache.

I have been around Harleys all my life. And a old timer told me 30 years ago change your oil every 1200 to 1500 miles. Because dirty oil will get the best of your lifters. And he also told me if your the kinda rider that likes to twist the wick alot then change them lifters every 20.000 to 2.5000 miles its cheap insurance .Cause we all know if you blow a lifter apart your done. And I live by that rule

[fxdxsteve]

if and when you change your lifters don't use hd or se use compcams or crane or fuelling this is even more important if you have heavier than stock springs I had a stock lifter fail at 33000 miles and it wiped out my branch grind andrews cams.the moco lifters cost more also if I remember right

[ridehard95]

Originally Posted by fxdxsteve

if and when you change your lifters don't use hd or se use compcams or crane or fuelling this is even more important if you have heavier than stock springs I had a stock lifter fail at 33000 miles and it wiped out my branch grind andrews cams.the moco lifters cost more also if I remember right

Don't know what your runing for valve springs .But I have never had a problem with stock HD lifters even at 8000 rpms.I use stock rods oil pump and stock rocker arms. Roller rockers are junk. there is not a company out there that makes a roller rocker worth a sh#t the geometry is all wrong on them. Your valve train will pay hell with them. As I said if you twist the wick alot its a good idea to change your lifters at 20.000 to 25.000 miles. And change your oil often .I change my oil every 1200 to 1500 hunderd miles. I run a 95 FLHT with reworked 1200 sportster heads to fit my 1340. Crane cam S&S carb and a two in to one thunder header and a few other goodies. And I twist the wick to 7000 rpms when I am playing around.I will hold it wide open and when it hits around 7000 rpms I rip 2nd gear and don't back out of the throtle and I don't use the clutch. I can lay the rubber down about 4 feet 2nd gear. And this is a FLHT Bagger and the stock lifters work just fine for me.But I'm not saying they can't come apart. They have just never come apart on me . And I have been runing hard for 33 years

[fxdxsteve]

my springs are 180lbs at installed height I'm running the .619lift crane cams branch heads and I run a thunderheader also branch says I can run to 7250 rpms but my rev limiter is set at 6300 I lift the front end shifting into 3rd gear I've run a 10.57 on the dyno drags at laughlin

[ridehard95]

Originally Posted by fxdxsteve

my springs are 180lbs at installed height I'm running the .619lift crane cams branch heads and I run a thunderheader also branch says I can run to 7250 rpms but my rev limiter is set at 6300 I lift the front end shifting into 3rd gear I've run a 10.57 on the dyno drags at laughlin

Sounds like you got a fast bike. Hope its rider friendly. I have found out that there is a point where the reliablity is on the line for street riding.But if I was runing what you are I would still run stock HD lifters and feel just fine with them. But thats me. The only other lifter I would run is JIMS. I see your bike is a 02 so I would have to look in to this alittle more .I am not in to the twin cam bikes at all

[fxdxsteve]

jims is usually good stuff but I've read on another forum that the big axle lifters have some kind of problem personally I like to run the same brand as the cams I'm running crane but I've heard good things about the compcams and fuelling lifters the stock lifters I ran with my branch cams were put in by the shop that installed my gear drive if I knew then what I know now I'd have done it myself the needles in the roller ground themselves to bits in about 8-10000 miles I also change my oil and filter every two weeks which averages out to 1500-2000 miles

[kools20]

everyone has been very technical in your problem even myself. thought ya might try something real simple to see if the problem lies elsewhere try undoing your speedo cable and see if the noise comes from cable or speedo its self. like i said real simple but the noise will drive ya nuts if cable is kinked or needs oil

[Doug Carlton]

I tried the screwdriver test every thing sounds good while sitting still kinda hard to run down the road with a screwdriver listing to the motor. the sound really comes on between 50 and sixty.The speed is by sensors or some other means haven't seen a speedo cable.thanks for the imput.

[hotroadking]

You won't see a cable, your bike has an electronic speedometer.

If you did recently pop on a windshield you're probably hearing something that was already there, it's just being echo'd back at you.

It's a HD and tons of stuff can be loose, that's why they say use blue loctite on the parts you install.

Some common noise places are

Normal lifter/valve ticking
Loose Exhaust covers
Loose clutch lever or brake lever (there is an anti rattle clip in there otherwise they shake)
Floorboards
Shifter Arms
Helmet visors (LOL)
Buttons on sleeves of leather coats (got the wife one of the HD leather jackets it has chrome buttons down the sleeves and on the back, I can hear them rattle in the wind just a bit, for a while it drove me nuts until I figured it out) LOL

Check your oil level, you might try running Mobil 1 Vtwin, I found my motor made a bit more noise with HD's Syn3 than with Mobil 1 or Castrol.

A good way to find loose stuff is to really wash and clean the bike, wax the paint, polish the chrome, you'll find loose stuff because you have to touch everything.