2003 Heritage Softail

I took my 03 Softail to the mountains and rode alot with some other bro's. I trailered it up there and back, when I got home, backed it out the trailer and cranked it up it sounds like a lifter is tapping, could this be a fouled plug?

No. A fouled plug is going to make the engine run very uneven at all RPM's. A tappet sounds like a tick tick sound only louder than the lighter rocker ticking which is normal. A collapsed lifter is really obvious as it is a very noticable tapping sound.
How loud of ticking?
Does it go away as RPM changes? As temperature of the oil changes?
As the engine gets hot? Or just all the time?

Yep

What CD said. And,,,
I thought trailers were for boats.

Heritage Softail

When I started the motor I noticed the noise and shut it down, do you think it would be ok to let it warm up to see if the noise gets quieter?

Warm-up

I'm not CD but, are you only running it for a few seconds? Let it run for a minute or two, if after two minutes and its still knocking then shut it down. Your lifter probably needs pumping-up

Lifter

If it is a lifter is that a serious problem? As you can see i'm not real good at this Harley motor thing, but thanks alot for your help!!

Un-pumped

Well I wouldn’t call it a serious problem, unless of course you try to run on an collapsed lifter, but, you don’t really know the problem yet, if there IS a problem. Sometimes a lifter will leak-down (bleed)and just needs to be pumped back up. If the lifter continuous to leak down (if it is a lifter) then of course it will need to be replaced.

Depending on how much beer you drink, it (the replacement of) could take anywhere from 3 hours to 3 days to replace them.

Also, lifters will bleed down, I don't know exactly how long it takes. I would guess around 3-5 minutes.

this sounds familiar

I'm chasing the same problem myself although right now the bike doesn't do it but the top end is a little noisier..could be a lifter that is slow to pressure up. What type of oil are you using?

Lifter

I'm using the factory specified oil. I'm gonna take it in for the 5,000 mile service on the 30th of this month. It only has 4,500 miles on it now. I might just let the pro's look at it while its there. Another ? I have is, is it cool to run the synthetic oil in the transmission and primary and still use the recommended HD oil in the motor, the reason I don't want to use the synthetic in the motor is a article I read about bearing skating, what are some of your thoughts on that?

???

Yes Harley38, sometimes it is best to let a ‘pro’ figure it out (if there is a problem).

Did you ever run it for a few minutes like I suggested ?

If it was running good when you put it in the trailer(trailers are for boats) then just run it for a few minutes and see if it quiets down.

You can’t beat a good synthetic oil, where did you read about bearing skating?

Lifter

I haven't run it yet, but I will run it today when I get home, I'm gonna put a new set of plugs in it first. I can't remember exactly where I read the article on bearing skating. Thanks for all the help and advice

I think synthetic is the way to go and the only skating I get is when I strap the Grafs on and head out on the ice..I'm not sold on Syn 3 yet but I like the synthetic's ability to handle heat