Front end noise

when riding my 98 sporty there is a rattle coming from front tire area when i apply the front brakes it stops.any ideas

Maybe a loose brake pad or something like that?? Do you have to hit the brakes hard to get the noise to stop? If you touch the brakes lightly does the noise go away? Hard to diagnose without hearing it or wiggling the front end somewhere ya know.....I would do the obvious, look for loose bolts, brackets, etc and see if you can find anything. I hope this helps.

just have to slightly touch it

I was thinking about this all night (sortof) and I'm glad the other guys checked in, I thought that it could've been something in the trees and maybe I had you looking in the wrong place. Thanks to those guys for chiming in. I would feel bad if I was offering poor advice. Good luck and let us know what you find.

had that same problem noise in the front end, calipers have some wiggle in them The allen bolts are tight but where the drift arms mount there is some looseness. however I heard a metal to metal noise yesterday, lost a brake pad, mine are the rivet type, I apparently didn't get the rivets peened in good. Any advantages to changing the complete caliper setup to get rid of the rivet type pads on my 77 Shovelhead. I can get the complete kit for around $220-$250.

Based on a few pictures I look at, it seems that you have the same caliper that my brother has on his 92' EG sport. A single piston caliper and the pads are kinda mushroom shaped. He had the same problem and it was driving him insane. :gah: He checked everything on the front end that had a bolt or screw in it and still couldn't find it. The thing would rattle whether the bike was standing still at idle or if he was riding down the road. Ss soon as he hit the brake lever it would stop.

It turned out to be worn O-Rings on the guide pins. This type of caliper mounts different than the larger four piston calipers you find on the softails and touring bikes. The bolts on the four piston calipers mount the calipers tight to the mounting lugs on the lower fork. The bolts on your caliper also act as guide pins to allow the caliper to float back and forth when you hit the brakes.

Inside the housing of the caliper where the bolts/guide pins pass through are O-Rings that fit into grooves. These O-Rings stop water and road grime from contaminating the guide pins. Because the caliper sides back and forth on these pins, over time the O-Rings wear flat and the caliper has a loose fit on the pins. The rattle you are hearing is the the face of the caliper housing where the bolts pass through contacting the face of the mounting lugs on the lower fork. When you hit the brakes it tightens up the caliper and the rattle stops.

You can check this by grabbing the caliper and see how much you can move it around on the the guide pins. If you can move it fairly easy, the O-Rings are probably worn. I changed the O-Rings on my brothers bike and no more rattle.

Make sure to use some type of lubricant on the pins when you reassemble the caliper. You want to use something that won't melt down and drip on your pads when it gets hot.

Hope this helps, let us know what you find.

tx for all the great advice

tx ringo u hit the nail on the head,cchanged my "o"rings and all is well.thanks to everyone for all the great thoughts,i am not much of a mech. but with advice like this is a great stepping stone:cheers: :biker:

Glad ya got it fixed.