lifters,pushrods and roller rockers.

[williamg]

williamg here, glad to join club chopper forum,hello to everyone. I have s&s 107c.u. everthing is good top end & bottom end in my motor, makes noise with top end,like tapet noise and when its warmed up good it gets alittle louder,i was told by a harley tech. because of the type of motor and type or internal parts thats normal , anybody knows anything about this please let me know,thankyou.

[cntrhub]

1. There is a rocker ratio kind of extends over and out past the valve stem? Get it? The roller will roll way out at the edge if that ratio is not all at the angle of the X to Y over the valve stem.

2. Say there is correct ratio, the roller is not swinging out past the foot [or x marks the spot]. Then, I would loosen valve lash. Sounds more tight valve noise than rocker ratio at this time.

3. Gotta run those cams with a little bit of extra gap so it quiets down. If that noise remains = Piston skirt slap. Meaning, you cooked a piston. Smell the oil. Does it smell like oil or burnt aluminum kind of metallic smelling rather than an oil fragrance.

[williamg]

thanks for they fyi cntrhub,i just went out and smelled the oil, i smelled nothing but oil, I will check pushrods & lifters again,thanks again bro.

[pushrod243]

Welcome to CC! glad you could understand c-hub cuz i cant.......Depending on the cam profile larger motors can be noisy. One thing to watch is the tappet screen. Its HDs tattle tale for any lifter issues. If the screen is clean you might be ok. Is the noise new or has it always been noisy? Is it getting worse?

HD service manual states OE lifters in low lift stock applications have a 30k mile service limit. Keeping that in mind and and the fact that a larger motor will have a much more aggressive cam profile the lifters are a common failure item. If you have trash in the tappet screen pull the lifter blocks and inspect the lifters. Look for wear on the rollers, smooth operation of the rollers (the needles fail and they get notchy feeling) and inspect the cam lobes it is common to see wear on the lobes when a lifter fails. If the cam is worn replace it. If you have trash or obvious catastrophic failure you might want to check the oil pump, breather gear and cam bearing while you are in there.

[chacha]

I have the same motor on a bike and S&S recommend changing the lifters at 25,000. I've adjusted the rods a couple of times and it helps. Have >29,000 on the motor and it's still going strong.

[gypsy chopper]

If you have S&S lifters, please adjust them the way S&S designed the internal H2LT parts to be adjusted.

Clean your tappet screen once in a while too.

And be careful with those Harley techs, maybe ask him about those limited travel spacers.

[RedWings]

drop in a solid lifter kit and forget about it.

[RedWings]

btw it may already have solids in it and the reason for the noise.