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Howling sound only when turning left?

I bent myself a coathanger alignment tool and found the axle was off about an 1/8” to the left. The right side adjuster plate was even loose to the touch. I adjusted the axle and we went out for our Easter ride.

Well I eliminated any changes in noise when turning to the left. Obviously I am messing around in the problem area. However the rear tire now seems like it is mistracking to the right, then again I could have gotten used to the previous mistrack to the left and now running straight will seem weird.

The howling is now faint but constant. I am suspecting the noise is from the drive belt / pulley due to an axle misalignment. I will try incrementally tweaking the axle back to the left and listening for changes in the sound. Has anyone ever applied a belt dressing to the teeth? I’m curious to see if it would change the sound signature.

Having the axle be aligned by the dealer, and still off by 1/8” just seems odd to me. Is there a more “engineered” method to check wheel alignment other than a bent coathanger?
 
Have you been pulling a trailer with this bike? Braking with a trailer can cause alot of hard to notice damage. how about tire size and air pressure?
 
Delmar said:
Has anyone ever applied a belt dressing to the teeth? I’m curious to see if it would change the sound signature.

Having the axle be aligned by the dealer, and still off by 1/8” just seems odd to me. Is there a more “engineered” method to check wheel alignment other than a bent coathanger?
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I would not apply any belt dressing. Apply something that is not permanent like water and some liquid soap which can be washed off after testing. I would think even just plain water should change the sound before it evaporates.

Run your hand over the complete tire and see if you feel any repeating patterns of scalloping. (or a slight dip ever couple of inches all the way around the tire). My rear tire had that and it absolutely made a moaning sound when leaning the bike. But it did it equally from left OR right which is unlike your sound which is only on a left lean.

BTW. Don't know what recommended rear axle alignment is for a 2001 but 1/8" sounds like a lot. The spec may have changed but 1/8" is 4 times more than the recommended spec. for my year bike.
 
ON my 2006 sport, I had a NOISE and it started out light and ended up loud...I thought it might be the bearing NO that wasn't it.

I aired tire and no. Then adjusting belt, I found the NOISE.......
JUST forward motion of tire caused SOME and it was there at about 25 or so in full glory! NOT a squeak but like a HUM,,,,, WHIRR

IT WAS the belt making the noise ,,,, NOT TOO TIGHT NOR TOO LOOSE,,, IT would just make a faint noise while turning it over by hand.... not continual but here and there.

NOW mind you I had 30,000 miles on the bike and the NOISE was there for several mos.(7)

I had just beat a rain storm home the night before, HOURS of rain followed..
BOY was I LUCKY..

The next morning,backing bike out of garage, warmed and let the clutch out, NO-GO ,,,,, BELT PEELED off onto the pavement. ANOTHER LUCKY DAY!

The bike was RUN in Az. and I felt the belt failed cause of HEAT.... It became DRY-HARD and brittle...
It was THE stock original HD belt but I changed over to a NEW belt saying to be softer... NO NOISE (carlyle ? belt)

JUST A NOTE..... rotate tire in the FOWARD direction (travel) when making adjustments to the belt/tire.

signed....BUBBIE
 
BUBBIE said:
The bike was RUN in Az. and I felt the belt failed cause of HEAT.... It became DRY-HARD and brittle...It was THE stock original HD belt
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I'm beginning to suspect the belt could be the issue. The Copking is a 2001 with 40K+ miles also has seen summer heat. Plus I'm sure it has seen lots of idling while waiting for the badguys and cooking the belt. I reread the service records and did not find any mention of belt replacement (but I did find the clutch was replaced woohoo!)

I plan on swapping to a 3.15 gearset and while it is that far apart will replace the belt at the same time. Thanks Bub.
 
You can take a rat-tail file and slot the bolt holes on the belt guard a bit as to move the guard over away from the tire a little more than the way it sits from the factory. Do you have the correct size rear tire? Most people run a 150mm tire where they should have a 140mm tire, but looks of the 150mm tire is what people want. Last, you don't have to run the belt as tight as the manual says. The pulleys expand and the belt doesn't. You can ride the bike up to operating temp, and adjust the belt with the H-D gauge to 3/8" - 7/16" at 10 lbs. It might feel a little looser when cold but unless you are drag racing the bike, it will be ok, and it takes the pressure off the inner primary cover bearing, and gives the belt a little wiggle room, thus stopping the noise. Sometimes the belt can be too loose, and produce a howl too. YMMV. If you are too critical of the noises a Harley makes, you will be driving yourself nuts.

Thorns
 
IN your first post you said you were running the police tire. on my 06rd king police there were stickers everywhere saying not to run the police tire with 2 up. the tire was not rated for the extra weight. be safe and investigate. its funny it just started.
 
SOLVED - Howling sound only when turning left?

Well maybe I didn’t exactly find the core problem, but I definitely stopped the symptom. Remember when I removed the belt guard the howl stopped. This confirmed the problem was not a bad bearing or worn belt.

I spent weeks tweaking the alignment of the wheel and moving the guard with no success. In a fit of frustration I grabbed my tin snips and simply cutout the section that was trapped between the tire and belt. My feat of redneck engineering did the trick, no more howling yet there is ample material remaining to protect the belt from stones.
 
I have no experience with the police tire but the tread looks the same as the civie tire. My RK developed a whine in turns at about 7000 miles. The pitch would vary with speed. I worried about bearings and belt tension until 15k when the rear tire was replaced. No more whine in turns. Now I have around 7k on the new rear tire and the whine is beginning to show up again. Something about that tread pattern and mid wear and beyond.
 
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