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noise in primary chain case

JT99

Member
This morning I started hearing a grinding noise in the primary chain case on my 06 softtail standard, it has 35,000 miles, opened case, found broken tensioner pad, replaced it, noise is still there. the noise can be heard even sitting still if engine is revved. It sounds like it is coming from the compensator sprocket area, any ideas on this?

Thanks in advance,

JT99
 
thanks for the reply, the pad was broken on the upper surface, but not in multiple pieces, but yes, checked for any other loose items, have removed case half again, just in case, but have not found any visible reason for noise, getting ready to remove primary chain and sprockets to check spring and spacer on compensator sprocket.

JT99

---------- JT99 edit/added post 36 minutes and 58 seconds later ----------

I was looking for any debris in case, wiping everything down, and the cover on the compensator sprocket moved, nut was not even hand tight. Will finish repair tomorrow, need to bring a big socket home from work to tighten it, none of the sockets at the house are big enough. I'm going to finish removing cover before reassembly to check for wear on inside of cover and end of sliding cam.

JT99
 
Last edited:
I was looking for any debris in case, wiping everything down, and the cover on the compensator sprocket moved, nut was not even hand tight. Will finish repair tomorrow, need to bring a big socket home from work to tighten it, none of the sockets at the house are big enough. I'm going to finish removing cover before reassembly to check for wear on inside of cover and end of sliding cam.

JT99

Inspect the rotor carefully looking to make sure that ALL the teeth on the rotor that fit the splines of the drive shaft are good. In fact, I would suggest that you take the rotor off and make sure that the stator looks ok. With the compensator nut loose, the rotor can wallow around making contact between the magnets and the stator coils. Any little bits and pieces of metal in there will eventually fry the stator, and you will be back in to do that!! With the rotor off, check that the "teeth" are all in good shape. And if there are bits of metal on the magnets, try to get them off. I find that a high pressure air hose works well, but use goggles (not just safety glasses). If you don't have that, some cheap brake clean spray from O'Reillys or Walmart will work fairly well.

BTW, make sure you use Loctite red or equivalent on both the compensator nut, and the clutch nut (lefty). Compensator nut is torqued to around 150 ft-lbs (check your manual) - no impact wrench!!

TQ
 
thank you Glider and TQ, I took the compensator apart today after work, everything looks good, cleaned everything with brake clean, put it back together, torqued to 75 ft lbs, then an extra 45deg as per the hd manual, adjusted chain, installed the outer case, and refilled it, took it for a short ride, no noise.

One other thing that might be of interest to others that may have this problem, is that even when I couldn't hear the noise after it started, I could still feel it in the left foot peg. but it wasn't constant, it was more noticeable when revving at idle, and during decel before pulling the clutch.

JT99
 
thank you Glider and TQ, I took the compensator apart today after work, everything looks good, cleaned everything with brake clean, put it back together, torqued to 75 ft lbs, then an extra 45deg as per the hd manual, adjusted chain, installed the outer case, and refilled it, took it for a short ride, no noise.

One other thing that might be of interest to others that may have this problem, is that even when I couldn't hear the noise after it started, I could still feel it in the left foot peg. but it wasn't constant, it was more noticeable when revving at idle, and during decel before pulling the clutch.

JT99

Hope you use some red locktite on that when you put it back together.
 
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