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rattling sound

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barnak

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Good day everyones, i own a 08 softail Heritage, i put 11000km this summer on it and have a rattling sound coming from the rear when I slow down (down shift, when engine is compressing). I went to the dealer, they took it for a spin and said that it was normal, NOT. looks like it's coming from under the fender, may be belt guard or around that area. I check about everything that i could think about. Does anyone have a clue or had that problem. thank you.

Mike
 
Mike
A lot of times noises can come from a belt that needs adjustment or the belt guard. Most dealers get away with a lot by calling noises normal so they don't have to troubleshoot a problem.
 
barnak said:
Good day everyones, i own a 08 softail Heritage, i put 11000km this summer on it and have a rattling sound coming from the rear when I slow down (down shift, when engine is compressing). I went to the dealer, they took it for a spin and said that it was normal, NOT. looks like it's coming from under the fender, may be belt guard or around that area. I check about everything that i could think about. Does anyone have a clue or had that problem. thank you.

Mike
Click to expand...

Can you put it up on a lift and have someone help out with listening to try to pin point the rattle????
 
I have a similar problem with my '08 Ultra. On decel, with the clutch engaged, I get a rattling noise from the area around the transmission. If I pull the clutch in it will stop. It does in in any gear, but seems worse in the lower gears as I get slowed down. I have checked belts, all the bolts, the muffler brackets and clamps, the belt and the guard, rear wheel bearings, you name it. It almost sounds like it is coming from inside the transmission, like gear rattle or the counter shaft rattling.

Any ideas would be appreciated.
 
I finally figured out the problem of the rattling sound on my '08. It was the muffler clamps. I replaced the stock mufflers with SE units and when I did I replaced the clamps. I had checked the bolts for tightness several times and they were very tight. I discovered yesterday that even though the bolts were tight, the clamps had not pulled up to securely clamp the muffler to pipe.

The clamps have a small double tapered block between the ends, and the bolt goes through this tapered block. The problem was the bolt would slide through the block, no matter how tight you got the nut. So the nut was tight but the clamp was still loose on the pipe.

I found the orginal clamps and put them on and all is good.
 
The bolts on the factory clamps have a serration on the bolt that binds in the clamp and can very well appear as tight and not be tight at all. The proper way to circumvent this is to use the proper torque when installing them, it just about eliminates this problem.
 
That's what tricked me. I tightened the TORCA clamps to 60 ft-lb and that didn't pull the bolt through the block. In fact, I put one of the removed clamps in the vise and torqued it to the point the nut rounded off (~85 ft-lb) and the bolt still didn't pull through the block so the clamp would tighten.

On the reused clamps I drove the wedge or block, whatever you call it, out a bit, off the back side of the clamp, installed it and torqued it to 60 ft-lb and it clamped up the muffler nicely. (yeah, I know it says that you're not supposed to re-use them but they work better than the new ones.)

In looking for the rattle I checked the clamp nuts to the 60 ft-lb spec and they were tight. The nuts were tight but the clamps were not. The new clamps I bought are bad.
 
I had a similar problem when I owned my 98 Heritage. It ended up being a broken exhaust heatsheild clamp and only rattled as the geometry of the bike changed as I braked and decelerated.
 
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