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A strange knocking noise?

3K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  Hopper 
#1 ·
Hola Everyone.

Bought myself a XLH 1000, 1974 last year. Shes been under the knife for a year now, and are almost good to go.
-Exhaust made from drag pipes, with heat wrap.
-Kick conversion
-DIY Candy red flake Paint
-rebuild master brake cylinder
-new OEM clutch ass, switched from Mike's hydra clutch
-new kickstarter ratchet gear, 1 tooth was broken
-OEM rear brake, switched from some homemade forward control
-Shaved forks, with new seals
-Ducktail rear fender
-21'' front wheel
-New Penga Zephyr handlebars
-PM Cable clutch lever ass.
-Old 2x square fog lights yellow tin as driving light.

Had her going 4 months ago with no problems, then i changed from rear disc brake back to OEM drum.

But still one wrong thing with Her... A strange tapping noise from the area of the compensate sprocket. It sounds like a "Knock" when shes getting warm... Here is a video :

-It isnt the bendix gear, removed it
-It isnt the chain (Adjusted after manual) banging on the case or cover, no metal fragments in the oil!
-It isnt a tooth missing on the basket or Comp. sprocket.
-It isnt the pushrods, adjusted correct!

What can it be??? any suggestions.
 
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#5 ·
This is what I know. They we're not used on Harleys until the fifties when Indian came out with the "torque evener" or something like that. At least that's my understanding.

They were intended to dampen vibration and chain wear by smoothing out torque pulses. Also if the rear wheel stopped suddenly without the clutch pulled in, the motor could keep sspinning.

I take them off and run a standard sprocket. I can't tell the difference and if it vibrates that bad it needs balanced and attention anyway.

I like narrow belt drives as well, so there is that complete change. I'm not a pro and I'm sure someone much smarter will have a better answer.

Oh and some XL s didn't have them when new apparently.... I found that info when I googled awile back.
 
#6 ·
This is what I know. They we're not used on Harleys until the fifties when Indian came out with the "torque evener" or something like that. At least that's my understanding.

They were intended to dampen vibration and chain wear by smoothing out torque pulses. Also if the rear wheel stopped suddenly without the clutch pulled in, the motor could keep sspinning.

I take them off and run a standard sprocket. I can't tell the difference and if it vibrates that bad it needs balanced and attention anyway.

I like narrow belt drives as well, so there is that complete change. I'm not a pro and I'm sure someone much smarter will have a better answer.

Oh and some XL s didn't have them when new apparently.... I found that info when I googled awile back.
Cool JAWS!

Ill ask my local dealer for spare parts to my "old lady". Thx for the advise.
 
#10 ·
This is what I know. They we're not used on Harleys until the fifties when Indian came out with the "torque evener" or something like that. At least that's my understanding.

They were intended to dampen vibration and chain wear by smoothing out torque pulses. Also if the rear wheel stopped suddenly without the clutch pulled in, the motor could keep sspinning.

I take them off and run a standard sprocket. I can't tell the difference and if it vibrates that bad it needs balanced and attention anyway.

I like narrow belt drives as well, so there is that complete change. I'm not a pro and I'm sure someone much smarter will have a better answer.

Oh and some XL s didn't have them when new apparently.... I found that info when I googled awile back.
The kickstart only XLCH models had a solid sprocket. The compensator sprocket was fitted to the electric start only XLH models, supposedly to protect the Bendix starter gear etc from kickbacks/backfires.

Then in 1977 they did away with the compensator on the electric start models too. But they had the later type Hitachi starter by then, so dunno if that made any difference or whether the whole thing was never really necessary in the first place.
 
#7 ·
you could remove the seal and the seals spacer behind the comp sprocket - then look at it on its ends of the spacer closely, if it is scraped from spinning on the bearing and the back of the front sprocket -- the end bolt ( with the 4 holes for the tool ) is too long and bottoming before the works is good and tight - you can cut some off the end of it
 
#9 ·
^^^thats a great idea and something I will check from now on.

John why would this be the case on a stock bike? Wornout or ?
we came to find that when the evo first came around in 84, the alt rotor had no splines and only relied on the tight to keep it from spinning - well it spun

chasing that issue we came to find the nut was too long for the job, the Y is often lost in the how / why did they do it that way
 
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