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[wnogood]

No. All the research I have done indicated that the likely cause was the lifters. Plus I have a buddy that has the SE tapered pushrods with stock lifters and he has the ticking noise I use to have.

So you're blaming the lifters. Damn. I'm really tired of changing lifters. Everyone raves about the gatermans. I know one thing for sure, if I put s&s lifters in my bike and it's quiet, someone is gonna wear these gatermans!

[3mcam]

Yea, I know where your coming from. I tried Gatermans and was really disappointed. More money down the toilet.

[wnogood]

Yea, I know where your coming from. I tried Gatermans and was really disappointed. More money down the toilet.

Just for grins.... was your engine pretty quiet when it was cold? Got noisier the hotter it got?

[zeflash]

Just for grins.... was your engine pretty quiet when it was cold? Got noisier the hotter it got?

Mine is. Stock lifters & pushrods though.
I really enjoy my bike for about 5 minutes. After that it starts ticking, quite clearly at first, like maybe only one lifter/pushrod is involved, then maybe two or more because it's not as "sewing machine" like anymore.

Still Waiting for a quote on the S&S lifters & pushrods - I'm probably going to pay 3 euros a dollar for those  - *really* hoping it is fixed afterwards.

[Z10]

OMG! I would not ride the bike in that video. I would be afraid it would grenade just below the family jewels! Mine is no where near that loud. But it's similar in frequency. Normal valve chatter, and a single cylinder tick that stands out. Again, not even in the same ballpark volume wise....

That would be my bike in the video. It had 25,500 miles on it at the time.  Local dealer told me it was the normal lifter noise and recommended riding it till it "broke hard."  Once I got the bike back home it was parked and repaired in my garage. Check out my posts from Jan/Feb 2012. 

[zeflash]

I found another possible source for the ticking:

http://www.capitalhosting.ca/harley/valvetrain/

Basically the pushrod hitting the tube in some places ... I'll be sure to check the rods when I have them changed to new ones

[wnogood]

I found another possible source for the ticking:

http://www.capitalhosting.ca/harley/valvetrain/

Basically the pushrod hitting the tube in some places ... I'll be sure to check the rods when I have them changed to new ones

Do yourself a favor, and save yourself some trouble, get a 3/8 pushrod set. The 7/16 (s&s) are a whole lot of what's going wrong here. I definitely have contact in my tubes. I'm gonna have to tear it apart and open up the tubes. The easier way would have been to use smaller diameter pushrods. I'm sure there are a lot of brands that make them, but I have found crane cams pushrods for less than 1bill. I'm gonna try opening up the tubes and see what that gets me. If still noisy, I'm going smaller on the rods...

[zeflash]

Some bad news on my end. I dropped my bike at the mechanic, goal being to change the lifters & pushrods with some S&S ones.
He called me with bad news: one of the lifter had cracked (see attached pictures), lost a bearing and/or a needle (? the thing holder the bearing balls spaced) in the process, damaged a bit the hole it was moving in (lack of vocabulary here)

The trouble of this is that we probably had junk moving around the engine. So we decided to remove the carter, oil pump, to check & remove what we could. He called me yesterday, telling me he found the missing needle - jammed in the oil pump rotor. I don't have pictures of it.

So in the end I need to also replace the pump - that I had replaced not even 10 months ago with the screamin eagle version. And I need the full kit actually, pump + plate as it's apparently not possible to order them separately. It's 540€ !

Is there a way to get spare parts for those? Basically it's just the rotor that I need to replace, both inner & outer ones.

[sadunbar]

I've never heard of replacement oil pump parts being available for purchase.  I don't think I'd go that route even if they were available.  Buy a complete oil pump.  You can by the oil pump separate from the camplate.  If the camplate has no damage, there is no need to replace it. 

Your lifter bore is likely usable with the damage shown in the photo.  I'm sure your mechanic can measure it for size and roundness.  If it is slightly out of round, perhaps you mechanic can hone it to clean it up.  Oversize lifters are available from aftermarket lifter suppliers.  Worst case, a good machine shop can bore and sleeve the lifter bore.

Sorry to see you have this to deal with.  In my opinion (although unfortunate), there is no substitute to a thorough cam inspection at least every 10K miles, and never ignore any change in the noises your motor produces.

[zeflash]

Finally got back my machine after 45 days of waiting for the pump to finally be available.
It has adjustable pushrods, and the new lifters (without course limiter) - unbroken this time. All this for around 900 euros.
And it makes even more ticking noise than before. I'd say that now *every* lifter / pushrod is ticking, rather than just one before, due to the missing bearing / pin.

The mechanic told me every pushrod has been adjusted to be at the middle of the lifter range; I'm wondering if that's the right setting. Given the engine is still almost quiet when cold, then starts to get noisier when getting hotter, wouldn't that imply that the pushrods aren't long enough? tight enough? I think I'll try to figure this out myself now that I can adjust the pushrods. Make sure the mechanic did the right thing.

All this is very depressing.