I installed a set of 26g's with adjustable pushrods in my 03 Road King about a month ago. Since that time, it has really been to cold to log many miles, and any miles that I have riden have been with the windshield on, which is very abnormal for me.

At any rate, when I first fire the bike up and ride it, it whines like my wife for the five miles. The hotter it gets, the less it whines. Once it hits 200 degress, the whine is only noticeable at idle, standing next to the bike on the jiffy stand.

I don't quite understand this, as I would think that the gears would be expanding as they get hot, and therefore I would think that the whine would get louder, not quieter.

The second noise that I am hearing is a distinct tick, tick, tick, tick. It sounds like a lifter, and for all know, this noise has always been there, and I am only paying attention to it because of the changes that I made and the fact that the windshield is keeping the wind out of my ears.

Is it possible that one of the pushrods is not adjusted out long enough? Like I said, this noise has probalby always been there, and I just never listened for it before.

Thanks for your opinoins.

 

The ticking you hear is backlash, Not harmful just noisey, When the cam is at the peak of it opening the lifter & push rod will try to go backwards, then the gear rotation moves pass this, When that happens that is the tick you hear, Only way to get rid of it is larger cam or crank gears.
If you can put up with it, Just leave it be.

 

I was under the impression that if I heard ticking from backlash, that meant that I had too much backlash and there would not be any whining.

How can I have both?

 

Not to mention, I checked the cam gears as well as the outer gears for backlash and all were within tolerance.

 

You might consider trying some Redline 20w60 oil in the engine before you do anything. Many guys report their engine quiets down with Redline. Check it out at www.redlineoil.combecause you are only talking about $40 to try it.

 

When the engine is cold the gears are tighter. As the engine heats up the aluminum expands moving the bores away from each otherand the gear lash increases. This effect is much greater than the amount that steel gears will expand.
Ron

 

You have two sets of gears, cam to cam, and pinion to rear cam. One backlash could be slightly loose, and the other slightly tight.

 

Start with the simple things first, adjust your pushrods, if you useda heavy assembly lube when first put together you may be a tad loose, as for the gear noise, I agree with rababos, the aluminum will definately expand and increase gear lash as a result.

 

What sounds like lifter noise may be the pushrods hitting the tubes, seems to be a common occurance with adjustable pushrods. Do a search, it's been discussed here.

 

Your experience is very common with 26G's for some unknown reason. I have talked to others with the same experience. My bike is exactly like yours. It whines a bit on a cold start, but the lifters are dead quiet. When it gets hot, the whine quietens and the top end sounds like a diesel. I talked to many "experts" about this problem 3 years ago when I did the install and got the results. I tried swapping lifters, adjusting pushrods this way and that way, and adding a Baisley spring. Nothing made it any better. It used to drive me nuts. Now 17k miles later, I don't worry about it or even pay attention to it.