Big Vibration!

Energy One

Atti2ude

Member
Reviving an old thread.

Mike, did you ever figure out the cause? My Chopper is doing the same thing and I've done all the basic trouble shooting as you... tires, engine mount bolts etc. Pulled the primary cover and nothing out of the ordinary so I'm stumped. Any input? Thanks
 

BadBrad

2005 Pitbull
Everything is subject to come loose on a dog!!! As you're riding, squeeze your legs against your tank(s) and see if that helps. My tank bolts have vibrated loose and is sounded like hell. Check the top bolt of the coil to the frame. It's notorious for vibrating loose. Pull your derby cover and check your primary chain for proper tension.
 

Atti2ude

Member
Everything is subject to come loose on a dog!!! As you're riding, squeeze your legs against your tank(s) and see if that helps. My tank bolts have vibrated loose and is sounded like hell. Check the top bolt of the coil to the frame. It's notorious for vibrating loose. Pull your derby cover and check your primary chain for proper tension.
Thanks Bad. Here's the scenario...was riding with JeffM last Sat and part of the ride had the absolute bumpiest road I've ever ridden. Shortly after the road smoothed out I noticed the vibration which forced me to slow down to 60. Thought it could be the dyna beads but when I pulled the clutch in the vibration stopped. After lunch, Jeff grabbed his tools and the coil bolts were tight. When I got home, I couldn't find any obvious problems so I pulled the primary cover and the clutch basket, chain and pulleys looked fine. Plugs looked good. Motor to frame bolts are tight. Tank bolts are tight. Exhaust is tight. Rear fender is solid. No unusual engine knocks or sounds. Whether riding or sitting still, the vibration starts at 1500 and at 4000 feels like its going to fly apart. The search continues...
 

Th3InfamousI

Administrator
Staff member
Just saying..... might not be the problem but I had a mean vibration on my bike, changed out the plugs and it's smooth now. The plugs looked "fine" but they must have been fouled.
 

BadBrad

2005 Pitbull
Well, you stated that you use dynabeads, so there are no balance weights that may have detached from the rough road. Do you still have vibration if you are stopped, in neutral but reving the motor up to 4000 rpms or only when you're rolling? Does the vibration still go away when you pull the clutch in? If the answer is yes to both, I would have to agree with Eric and change your plugs to see if that makes a difference. It could also be from a bad plug wire. I would start with the simple things first
 

claw

Member
Just an FYI..... I also had a mean vibration. Put a torque wrench on all the coil cover bolts and all were tight. It was when I went to change the coil when I found the problem. The long bolt connecting the cameltoe to the backbone was bottomed out in the cone that it screws into. Just putting a wrench on it was mis leading. It felt tight until I pulled the coil cover to head bolts. Then the whole coil cover and cameltoe were very loose. I pulled the bolt and put a 1/2" lock washer on it and, WOW. Did that make a difference.
 

stlmikie

I wish I had more money.
You say you had just ridden a very bumpy road. You may hav cracked the frame?could have busted a bolt? God forbid either but it's has happened. Raywood cracked one. Frame that is.
 

Ray

Well-Known Member
I had a similar problem with vibration and lost my top motor mount bolt within 30 miles or so. This happened at Sturgis about 3 years ago. The problem was that the Bike was running rich. At the time I was using a Big Air PSI Carb, made the adjustments and it was all good for the rest of the Trip to Sturgis. At first I thought my wife had gained to much weight and the dog was struggling to haul ass. :lol::lol: But it was the Carb Setting and wife never found out my thoughts. :lol: Check out you plugs and see if you are running rich.

Carlos
You better hope she never reads this ,, she will kick your azz :spank:Carlos.

hummm ? points you to better information than I can give you ,, and thank God for these people in this forum that help us keep em running!

Ray
 

isalas

Member
I had this similar vibrations last week but my main difference is that I lost the clutch whenever the vibrations and NOISE started at First i though I broke the motor since the noise was horrible like metal on metal grinding.

I got the dog home on a trailer and started trying to figure out where the noise was coming from, I had recently installed the soft clutch ball and ramp only (no plates) so maybe I fucked up something there, but nope everything looked ok.

I checked all mounts motor and Tranny while I did found 2 screws on the tranny loose the noise did not went away.

I finally removed the primary cover and noticed that the clutch bolts where hitting against the cover so thats my metal to metal noise, I took out the clutch pressure plate and found the BIG ass nut holding the clutch completely loose,

I tighten it the best I could and put some loctite on it as well, but I have a question how tight should that be? should I get air tools to tighten it?

My plan either way is to remove the primary cover and clutch plate every oil change and check that nut again, but I dont want to have it come loose in the middle of a ride :S
 

BadBrad

2005 Pitbull
I forget what the actual ft/lbs of pressure is, but I use air tools to tighten and remove. If you don't have air, use a cheater pipe on a big socket wrench with your foot on the rear brake. Remember, it's left hand threads.
 

Bowhunter

Well-Known Member
Torque for clutch hub shaft nut is 80 ft. lbs., I am also looking for the source of new vibrations which go away completely if I pull in the clutch. I am about to do some major teardown as a preventative. I will post if I find anything.
 

turk1

Member
Good call Claw! I have had a nasty vibration since day one. My feet would vibrate off the pegs at 3200 RPm's and went away after pulling in the clutch. I found my center bolt on the Coil cover was bottomed out as well. I have been checking that s.o.b. with a torque wrench forever but also found it to be misleading. I have not test riden it yet but I will bet it takes care of some of my vibration problems. Thank you brothers!
 

claw

Member
:up:


Good call Claw! I have had a nasty vibration since day one. My feet would vibrate off the pegs at 3200 RPm's and went away after pulling in the clutch. I found my center bolt on the Coil cover was bottomed out as well. I have been checking that s.o.b. with a torque wrench forever but also found it to be misleading. I have not test riden it yet but I will bet it takes care of some of my vibration problems. Thank you brothers!
 

woodbutcher

Mr. Old Fart member #145
Staff member
Torque for clutch hub shaft nut is 80 ft. lbs., I am also looking for the source of new vibrations which go away completely if I pull in the clutch. I am about to do some major teardown as a preventative. I will post if I find anything.
steve, there was a factory service bulletin that came out in regard to the clutch hub nut with a specific sequence to perform.

take it all apart, clean and inspect threads and basket.
with the clutch re-installed and the threads clean and dry, run to 150lbft. to pull everything together.
back off the nut and apply red loctite.
run in at 120 lbft.

this is from memory but there is a post on here somewhere with the actual speak from the factory. :2thumbs::2thumbs:
 

Atti2ude

Member
Getting closer

Figured I would continue with this thread instead of starting a new one to show continuity.

Last Dec I was experiencing what appeared to be vibration so over the last 2 months I've spent countless hours troubleshooting and bugging JeffM. After eliminating the drivetrain, I moved on to ignition. I noticed the rear cylinder LED on the ignition module was blinking at a very slow rate compared to the front cylinder. Running on 1.5 cylinders would explain the "vibration" and one would think that it would be obvious if one cylinder wasn't keeping up...but it's not. Just to confirm, I pulled the rear plug wire and it made very little difference in the idle but it made a huge difference when I pulled the front wire. Just wondering if anyone else experienced this??

Thunderheart is out of the programable module so it will be at least 3 weeks before I can get my hands on one. They are going to make me up one with BD connectors so I won't have to cut & splice.
 

rasdes

Active Member
Carlos.......funny, but have you heard of blackmail, someone on this forum may know your wife and hold your bike hostage :lol: :lol::lol: :lol: I've learned to say nothing that could possibly get back to her.
 

Iahcon

Member
I too am experiencing a massive vibration from approx. 2100-2800 rpm. This vibration is new. This has been an interesting read and now I have a couple of things to check. I'm going to double check the top motor mount but I just recently had the coil cover off and don't think that's the issue. The clutch basket could be the culprit.
 

Iahcon

Member
Just a lil update I have been able to remove my terrible vibration. I had installed the Magnecor R-100 wires and that's when the vibration made itself known. I am NOT bad mouthing the wires. This is NOT to bash Magnecor. The wires are beautiful and looked great on the bike. But I know this,
When I put my old wires back on the vibration vanished. Gone. Period.
I cannot explain why this would be. Trust me I've been running mad chasing this vibration. Checking mounts, plugs, adjusted push rods, removed primary cover to inspect, checked drive belt, etc. etc. I wish I would have done the wire swap in the beginning, I just kept telling myself " it can't be the wires"
Why did they cause the severe and I mean intense, vibrate my feet off the pegs vibration? I don't have a clue. I know the dog's have sensitive electronics and maybe that has something to do with it. I welcome someone with EHC experience to give an opinion here.
 

SIC FKR

Member
That's amazing to me as well. I would have never made that connection of vibration to the plug wires. I need to file this one away. thanks for sharing
 
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