Front end noise Harley Shocks & Harley Chassis Issues Discuss Front end noise in the Harley Tech & Harley How-to forums; Whenever I hit a pot hole or dip in the rode I experience a profound thump from the front of the bike.It sounds metallic and hollow. I can't find anything ...

[1996Fatboy]

Whenever I hit a pot hole or dip in the rode I experience a profound thump from the front of the bike.It sounds metallic and hollow. I can't find anything loose. I've tried holding the front brake and pushing forward but that doesn't re-create the pressure. I would like to figure this one out before the usual "I Will Know When It Breaks" theory. I keep picturing front my wheel going left, my bike going right, me going down, my ins. premiums going up, you get the picture. There is also a second version where my WIFE is on the back, Enough said! Help Please!

96

[shovelmike]

Get the bike up on a lift so that the front tire is off the floor. Grab the lower end of the fork legs and see if there is any slop in the steering head bearings.

[Motorman7]

When removing my 08 Fat Boy from storage after the winter, i had it up on the lift and i did notice a little play when trying to move the forks from front to back. Is a little play normal or is it supposed to be no play at all?
If no play what is the correct method to correct the steering head looseness.

[HarleyCruiser]

Originally Posted by 1996Fatboy

Whenever I hit a pot hole or dip in the rode I experience a profound thump from the front of the bike.It sounds metallic and hollow. I can't find anything loose. I've tried holding the front brake and pushing forward but that doesn't re-create the pressure. I would like to figure this one out before the usual "I Will Know When It Breaks" theory. I keep picturing front my wheel going left, my bike going right, me going down, my ins. premiums going up, you get the picture. There is also a second version where my WIFE is on the back, Enough said! Help Please!

96

You need to disassemble it and check for anything broke.
First on the list would be the pinch bolts, also look for anything on the headlight. This is not something you can ignore. I broke a pinch bolt once and it just got worse while I was on vacation.

[HarleyCruiser]

Originally Posted by Motorman7

When removing my 08 Fat Boy from storage after the winter, i had it up on the lift and i did notice a little play when trying to move the forks from front to back. Is a little play normal or is it supposed to be no play at all?
If no play what is the correct method to correct the steering head looseness.

There should be no give in the front forks.
Check to see where the play is coming from.
The steering head tightness acts as a steering damper, so it needs to be adjusted right. And Loose steering head bearings can be a real safety issue
There is a procedure in your Manual to check the fall away.
Loose bearings cause head shake, tight bearing cause lose of feel for the road and the bike will wander.
A lot of guys will check the bearings by riding down the road and bumping the handle bars. If you get any shake they are loose. If the bike goes to one side they are too tight.
But I would not use this method until you adjust them by the fall away method first so you know what they are supposed to feel like.

Your front forks might be "topping out" or "bottoming out". Topping out is when the forks extend all the way down and hit the end stops inside the forks. Bottoming out is just the opposite where the forks get compressed so far that the sliders hit the internal upper keepers. Listen and determine whether it clunks on the down stroke or the up stroke. Either way the cause for this is usually either not enough fluid in the forks or just plain worn out seals, bushings, and/or damper rod.

You don't say how many miles are on your bike but a '96 with a lot of miles might be due for new internals.

Also, check to make sure the bolts going through the bottom of your forks up into the sliders are tight. You have to pull your front axle to check this and definitely do check this.

I remember seeing a thread on a similar noise on WG front ends in this forum and the fix was just a matter of tightening some front fork bolt tighter than Harley recommends. See if you can find that thread for more info. I don't remember the details.

Finding the source of these kind of noises is tough to do since you can't duplicate it when the bike is stopped. So you just have to check all the usual culprits like what I've mentioned here as well as the above posts. They're all good suggestions and possible culprits. The good news is that there aren't a whole lot of parts in a Harley front end that you have to check.

Good Luck Amigo