TLE annoying squeak (cant find it)

I've had similar problems with the later Electra Glides.
The first was a 1995 FLHR rig. A squeak in the rear that I thought might be a wheel bearing. I checked it in gear, in neutral, pulling and coasting but couldn't find it even with another rider helping to locate it. Very worrysome when you're a thousand miles from home.
A 1998 FLHR rig had the same noise problem then a 2001. The latest was a riding Buddy's 2006 Road Glide. A squeak with a clunk.
All machines had the stock Factory exhaust system.
The noise in all cases was coming from the left rear muffler hanger connection and usually appeared after a wet weather ride.
We tried squirting WD 40 and silicone on the rubber to metal connection with not much success and shimming to tighten the connection which worked for a while till the shim was dislodged.
The rubber may get hard from time and heat and foreign material may get embedded since it's not a tight connection.
If that's the source it can be located with a little sideways kick on the left side muffler or shahing it sideways a bit.
The right side doesn't seem to have this problem, just the left.

Lonnie
Northwest Sidecars

Happy searching,
I have that on our cars frecuently (tropic climate), on the rigs seldom. points I found over the years were:

A. The fender screwed to the sidecar body, with the time there I got play that first I noticed on sipping (paint and putty)out of the seperation, the sound came later.

B 1+2. the s/c shock itself: The spring rubbed against the spring or shaft. / The rubber in the eye holes worn

C. the base plate of the sidecars wheel break having gap agains the lever and swing (the alluminium settles with time)

D. the bolt of the s/c tension arms with the eye bolts in the frame started to rock. (caution not to over tighten them => after tight comes broken or squeezed frame!)
If the washers are too soft, better mount some made out of hard steel(4140)
If "D" is the case and tightening doesn'd do the trick then try with a new distance tube of better material or for short term fix filling out the gap with epoxy. That helps just for a certain time 2000miles and becomes nasty later.=> remember to put anti seize on the thread and shaft if not you get in trouble at dismantleing.

E: check the mounting points of the boat, the rubbers, GFK, plastic sheet metal and the large washers tend to settle or bend. With the load you have a presure. without load the "sandwich" is loose enough to get into movement.

F: hinges

G: locks without enough presure

H: corroded bearings or too much gap on taper bearings

I: worn bearing seats.

K: only once I had to diagnosticate on a brother in laws pick up a fissure in the box frame.

Except H and K it is not dangerous just testing our ears and nerves.

By the way I allways use on nearly all I assemble a good anti seize (my personel selection is Chesterton 785 based on zink). If locktite is needed never use red or green (you need a torch to loosen those again) I use blue "242".

Try and have fun searching.
Best regards
Sven Peter

ps:Strange today the forum site fails to me once and again.

Understood, its a hard one but take the motocycles suspension out of the equation as well as the brake system front or rear as the bike/rig with the brakes appiled while sitting static still makes the noise.

Its driving me nuts as I mentioned I have went ad far as using one of those sonic guns that is used for air leaks and can't narrow it down.

Any type of bearing noise again I just cant see would be causing it as the rig can be static with the brakes locked and still make the noise.

Put a passenger in the car and its silent?

I had a similar problem and it turned out to be a connection point on the bike.

Hello John,
a point many people do not pay enough attention to, are the swing pivots and the shock bases. Often they do not see a drop of grease for decades!!!
There the only way to be sure the grease gets in, is dismantleing swing, bushings and axle. At that time check for gap. It just should move without any play. That axle has to be round and clean without wear spots. (I have seen them oval allready)If the pivot is with needle bearings they often rust, get flat needles or wear spots in their races.

I don't know about your bike, sometimes you find frames that are made out of hard soldered tubing with quite a bit of overlap. If that solder ceeds there you might get a small movement, that sometimes is so small that you barely can see a crack in the paint. but the movement is there and makes noise.

It seems like you are having a tough time, simmilar to the one like I had last year with the shop van... in that case it was originated by a stupid Corean design of the back axle bearings. (in stead of 2 opossite tapered bearings they installed only one with a hardened Steel rim that gives 0,7mm gap by design. => try to explain that to the technical inspector! (I had to take the dismantled axle to the inspectors supervisors) => As soon the grease is wipped away the thing makes noise and you fear the bearing would be blocked and spinning on the shaft)

Good luck with your search.

wait TLE sounds like Harley s/c: On my 1960 willies I had something that could give you a hint => dirt and rust inside the flat springs that form the suspension of the boat!
In oldtimers it was comon use to dismantle the springs, reassemble them with grease and wrap them in leather. I got rid of that sqeeking by washing the springs and its pivots with cerosine and a compressor gun and greasing with bike chain spray (PJ1 blue and yellow (the best I ever found, it get deep into the fissure like water, becomes hard and won't fly or wash away)

Good luck
Sven Peter

Hi,
I was just going through the manual on the TLE and it states that the bushings on the shackles are plastic and are not to be lubricated. Since the noise is not coming from them I will keep on looking.

Thanks

Originally written by Peter Pan on 8/11/2009 12:28 PM

Hello John,
a point many people do not pay enough attention to, are the swing pivots and the shock bases. Often they do not see a drop of grease for decades!!!
There the only way to be sure the grease gets in, is dismantleing swing, bushings and axle. At that time check for gap. It just should move without any play. That axle has to be round and clean without wear spots. (I have seen them oval allready)If the pivot is with needle bearings they often rust, get flat needles or wear spots in their races.

I don't know about your bike, sometimes you find frames that are made out of hard soldered tubing with quite a bit of overlap. If that solder ceeds there you might get a small movement, that sometimes is so small that you barely can see a crack in the paint. but the movement is there and makes noise.

It seems like you are having a tough time, simmilar to the one like I had last year with the shop van... in that case it was originated by a stupid Corean design of the back axle bearings. (in stead of 2 opossite tapered bearings they installed only one with a hardened Steel rim that gives 0,7mm gap by design. => try to explain that to the technical inspector! (I had to take the dismantled axle to the inspectors supervisors) => As soon the grease is wipped away the thing makes noise and you fear the bearing would be blocked and spinning on the shaft)

Good luck with your search.

wait TLE sounds like Harley s/c: On my 1960 willies I had something that could give you a hint => dirt and rust inside the flat springs that form the suspension of the boat!
In oldtimers it was comon use to dismantle the springs, reassemble them with grease and wrap them in leather. I got rid of that sqeeking by washing the springs and its pivots with cerosine and a compressor gun and greasing with bike chain spray (PJ1 blue and yellow (the best I ever found, it get deep into the fissure like water, becomes hard and won't fly or wash away)

Good luck
Sven Peter

Hello John,
but these bushings can get worn or as on my Jawa's back swing once slip away.
Sven

There are grease fittings on the two Heim joints on the later Harley sidecars. You might try a shot of grease there.

As mentioned above, it could be one of the muffler mounts. A shot of rubber lubricant might help.

Really, there aren't many places where you could get such a squeak. Have a nice time looking. LOL.

Squeak be GONE, well at least 95%, I took apart the rear shackles; those do not have plastic bushings (like the TLE manual mentioned) but rather bronze or brass. I cleaned and put a light coat of white lithium grease on those and reassembled them.

Did a test ride, much better but still some noise. Next I determined that the noise was coming from the upper shackle that the turn lamp is mounted on. So I just loosened the nut a hair, did another test ride and no noise. So took the nut off and put some blue locktite on all the shackle nuts in the rear and made sure not to over tighten them.

Went to the front spring mounts next, now those just have a plastic bush, I tried just to see if I could slip the bush out so I could lube with something , but no such luck. So what I did was to use HD Chain and cable lube and held the cans applicator tip right against the bush and gave it a good squirt. Moved the car up and down and repeated. I know that the TLE manual says not to lube the plastic bushes as lube my hurt the bushings but I really do not thing that the HD lube will.

Then put some blue locktite on and reinstalled the acorn nuts. Well that seemed to have fixed the problem, I did get a tiny squeak once and awhile but that I'm almost positive is coming from the side car brake as they are noisy as heck. There are no miles on those and the pads are LN. I suspect that if I remove the pads and put a small kerf on the edges that should fix that problem, but for the car and its really nice now.

Thanks,
John
BTW the heim joints were the first thing that I lubed.

Originally written by gnm109 on 8/12/2009 10:21 AM

There are grease fittings on the two Heim joints on the later Harley sidecars. You might try a shot of grease there.

As mentioned above, it could be one of the muffler mounts. A shot of rubber lubricant might help.

Really, there aren't many places where you could get such a squeak. Have a nice time looking. LOL.

With patience and a stick you even get the green [apples] down from the tree.
Costarican saying.

John, as you see, in everything we do, detailed observation, patience the right tools and feeling in the finger tips, as well as not beeing ashamed to ask for advice, are the best tools to get things done.

I had such an aha moment yesterday too, when I got my shops computer net working again after 2 month driving me nuts. => My poor 3 pound hammer has now a new handle....
just a joke: I don't throw it arround the shop for some 10 years now since I learned that anger is not the way to go. Anger just makes you spend more time and money to fix things.

Congratulations and enjoy your ride.
Sven Peter

For the new brake pads it is much better to break them in using the break intentionally very hard during the first couple of days and then readjust them.
As long the break cylinders or levers axles aren't corroded and stuck.
Noise from breaks indicate that the pads are cristalized or not adjusted to the disk. To put some bevel shim (that is not original) on the back is one of the last resorces.
Sven