Pulley Noise?

[The_Handier_Man1]

From: Dave1210  (Original Message)
Sent: 4/25/2003 11:09 AM

My 72 Indian w/ 413 is making a pulley noise that started on its last trip in Nov. I thought it was the alt making it because the pulley is bent plus it sounds like a noise that would emit from an out of round pulley. I replaced the alt and voltage reg (Iwas having intermittent charging problems so I figured why not) and the noise is still there. After listening carefully I think it may be coming from the crank pulley. Any ideas on what is causing this? 



From: Dave1210
Sent: 4/25/2003 5:35 PM

My fan appears to rotate at the same speed w/engine hot or cold. Is this ok or should it barely move when cold? Maybe the fan clutch is making the noise, I guess I could take it off and just bolt the pulley back on and see if the noise goes away. Any suggestions?

Thanks, Dave



From: denison
Sent: 4/25/2003 9:04 PM

And unless you can have two engines with the same fan & fan clutch parked next to each other, it isn't easy to tell when the fan is going at the right speed - hot or cold. If the clutch is good, even on a cold idling engine it will spin fast enough to take the flesh off your fingers, and pull a lot of air back with the eng. cover off. And it should pull much more when at cruise and things are hot. Another feature of the design - if you wind the engine up past maybe 2000 rpm, the fan doesn't try to keep up - the viscous drive just slips. At any temperature, with the engine stopped, if you can spin the fan by hand more than half a turn before it comes to rest, I think you need to replace it. Overheating may follow - even with a good radiator. Fan clutches dont last forever, and if you happened to leave the fan lying down flat with the fan clutch facing down, it may have lost some of its oil. My replacement was the thermostatic/viscous type, cost about $80 or $90, and wasnt easy to find, because the water pump shaft diameter on my 413 is no long a common size. The original fan clutch was only the viscous drive without the thermostatic element - but having the thermostatic element is better.
If you grab the blades of your fan and can rock them forward and backward with any play at all, - you either have a bad fan clutch, or the bearings in your water pump are dying. denison



From: Boat Nut
Sent: 4/25/2003 10:18 PM

Well my 440's water pump made lots of noise before I replaced it, couple months back. It is certainly right there in the same area. Had a bad bearing in it, no leaks, pumped fine.

Chuck



From: denison
Sent: 4/26/2003 7:22 AM

My technique for localizing possible bad bearings includes putting a 1/4 inch wooden dowel rod about 3 feet long, one end onto the housing of the bearing, the other end to the skin in front of my ear, and pushing gently so the stick makes the ear go closed. It also works great for growling wheel bearings on front wheel drive cars, where you cant tell which side is bad from driving it. I do it on good bearings from time to time too, so I know what a good bearing sounds like. denison