XJ550 Weird Noises

My bike is an '82 XJ550 Maxim. I bought it about a thousand miles ago and today I had my first big problem. When getting onto the interstate I gunned it a bit and dropped the clutch. Bike took off like a beast and seemed to handle everything great. When I came to the next exit and started to slow down I noticed a sound like something on a string was swinging and knocking into the motor. It was very sporatic and I couldn't quite place where it was comming from. The bike seems to not have the issue in neutral, or when the clutch is engaged, but I had to limp home because it would come at go at speeds above 20 mph. One time only it made a big bang and I could actually feel it, but otherwise it was just a sound and nothing I could feel.

Sorry to be wordy but I really like this bike and in the process of restoring it, any advice would be great!

Thanks,

Grant in Arkansas

 

was it coming from the left side of the bike? something similar was happening to me a couple weeks ago where when i got to over 10mph i would start hearing this tick, tick, tick like the rear wheel was hitting something, i took the chain guard off and it stopped. it was warped and hitting something so i just left it off

 

Yea it was from the left side but seems to be from more towards the front. Thanks though, I will try this tomorrow morning when the neighbors won't freak about the sound.

Appreciate it, any other comments will be very appreciated as well.

 

How many miles are on the bike?

BOTH of you: when was the last time you checked/lubed/adjusted your drive chain?

 

First, is it a metallic ping, or a thud, clang, etc. That is, using your words, what is on the end of that imaginary string that is hitting the engine?

Second, I assume you meant the sound doesn't exist when the bike is in neutral or the clutch is DISengaged.

Also, try to see if it is related to rear wheel speed, or engine speed, by upshifting at 20 mph and seeing if it then goes away. Be careful though. From what you said it sounds like something might loose in the transmission.

Finally, change your oil. If you have a lot of metal chunks attached to your magnetic drain plug, you might have some work to do.

When we get strange metallic noises from our engine, like a wrench hitting a frame, we shut down the engine IMMEDIATELY.

If the noise is not metallic, we just look for loose things that are vibrating.

 

Hey just got home from work. I'll take it out for just a minute and see how the noise is being made. Give me about 10 minutes.

 

Ok, got the bike figured out. It WAS the chain guard. Here was the apparent cause.

Got new tires about a week ago. My Tension bolts are homemade and the guy didn't tighten them enough. When down shifting to stop my chain had too much play and knocked into the chain guard. Chain guard = shot. Took it off and am going to get a new chain and sprockets just after i finish typing this. I will be back. HA. Glad it wasn't internal.

Also, to answer other questions. My bike has almost 34k on it and an oil change about 500 ago. Love this site and appreciate the help.