[MrMartini]

1999 LT with 30k+- miles. I have noticed a resonating hum and slight vibration which appears to be getting worse. It varies with the speed of bike, the faster I go the faster the resonating, clutch in or out. Front tire is about a year old and the rear is brand new, both are Metzlers. At first I thought it could be a tire (awkward tread ware). I can't safely determine where it's coming from and is getting worse. Could the drive shaft be off balance? What precludes a final drive failure? With the bike on the center stand and running in gear with a little throttle there is no hum or vibration in any gear. Any sugestion on what to look for?
Thanks in advance.
Doug

 

[johnbaker15]

Doug,

Most likely the front tire, what kind of miles to you have in it? What tire pressure are you running, consensus here is 42 Front, 48 Rear. Does it vary if you are in a corner, left or right, or running straight?

 

[MrMartini]

Doug,

Most likely the front tire, what kind of miles to you have in it? What tire pressure are you running, consensus here is 42 Front, 48 Rear. Does it vary if you are in a corner, left or right, or running straight?

Front tire is 42, rear is 50. Front tire is only a year old, probably 2k miles at most. I haven't paid attention when turning. I'll have to do a road test.
When you say most likely front tire, if inflated at 42 lbs. is it defective?
Thanks Doug.

 

[johnbaker15]

Metzlers have been know to make a little noise after a few thousand miles. Nothing wrong with the 42 lbs and that is considered the best inflation number.

 

[deanwoolsey]

Feel your front tread by dragging your fingers lengthwise on it, especially near the left edge. Feel any bumps? That's your noise. You'll find it's louder in left turns too because the tire wears faster on the left side. Perfectly normal. Ride on.

 

[dfinazzo]

Metzlers are known to "howl" and "growl" - and this can start early on in the tire's life - it
depends upon riding styles, tire pressures, roads you ride on, age of tire and the weight of
the bike when loaded. These LT's are 880# just sitting there and they really challenge the
tires we put on them.

Many on the board here just live with it and ride the tires until the wear bars say replace
me. I unfortunately cannot handle the growl and thus run the other brand of tires which
wear faster but rarely growl.

Good luck in your tire testing to see if the source of the noise is truly the tire . . .

 

[deputy5211]

Metzlers are known to "howl" and "growl" - and this can start early on in the tire's life - it
depends upon riding styles, tire pressures, roads you ride on, age of tire and the weight of
the bike when loaded. These LT's are 880# just sitting there and they really challenge the
tires we put on them.

Many on the board here just live with it and ride the tires until the wear bars say replace
me. I unfortunately cannot handle the growl and thus run the other brand of tires which
wear faster but rarely growl.

Good luck in your tire testing to see if the source of the noise is truly the tire . . .

FWIW, I have had the tire growl with Bridgestone and (surprisingly) Storm on my LTs. Perhaps not just a Metz problem, I suppose, albeit more pronounced with the ME880.

 

[MrMartini]

Well I took it out last night for some more analysis, and it is no longer doing it. Just went away. Should I be conserned or just keep riding. Before I took it out, I had it on center stand with engine running a went through all the gears to see if I could feel the resonating vibration and I couldn't. Then I went out on the road and it was gone.
Doug

 

[Razmataz]

Well I took it out last night for some more analysis, and it is no longer doing it. Just went away. Should I be conserned or just keep riding. Before I took it out, I had it on center stand with engine running a went through all the gears to see if I could feel the resonating vibration and I couldn't. Then I went out on the road and it was gone.
Doug

If it were me, I'd just ride it, being there's no visual concern and it holds pressure. You might also want to consider using some dyna-beads to balance your tires. Do a search on here about them...plenty of pros & cons about them, but I've been using them for a long time and they greatly reduce the tire cupping. Now get out there and enjoy your new ride.

 

[MrMartini]

Re:!UPDATE! Resonating Hum Vibration

Well I guess it wasn't a tire. This is what I came home to.

 

[david_yancey]

The resonating hum is exactly the noise that preceded the last two dealer rebuilt FD failures. During any level of power load on the drivetrain the noise would be absent or nearly absent, but when the load shifted, especially during deceleration, the noise would be prominent. I never leaked through, just heavy glitter in the oil and on drain plug from the pitting.

I love the 99-early 01 for everything but this...

Members here will steer you to the in-house talent... do it. I am caught in the dealer 2 year parts and labor cycle trying to get my money out of the first rebuild, twice now in 3 years, 3rd failure if you count the original at 114k. Shoot, I could accept failure every 100,000 miles if only I could get there again!

 

[biometrics]

The resonating hum is exactly the noise that preceded the last two dealer rebuilt FD failures.

+1 on the resonating hum... often it is quite subtle and other times may sound like tire noise. Mine is not an LT, but the failure symptoms are obviously the same.

I parked my bike in front of my place of work in a 2 hour limit parking area, and when I got off the bike, I thought I smelled oil? When I took a walk around the bike, this is what I found at the rear drive/wheel.

 

[deputy5211]

+1 on the resonating hum... often it is quite subtle and other times may sound like tire noise. Mine is not an LT, but the failure symptoms are obviously the same.

I parked my bike in front of my place of work in a 2 hour limit parking area, and when I got off the bike, I thought I smelled oil? When I took a walk around the bike, this is what I found at the rear drive/wheel.

BM... No image displayed here. TRO error on the forum app, I did copy/paste of your IMG URI to a new browser tab... No joy.

 

[biometrics]

that is an interesting development. the image worked fine when I did it, and now it doesn't show up for me either? Let me see what I can do about that... Hmmm, hope this works.