my 1998 tourer buzz!!

[rosevalk]

my 1998 tourer with 11,000 miles, developed a buzz sound through all gears kind of a rough whine until im up to speed and you dont really notice until you hit the throttle, i tightened buzz bolt, put a missing nut on radiator, but still the same, i dont remember it being this loud and is driving me a little nuts, i no what the tranny whine is and can get past that, but not this!! any help would be appreciated.

[Farther]

I've got a buzz on mine too.  Get worse when going into a headwind.  I think it is either my radiator screen or my gremlin bell.  My buzz bolt has been torqued many times.

[rosevalk]

thanks for the reply farther!! i actually tapped on that thismorning, and it just may be. ill look at it more tomorrow!

[R J]

Many moons ago, I used to torque mine every so often.    One day I was in a bad mood when I got back to the shop from lunch and a service bay was open.

I rolled in, stuck it on 2 blades of the lift and brought that bolt up to my eyesight.

Holler at the Tech in the next bay and asked him if he would help me.   So, he got a socket on the left side with a 36" handle.     I got my impact wrench out set it on the highest torque it would produce.      He asked what I'd do if it broke.     Told him I'd replace it and fill it with silicone before I torqued it down.

Snapped the air button about 5 times and each time the socket would move a little.  After the 5th one we put the tools away and lowered MGM to the floor.

In 240K miles, I've never heard that annoying buzz since.

[rosevalk]

and that buzz your talking about, did you here it in every gear when giving it throttle? by the way, thanks for everybodys help.

[billyboy]

I had the same problem. You might want to check your front and rear bearing, also the rear
wheel dampers. My dampers were loose and a rear bearing was kinda rough. Seamed
to have done the trick. Hope this helps.   

[Valkpilot]

 My buzz bolt has been torqued many times.

I've never considered torquing the snot out of that bolt to be a satisfactory solution.  The bolt passes through a tube that lays in a cradle on each vertical frame member.  When we tighten that bolt, we're effectively trying to compress the vertical frame members against a horizontal cross member.  It's a lot of force to apply to the bolt.

On four or five bikes now, my approach has been to apply silicone adhesive to the cradles, then squirt silicone into the tube on the bolt end, lay the tube in place and push the bolt through which spreads the slicone through the tube and embeds the bolt in a nice layer of cushioning goo.  Then you can tighten the bolt to a reasonable level and still not worry about the buzz.

[al v]

I keep wondering what is the function of the "buzz bolt" itself? It appears to be a support member of the frame itself. Looks like maybe it's there to tie the top of the engine guards together...

Is the buzz from the bolt rattling inside the sleeve?