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Gear drive cams vs chain?

maine-e-axe

Junior Member
Anyone running gear driven cams, how do you like'm? any problems? more power? any noise? who makes em?Way to go or not? Thanks for any help:newsmile090:
 
Anyone running gear driven cams, how do you like'm? any problems? more power? any noise? who makes em?Way to go or not? Thanks for any help:newsmile090:

Forget all that stuff below. Wasn't thinkin'!! EVO!

You have a gear driven system.

CRANKCASE - GEAR SIDE - 1989 Harley Davidson FLHTC-U




This info is for guys with TC and spring loaded tensioners (i.e., pre-2007):

Wrestled with this issue myself. Here is the saga:

Cam chain tensioners - running on borrowed time! - Harley Davidson Community

Conversion Cams: Roller Chain Drive Up-grade - Harley Davidson Community

TQ's Engine Build - Harley Davidson Community

TQ
 
It's for a buddy, he has a 06 S/G with a 113 S/E and he lost a inner cam bearing and was looking for something more dependable, only has 17000 miles on it. ya your probably right a BIG can of worms. thanks
 
It's for a buddy, he has a 06 S/G with a 113 S/E and he lost a inner cam bearing and was looking for something more dependable, only has 17000 miles on it. ya your probably right a BIG can of worms. thanks

OK, then the links I included in my post above do apply.

With that large an engine, runout is a key consideration. If your buddy had the crank done (balanced, trued, crank pin welded, trued), then the gear drive option may be safe. As indicated in the link, I do like the gear drive best, but runout was the worry for me.

TQ
 
I've got gear drives in my Wide Glide. Seem to work fine. They are noisy though. If the kit for the chain drive upgrade had been available when my tensioners had problems I would have used it. I'm not going to replace my gear driven but I would recommend the upgrade to the chain drives.
 
Anyone running gear driven cams, how do you like'm? any problems? more power? any noise? who makes em?Way to go or not? Thanks for any help:newsmile090:

Running gear drives on both my bikes; a 95" '05 FXSTD and an 107" '02 FLHT. I like them; no problems; they don't increase performance, it takes horsepower to run them just like the chains; not noisy if set up properly; Andrews makes them. The new hydra chain conversion was not available when mine were setup but had it been, I would have gone that route if for no other reason, the new high volume oil pump.

It takes time and attention to detail to set up gear drives properly to insure that they are not noisy. Properly setup gear drives won't make as much noise as the old Morse chain setup; they are noisy.
 
I would go with gear drive; i spoke to a s&s rep at daytona this year and he explained the series of steps to make your gear drive cams quite; the run out is the main thing and all the parts that have to be changed out. It can get very expensive.....
 
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