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Twin Cams a future problem?

I just busted mine open and took a look today. 14 bucks and an hour labor for me and the real hassle was getting the exhaust off with no help. (Single tube full length on true dual Hard Krome exhaust). 22,000 miles and hardly any wear at all. There was maybe a .010" groove at most. The rear is a bit aggravating to view, however as many have posted a dental mirror works great. It just takes a few minutes to get the right light over the cam plate. I think there are lots of contributors to the ill fate of bad tensioners. Cam gear to crank gear runout causing a sawing effect, rough edges on the chain from the stamping operations of the links, ( dull die sections and punches), lubrication, how you ride, and even the exact makeup of the polymar batch/lot used for your particular parts. I personally think its a mix of variables because there is too much hit and miss in the fortune.
I personally run synthetics in all 3 holes since I put 320,000 on a 95 GMC truck with not so much as a bolt turned on the drive train, still had 60lbs of pressure on a cold start and 40 down the road when I finally sold her to a buddy.

I will ride her all summer and later next fall I will go with the SE upgrade so I dont have to inspect once a year. My only concern with the SE upgrade is there are no outer bearings. The cam runs in the camplate hole. I realize its hard anodized and that should be about 70 rockwell, however the substrate underneath is aluminum and I have to give that some thought before jumping in.
 
Everyone has their take on this issue. Once I was told that you need to take a look at 20 to 30,000mi and every 20,000 after, I went with the S&S gear drive and never looked back. 64,000mi+ and still running like a well made watch. The new hyd. tensioner seems like great upgrade but it was not avail. when I did mine.
 
DO THE UPGRADE.

Whether you have the dealer do it or you do it yourself, do it! And as recommended by others if the cam bearings have not been changed out get them done as well.

I have been without my bike for a month waiting on my motor to come back from Harley's reman program. My cost because of the damage caused by the bearings going out and eating up the bearing housing, and taking out the oil pump is going to be around $4000. (complete rebuild)

The cost of the updgrades would have been a drop in the bucket compared to the repair I am undergoing now.

My tensioners didn't go bad, but they definetley needed to be replaced. I had 61K miles on my 06 RG when the motor started eating itself.
 
" My only concern with the SE upgrade is there are no outer bearings. The cam runs in the camplate hole. I realize its hard anodized and that should be about 70 rockwell, however the substrate underneath is aluminum and I have to give that some thought before jumping in."

I am in the process of changing over to the SE kit right now and the plate uses the bearings, a new roller for the rear cam and the existing ball for the front cam.
The most difficult part of the job was pressing the cams and bearing out of the old plate and into the new one. The kit comes with good instruction sheets, along with the service manual and info from the forum it's not that hard to do, you just have to take your time and pay attention to detail.
I spent $550 on parts including the EZ install push rods
If I knew how to post pics I would put some on here to show the wear or lack of it on the tensioners, and the new install. I will finish up today
 
Car enginges and import bike enginges have been running this way for years, and they are reving higher numbers then they lazy old Harley engines. I did one of the first conversions here on the forum and TQ followed me. I have over 50000 miles on my conversion and 81000 miles on the bike.
Ken
 
thanks gents for all the input, I have plenty to study up on, thats for sure! Sounds like an inspection and a few new parts are in order to avoid major problems,,,,
 
It's not just the tensioners on that 99. It's the roller bearing (rear drive cam) that can cause the issues about grenading (coming apart) that can cause severe damage too.

I would recommend R&R cam plate and cams and at least replace the ball bearing with the updated roller bearing as well as the tensioners, in the very least.
 
Brian
I bought an 09 Road King used. This is my first Hd. Does this model have the newer hydraulic tensioners or do I have the plastic cam chain tensioners?
Thanks
Tom
 
Tom; Welcome to the forum. The new hydraulic cam chain tensioners and new roller chain was introduced with the 96 cu. in. engine in 2007, so yes yours has it.
 
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