Hey guys, just need some advice (besides arson). Just traded in my 2001 Road King 88ci (that had been upgraded to 95ci) on a 2011 Road Glide Ultra with 103ci. Took it from the flatlands of Louisiana to Colorado on recent trip - 3401.5 miles - with my wife and pulling a trailer. After getting to the hill country of Texas, all I could think about is "what a mistake I made...a $24,000 moped...NO power!
The 6th gear is useless...5th and 4th gears are almost as bad...and I had to drop to 2nd and 3rd gears in headwinds; and going up mountains of Colorado was like using a stick to push wet crap in the snow.
I was completey frustrated with the lack of power of this big engine as compared to my 95ci Road King (which I should have kept). I started looking for a good Honda Goldwing dealer for a trade, but I've been riding Harleys for many years and just couldn't make the switch.
Now the Harley dealer (Cowboy Harley of Beaumont, TX) wants to put a Screamin' Eagle Upgrade kit that includes pistons, 259 cams,race tuner, headers (getting rid of the catalytic converter), K&N air filter, and pipes that should give up to 108 lbs of torque and about 98 hp.
Again, I'd appreciate any suggestions. Thanks abunch!

 

The new harleys are pretty much a dawg stock.. Intake exhaust and cams will make areal difference.

 

If you are gonna continue towing with a loaded bike ..spend your money on cubic inches ...cu.in.=torque.....torque =towing power/roll on power/not downshifting .. I get lots of power and speed out of a modified 103 ..but the engine only produces real power starting at 3500rpm and at 2800 I'm doing 75-80 and have to downshift if I need power..if I was going to tow I would look at the 120 inch ...(with some minor mods)

 

Silly you, the bike is just the down payment on the upgrades you have to do now.
I have to agree that with pulling a trailer the 120 may be the way to go.
Lots of info here on the 120

Good Luck

 

People have been pulling trailers for years with a lot smaller motors than a 103.
I think your bike should have performed better than what you experienced.
I'd have a good mechanic check everything to be sure the bike is running right before I started doing major mods.

 

I have the 2011 ultra classic with the 103. No towing, but plenty of power for me.

 

Anything stock to me is a dog, you already have a 103, but not a high compression one. If still stock I would change ac, pipes and add a cam that will work with the stock compression 103. That should pep it up. If thats not enough I wouldnt even mess with that other dealer 103 kit and go straight with the se 120 crate motor.

 

The 103 is a sleeper that doesn't need a whole lot to wake it up. Having a 2010 FFLTK witht he 103 , I have already tried a couple of combinations to see what produced the best results. What you described that the dealer want's to do, you can get similar results for a whole lot less.

I am currently running the SE Heavy Breather, Supertrap 2-1 with 20 discs and closed end cap and the Headquarters 500 cams. This combination dynoed at 98hp, 108 torque, was very easy to tune, still gives mid 40s for mileage and has a boatload of power just off idle and really starts to pull real hard at about 2600 rpm. You can do this set-up for about 1200 in parts plus what ever the tuning system would run that you settled on. Another has done the exact same build with nearly identical results.

 

I have a FLTRU with the 103" and I have done a few upgrades and it is still a dawg.

Vance & Hines Dresser duals
Vance and Hines Monster Rounds
Vance and Hines Fuel Pak
SE Ventilator intake.

We had a ride this past weekend which included a wide open run around the Indy 500 track and my buddy was smoking me on a 1989 road kind with an 80" motor that is bone stock. I know the bike weight a little different but damn....... thinking about dropping the fuel pak and going with the Power Commander V with self tune..........

 

It took swapping cams to make me happy with my 103". I added a/c, headpipe, slip-ons, & PC-V and the bike was still lame. Now that I have a set of reputable cams, the bike has way more power and can pull in all gears, which would remedy your 6th gear issue. I would consider some other cam options aside from the one you mentioned, might even be able to score a used set off the forums to save some cash.