Hello all,
New to the forum, though I've lurked and gleaned lots of great info from it in the past.
A little history. I'm currently on my 4th Harley, the past 3 of which I still own the the first one is "still in the family". The more recent acquisition to our stable was a 2005 FXDLI. The bike had 20,000 miles on it when we bought it in March. We've put about another 1500 on it since.
I've always been aware of the Twin Cam's cam chain tensioner problems, but of course it was never a big concern until now. I spoke with my mechanic the other day, and he almost put the fear of God into me about getting those tensioners and chain out of there and converting to a gear drive. Now while I'm sure it's a major upgrade and worth the money, he is the first person who has so forcefully suggested I get them out. I trust him, and dont think he'd just try and milk the cash out of me for a job. I know times are tough, especially for an Indie shop, but he did alarm me a bit.
One comment he made that struck me was that "it seems that once you start getting top-end noise, like a clattery lifter, then it's game-over". While I wouldnt say my top-end is noisey, I do hear mechanicall whirring and ticking going on in there...nothing like my Shovel, Evo Sporty and certainly nothing like my old Ironhead.
I guess I'm just looking for some advice and experience on the issue. Thanks for any help.

 

you can either have them checked regularly and then replace parts with new when worn or change them out for a gear drive cam. i had a gear cam in my last harley and it was a relief not to have to worry about the tensioners anymore . I am running the stock chain tensioners now. Ill probably get them checked every 5000 miles. Its a pain in the @@@ but better than a blown up engine.

 

Another viable option is an upgraded cam plate with the hydraulic tensioners. They are stock on the newer TC's and they seem to be working trouble free.

Gear drive is better, more expensive, and until you check your runout you don't know if you can even install gear drive on your engine.

Kevin

 

I have fitted gear drives but now recommend the hydraulic tensioner conversion because its cheaper and here in NZ, nobody keeps the different size gears in stock so getting the lash right is a long and frustrating process.

Don't **** about, do the conversion ASAP....its a horrible mess when they go and they don't always give any audible warning.

Your Indie's head is probably where mine is at and that is that the customer relies on the mechanic to tell him when to do preventative maintenance and none of us want to take responsibility for your cam chain tensioners because, if they go on you, we will feel guilty for not insisting you do the conversion sooner.

I am an Indie and if I bought me a TC I would not ride it until I had done the conversion.....and we all know mechanics never do anything to their own rides if they can possibly help it......so what are you waiting for??????

 

On your bike, you have no worries. You have the upgraded hydraulic system that they moved to in 2007

 

Dude you have the new upgraded camchain tensioners. Gear drive isn't for all motors run out has to be checked on the A motor before you can decide on going gear drive. Gear drive has some noise issues also.

 

I went to gear drive and cams myself. Great upgrade. When mine were installed I had maybe at best 2K left on the stock tensioners and about 22K on the bike. There are no noise issues with properly installed gear drive.

 

Thanks for the comments guys. My mechanic said the hydraulics are junk too...better than the original tensioners, but he said he'd still put gears in. He said it doesnt matter if you have 500 or 50,000...the tensioners are bad news because of the debris they put into your oiling system, the little shards of nylon or whaterever the tensioner shoes are made of....he said he's seen that stuff do damage in every corner of the engine, even if the engine did last until it was ready for a rebuild. He commented that the TC really is a 100K motor...said he's seen fresh crosshatching on the cylinder walls of an engine with 70K miles on it....but that he's also seen evidence of a spun cam bearing at 5000 miles, because of the crap those tensioners put into your system.

 

Bullshit! I pulled my 07 tensioners out at 90,000 miles and the outer one was 50% worn and the inner was 30% worn. He is blowing smoke up your ***. Very very few issues with the new hyd tensioners. I'll post pics when I get home or you can look at my profile page to see pics. I wouldnt do gear drives unless your crank runout is less than .003 If its not then you have to have your crank welded and trued. And even if your hyd tentioners went bad they dont have a metal shoe inside them. They are all plastic so no metal to ruin your engine. Sounds like you need a better informed mechanic. Sure he wants to put geardrives in. More $ for him if the crank is out of spec.

 

interesting stuff.. I have an 02' LR TC 88" with 11k on it and Im getting pretty worried. I need to at least visually inspect them I guess..