As some of you may already know, I live abroad and imported a 05 FXD Dyna Super Glide in "lemony" condition March 2012. 52,000 miles on the speedo, bent triple tree, twisted forks and whatnot. (at least the battery worked, I'm still using it! )

Since then the bike's been fixed and it's my daily commute as well, I log around 700 miles a month.

Upon seeing the mileage, some members in this forum have advised me to check the cam chain tensioners, a fairly common issue on Twin Cam engines that I did not about until I got my bike. The one on the outside doesn't look bad but I was reminded that there were TWO (of course, with a name like "twin cam" I should've known.)



anyways, I was thinking of switching to gear driven cams (Andrew, to be precise) but how much more advantageous is this? Shouldn't I continue replacing cam chain tensioners instead? I've read on the subject, and it seems gear driven cams are a little more expensive but well worth the investment.

Thank you for your feedback!

 

The trouble with gear driven cams is its a lottery whether you get the correct size gears for your bike as too slack will clatter and too tight will whine. Both will cause premature wear. If you're overseas it can be a long mission getting the correct under or over-sized gear if there is no Andrews dealer nearby.

I would go with the hydraulic adjuster conversion, its more expensive but its easy enough to order a bunch of the shims that you'll need to align the gears so there is no down time during the job.

Its more expensive but its the way I would go.

Also, some TC's have 3 thou run out at the crank and this makes getting the gear drive lash correct a bit harder.

Having said that, the gear conversion I did for a customer a while back was within limits on the lash with the gears that came in the box and its been fine ever since....the 510 cams are a nice cam too.

The cheap way out is to keep replacing tensioners. Do them at 40,000 miles. I took an FL apart recently that had done 48,000 and the inner tensioner (which wears most) had started to crack apart on the way to the workshop.

 

You have 2 options that I am aware of.
Gear cams or the new tensioners like is on the 07 up bikes.
I chose to go to gear drive cams since I was changing cams anyway o my 05 super glide.
I am not sure as what it consists of other than the cams itself. someone will post something about it I am sure.

 

Gear conversion consists of cams, bearings and gears.....hydraulic conversion has a whole new cam block/oil pump, bearings and you have to buy the cams separatley.

 

I put the S&S 510 gear drive kit on my 04' 88TC. Glad I did, never have to worry about tensioners again and performs much better

 

First of all, thank you for your input on this matter.

Secondly, judging by your answers, it seems that replacing the cam tensioners is the cheapest way to go while I save some money for a better aftermarket solution like the hidraulic tensioner or the gear driven cam set.

 

If you replace th tensioners you might as well do the inner and outer bearings while you are in there as well. Peace of mind.

 

ok, so the list would be:

1. primary cam chain tensioner [like THIS ONE on eBay?]
2. secondary cam chain tensioner (again, eBay)
3. inner cam bearing (Torrington?)
4. outer cam bearing

...am I right?

 

Use the full complement inner bearings, they are an upgrade, the outers last almost forever and you have to re-shim the main cam gear if you replace the outer bearings.

If it was me I would just check to see that the inners are the upgrade and change them if need be.

Guys on this forum are good at helping you spend your money but sometimes its not necessary.

I am an Indie Harley wrench and I wouldn't be replacing those outer bearings this time around.

 

I was only referring to options. Not what was involved.
Giving ideas, nothing more.
The new tensioners are around $400 installed
One of my ridding buddies had it done on his 06 Electra glide he paid a little over $400
The gear cam does require bearings. For me that was the best way to go, needed a cam plate to and it is a complete build from the bottom up.

I agree many do a over kill which is what I am doing but I plan on putting many many thousands hard miles on it.