Ding....Ding........................Ding! We have a winner!

Better lower end and a carb, are the primary reasons that I wanted the pre-03.
I'll be sticking some gear drive cams in it one of these day, but the chain tensioners are so easy to inspect and change out....I'm in no hurry.

 

Installed the FXRT saddlebags this morning....They came out good!







I'll be doing the fairing and lowers this winter, it'll look like this one....

 

I like the boat tail fender, it was something that made the bike very unique,

what do you all mean by "better crank"? Why would the new cranks be worse than the old ones?

 

As "unique" as 30,000,000 other FXDWG's....Like I said, I've always thought that style of fender was atrocious.

The later cranks are not forged and they have a tendency towards "excessive" runout.
If someone is going to install gear drive cams, the later lowers usually need to be overhauled before you can do the cams.
The best overall cure for the "cam tensioner" problem is to install gear driven cams.
The later model tensioner system helped, but only increased the service life of the tensioners rather than actually curing the problem.

I strongly prefer a carb over EFI on a motorcycle, so with those parameters in mind 1999 thru 2002 are the best bikes for me.

For the guys who trade their bikes in every 45 minutes...It doesn't matter a bit.

 

Dumped the forward controls today and installed a nice set of mids that I bought from someone on the forum.





Rode it around for a while this afternoon....Much, much better!

I also got a new set of 14" T-bars that I'll install sometime soon.

 

Also, pre-2003 (or is it pre-2004) crank cases have a Timken bearing.

 

I'd be interested in your wheels, pipes, and lower front fork covers when you get around to modding those areas :-)

 

I've been talking to a guy here locally about the possibility of trading the chrome wide glide front end for a dual disk narrow glide...everything from the riser down.
The pipes will be coming off and going up for sale/trade some time this winter and the wheels will be traded and sole this winter too.

I'll contact you when the wheels and pipes are ready to go.

I'd trade the pipes for a decent 2 into 1 and I'd trade the wheels for a stock 19" front and 16" rear cast wheels.

I've also got lots of chrome covers and other do-dads that were on the bike when I bought it. (The previous owner was a chrome freak.)

 

I may be interested in swapping cast wheels from my '04 FXDL and maybe buying some chrome parts (swingarm, switch covers, etc.) Looking for a carb top cover at the moment. What part of TN are you in?

 

I'm about 30 miles north of Nashville, off of I-65

I will be getting rid of the chrome swingarm, the bars, risers, switches and covers, handlebar mounted tach and lots of other stuff are on the way out.