It's been 15 years since the TC came out, and I'm wondering when they are going to move on to the next motor... Perhaps an answer to the new thunderstroke 111 Indian has come out with...

The TC design has had its fair share of issues along the way - cam chain tensioners, poor crank run out tolerances etc. Even now I'm told that the lifters (C lifters) are junk and need replacing if you care about the longevity of your new Harley's motor.

Instead of stuffing around with liquid head cooling, Isn't it time HD went back to the drawing board and gave us a 1600cc modified version of their revolution motor that has been successful in the Vrods...

I'm seriously wanting to buy a new bike but am having trouble spending the $$$ on the bike and having to spend $$$ putting in new components like lifters and cams to make the motor reliable and strong.

That's my rant over, what are your thoughts?

 

First, don't believe everything you read about the Twin Cam issues. They are blown way out of proportion. Has the quality gone down, hell yes. The first twin cams were built a hellofva lot better than the ones today. H-D wanted to build it cheaper so they removed the Timken crank bearing, then other items were changed all in the name of reduced cost. I get a big kick out of the alarmists ranting about the cam chain tensioners. It's a MAINTENANCE item, just like brakes and tires! For every cam tenisoner issue you read about, there are 1000's more than are fine. Even the new Twin Cam engines will go 100k miles in stock form.

Anyway, the Twin Cam (I think) will probably be the last H-D air cooled engine that you see come out of the factory. Future v-twin engines from H-D will have some type of water cooling to meet emissions.

 

When the R&D is done for the new 45' liquid cooled OHC engine.

 

A 45' motor?!! Dayummm!

 

Just buy a Honda or a BMW. Honda everything is super reliable and has cutting edge technology.

 

The twin cooled will become the new standard in the big twins. The motor they will replace first is the Evo on the sportsters. That will go full liquid. Just like the Indian Scout.

 

Either you don't ride a Harley and you should probably buy another brand, or you do ride a Harley, which means you're not too smart for buying one, if you believe all you just wrote.

My bike is 10 years old, Twin Cam 88, all original and never had a problem (other than the time I thought I needed to replace the starter, but it was just a bad cell in the 10-year-old battery). I'll keep buying Harleys.

 

Same here. My '02 carbed 88 has served me VERY well and been pretty much trouble free and, yeah, I friggin' ride it. I'll bet if the truth came out about most of the "issues" with the TC88, we'd find that it's mostly a result of poor routine maintenance schedules or DIY biker-build-off wannabe's getting in over their heads and throwing cobbled-up performance parts combos at it.

 

I read some reviews on comparing the Thunder stroke to the 103 in 2013. Based on the couple of reviews, the 111 only out performed the 103 marginally off the line, but the Harley out performed from 50 up.

I thought I saw pushrods on the thunder stroke.

Don't buy into the OHV as a better engine, they will go bad sooner, you don't see many 100,000+ metrics (Gold wing exception) but you do see a lot of 100,000 mile+ Harleys in all models.

There are flaws in the OHC engine, to work on the top end, whole motor comes out of the frame and the case is split

Timing chains stretch and burn up the valves ruining the motor (personal experience)

Much more expensive to do a rebuild if needed, usually the top end rebuild on them is more than a new crate motor and install through Harley (reason I switched over)

Engines has to have high oil pressure, or will burn up, a bit of grit will plug a small oil port and it is done. Harleys are more of bath in oil, lower pressure and larger oil ports.

Harley motors can be worked on, modified endlessly and are much tougher engines than that of OHC design.

Both have flaws and benefits, depends on what you are looking for in sound and performance. If you don't like work on your bike, never mod your bike, want it to sound like a foreign car engine, and willing to have the dealer perform all the repairs and only expect to keep the bike for 50,000 - 60,000 than I would go buy a rice burner.

I switched to Harleys for several reasons.
Design is older (however the OHC engine was produced before the TC engine was invented) but reliable and repairable.
Dealer network.
Available of parts
Availiable to customize
Lots of people know them and can work on them if I get in a pinch

If they were so bad, why then do most of the MC clubs that ride their bikes hard and many miles prefer the Harleys?

Why are the Harleys more common at 3 to 1 in ownership
Why are there so many more older Harleys around than Metrics
Why are the Victories and Indians showing signs of mechanical problems also.

Go to some of their forums and you will find a huge share of mechanical problems there also.

 

I will hang onto my carbureted 2002 wide glide forever. It is the last of its kind. Strong bottom end with the timken bearings and the classic harley sound it gets from the carb. I think in the not so distant future these early twin cams will be quite desirable.

I welcome change from HD though. The same ole thing every year isn't enough to get 20k out of my wallet for a new bike. Victory offers their cruisers with 96hp right off the floor with no mods. The indian scout with 1100cc making 100hp. I probably won't buy a new Harley until they introduce a new power plant to compete with the others. Nothing wrong with a twin cam, especially mine, but if I'm going to spend 20k on a new bike i want something that makes power off the showroom floor without tearing the engine all apart to get it.