I'm thinking about going to the gear drive cams on my '03 Wide Glide. One of the drawbacks from what I've been able to read is the gear noise/whine. So can anyone tell me just how much noise they create? I would imagine that the benefits outweigh the noise drawback, but I don't know. I would rather the noise than an entire rebuild. I've been looking at the Andrews kit with the mild 21G cams. I'm not necessarily going for more HP, just better reliability. I posted on the tech forum asking which was better between the S&S and Andrews kits and got some good feedback. All that being said, would you recommend the gear drive cams or is the tensioner shoe wear overexaggerated?

 

Had a big bore kit put in my `03 Ultra at 25K and did the Andrews cams and gear drives at the same time. There is some noise, but not enough to make me wish I hadn't replaced the stock tensioner shoes. At 25k they were well worn. Doing what I did to it made tons of difference in low and mid range torque which is what I was wanting to accomplish and I would do it again without hesitation.

 

Ahhhh it not noise....its a little bit of whine...... Its a cool whine I might ad......

 

give me another week or so and I will be able to tell you. About to instal some myself.

 

Not a lot of info on here on the original chains and tensioners except negative. I personally do not like the noise. Some are louder than others but that has to do with the installer checking run out and checking gear lash and selecting the correct size gears.
My personal experience with running chains in two bikes and servicing others is that their is a failure concern. 90% or more of failures were from bikes with over 30K miles. 98% chance on bikes with over 40K. I change and recommend changing original set at 30K with a set of adjustable push rods. The chains are well polished by the old shoes and the 2nd set lasts much longer. At 75K I would do a complete cam chest overhaul with a pump, plate and a new set of chains. The new chains should be polished on a wheel ending with at least 600-800 compound. The update kit to retro to the 06-07 parts is now available so it has become the best bang for the buck at the 75K mark.
Now since you are changing cams, you will need to replace the lifters and bearings. And if you don't want to pull the rocker boxes off, a set of adjustable push rods. If you plan on keeping your bike for the long haul, I would think it would be time to convert to the up date set up or gear drive while you have it down. Just remember if going gear drive, make sure your crank is checked and the gear lash is set correctly to minimize the noise.

 

Barely noticeable at idle, rev it a little and you can hear a slight whine. While riding I don't hear mine at all.

I did this two years ago and the peace of mind is well worth it. BTW I found pieces of the tensioners in my oil filter at about 17K.

As an aside, I went with Dave Mackie cams .590 lift with the S&S gear drive. The torque increase is amazing. Just do it and hold on.

 

Thanks all. As I mentioned, I'm thinking about going with the 21G or 26G cams when I do this. The kit that I'm looking at comes with everything needed for the install (bearings, gaskits, etc.). I do a lot of two-up riding in hilly country and could benefit from a little extra torque from the 26G cams. My bike has the stage 1 kit on it already. Would I need to change anything else if I did go with the 26G cam? Everything that I've read says it doesn't require any head work and works well with the stock compression ratio, but that's not to say that it wouldn't require yet another rejet or exhaust, which I would like to avoid.

 

I love the sound. It reminds me of the noise the turbo chargers in the ambulances I used to work on made. It's not a sound that is just overbearing, and will drive you nuts, it's a slight whine you barely notice unless you're listening for it. You'll be happy with the 26 grind, but you will definitely need to rejet your carb.

 

If you don't have it already, get a PCIII. When you get through with the cams have it dyno tuned....

 

it doesn't whine as much as some of the people on this forum.