Hey everybody.This is my 1st post outside of my intro.
While I'm not a stranger the bike world & HD's,it has been awhile since I've been involved & a lot has changed since I sold my 76 shovel back in 95.
I recently bought a 2014 Softail Slim with the 103 & 6 speed.I'm also not a stranger to forums,as I belong to a couple of Hotrod & auto forums,so,I know how a couple of ppl can have a problem & 50 keyboard jockeys can blow it up on the internet & make things appear far worse than reality.
I'm hearing of certain problems that need to be addressed on my motor,primary,& transmission.Tho the bike only had 736 miles on it when I got it in Dec.,I have approx. 1600 on it now.


!st problem I'm hearing about is the auto adjuster for the primary is bad about adjusting excessive tension on the chain causing crank & tranny bearing failure.Recommended fix is to replace with the Hayden M6,or,go back to a manual adjuster.


I'm also hearing about cam bearings failing early on due to crappy bearings used by HD,along with the adjusters themselves being problematic.Is this a real issue & what are guys doing to correct,or,prevent it from happening.


I took the bike into Bumpus Collierville for the 1000 mile service last week.I plan on doing all other service & work myself,but,thought it would be a good idea to have them do this 1st service.It's hard for me to imagine someone having this bike for over 2 yrs & only riding 736 miles.I had them use conventional oil & Formula+ in the tranny.Planning on going to Spectro.or,Belray for future servicing.Correct type for each hole.


So far,i'm loving the bike & for now plan on pipes,breather,tuning & riding it.When the time comes,i know I'll be upping the power more,but for now I wanna ride !!!LOL.
1st focus is getting rid of some of the black on the bike.I've replaced the black breather cover & plan on chrome fork covers,belt guards,headlight,& maybe wheels.I'm just not a big fan of the "blackout" theme popular now.It's cool.Just not for me.

 

Welcome to the forum. Lots of great advice and knowledge here and cuts the learning curve down considerably.
My opinion. There will be others.

1. If you ride your bike hard especially high rpm deceleration the primary chain tensioner upgrade could be worth looking at.
That being said there are plenty of 100k bikes out there still running them.

2. Cam bearings in your year bike are not a common area of failure. If you go into the cam chest, replace with full compliment bearings. Otherwise I wouldn't worry.

3. If you talk about oil here anywhere other than the oil topics forum you'll make people sick to their stomach. Been beaten to death.

4. Make your bike your own and enjoy doing what you want.

Cheers
Fuzz

 

1. 06 dyna and 07s have a tensioner that can get either lazy or tight. The A version is fine no mater how hard you run it.. Tranny will probably loose a main driver gear bearing first.

2. While the later cam bearings have failed they are not as common as you think Most later failures are after upgrades like cam and valve springs... The bearing seem to do fine in the CVO 110 motor where the heads have 180 lb springs. 103s typically use 120 lb springs.

3. I'd go synthetic in the motor and dino in the primary and gear oil in the tranny.

4. Ride the liven crap out of it..

 

Cam tensioners are not an issue with your year ('14).

Welcome!

 

Thanks for the replies & info.Good to hear.Especially about the cam bearings. I'm sure i'll get around to cams eventually, but, more concentrated on getting it looking, setup,& sounding like I want it for now.
Bad as I hate to, i'm prolly gonna need to get at least a small shield. The 1st time I got up over 70 mph & glanced in the mirror, I thought I had picked up a hitch hiker.My skin is quite looser than it was 25 yrs ago.LOL.
We've had a really mild winter here with last week being in the 70's & next week looking the same.
Not to go deep into the oil topic, I likely will go with a synthetic, but, chose the conventional on this 1st change as the local dealer wanted to use Syn3 in all 3 holes.Back in my riding days, all we had locally around here was Kendal GT.Ran 70 wt in the summer & 50 wt winter.Alot more complicated now.LOL.

 

One danger of any forum is when you read it on a regular basis, it will scare the "bejesus" out of you. It is an overdose of negative.
The 3-4 issues you noted can happen, yes. Will happen to your bike? Likely not.
Ride your bike like you should with light performance mods, do good maintenance and it will serve you well.
Performance upgrades and poor quality aftermarket parts, or poor installation can create issues. Yes there is a pattern on performance upgrades/rider style with failures.

 

Now you went and did it, you posted "oil". Damn!

 

Oopsy !!! I won't say the "O" word again !!!