I'm at about 95-100hp, and I didn't touch the crank. But I'm not going to be surprised if/when I have a problem.

Since we're on the subject---what are the symptoms of a scissored crank? Extra vibration? Just extra runout on the crank snout? I'm thinking I should pull the cover off and check the runout. I'd much rather rebuild it during the winter if I have to.

 

For me, I believe it happened slowly over time, and by the time the problem was out of control, the pinion end of the crank had 0.06" runout, had ate the bearing out of the cam support plate and the oil pressure gage was fluctuating. After I tore it down and measured the pinion runout I pulled the primary cover to find the primary chain was going from very slack to very tight as that end had excessive runout too.

When th crank scissors the cam chain will get tight and slack, the oil pump will loose presure and the crank side will tighten and loosen the primary chain with every revolution. When it gets at its worst the wheels are scrubbing the inside of the cases and in my case sounded like a chain being drug by the bike.

 

Agreed.

 

Go to Facebook and look up TnT Choppers, I have seen so many bikes that he has built over the years that are 100 hp plus with no problems ever. The bikes have been around the country. My good buddies was about 115hp and never had trouble. Built bike in 2001, and never touched the thing, until he refreshed the ring and top end 5 years later. The only reason he did it then was he wrecked it and was waiting on paint to get done. He has since sold bike and the guy that bought it just redid top end again. Still on factory bottom end.

 

It's all in how hard you ride.

You can have 140hp+ and be fine if you ride it normal and not get throttle happy. One may last forever but I personally didn't feel like gambling and being the one that ends up with a disaster(anyway my stock crank on my 96" was like at .007 or 8", if I remember). Started marking up the brass fitting in the oil pump.....my guess is that I would have probably fu&$ed my motor up in a year, 2 tops!

 

Cool. Trued and welded it is, then. In retrospect, it's kind of a stupid question... One I knew the answer to, already. I guess I was just looking for a way out.

I'm actually looking forward to it, this is gonna be a frikkin blast to ride after!

Thanks for all the advice, I will err on the side of caution on this one...