I havent been here on this forum for a long time, have not owned a harley.But now I am thinking aobut buying a used dyna.I no longer want big heavy 800 pound bikes , don't tour.Mostly ride solo.But there seems to be a whole lot of different dyna models.I am looking at a 98 dyna wide glide, and one lowrider.I was wondering, when did the motor switch from evo to tc88? And was the 99 when the dyna motor became counterbalanced? I owned a 1200 low, killed my back when the nonesxistent shocks bottomed out,owned a 2004 ultra.Nice ride, but got tired of the weight.

 

You mentioned that you haven't owned a Harley, but then mentioned two that you owned, and you've been on the forum for for over six years? Am I reading this wrong?

 

99 was the 1st year of the TC88.

 

No, I am writing it wrong.My mistake.I have been on the forum for a few years.I owned the 2 harleys I wrote about.But I have not owned any harley for about 3 years.Right now I do not have anything to ride.I like the dyna appearance, and am trying to find out about them.Even though I have not owned a harley recently, I love this forum, spent a lot of time in the political section.I have found some very smart people here.

 

Well balanced motors are only on soft tails so no need to wonder any longer there. I personally would avoid any TC motor on any Harley that was not originally fitted to the new 6 speed cruise trany. reason is cam followers are not so great. So for dyna's 06 and newer, touring and soft tails 07 and newer.

 

isnt that a few hundred to fix?

 

Yeah the cam chain tensioners on early TC88s were and issue, but you can pick anything apart. My 2002 Dyna has a stronger crank than newer Dynas and I can change out the tensioners to the newer style for not a lot of money.

The perfect Harley isn't out there; buy the one you like and live with the shortcomings and only chase/fix what you have to. You'll have a lot of fun that way.

 

Thanks for the good information.I was looking at a 98 dyna.I believe that is an evo motor.I had my 2004 ultra for a little while, was going to go to sturgis in 2009.I had the shop check out my tensioners, I was sure they were ok.one of them was completely destroyed and the other on its way.$900 later it was fixed.The new improved tensioners came out sometime after that.So, yes I do not think there is any one model of harley that is bulletproof.But as has been pointed out, some year models are great improvement over others.

 

You can't go wrong with the Evo. Especially the later ones. Harley had resolved their casting issues at that point.. Of course, just in time to release another engine.

Chase

 

What year is the Lowrider you're looking at? If you just want a short haul cruiser, the EVO FXDWG sounds OK, although I couldn't get excited about such an old, albeit proven, design. Were I shopping used I'd look for an 08; new EFI, 6 speed and 96 inch motor. The 06 is a year I'd not bother with because of the mix of old and new in the engine...
I'm sure time is on your side; be patient and know what you want...