I bought a 2000 Wide Glide with 6K miles (13.5K miles on it now) in great shape, and I like to be proactive in my wrenching and maintenance. What are any weak areas or trouble spots that I should look for or go ahead and change?

I've already had to replace my ignition switch because it doesn't have any locking clips to hold it securely to the wire harness - causing the contacts to corrode (the new HD replacement switch does now have clips).

Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

All fluids and inspect the cam chain tensioners. Ride and enjoy!

 

I tend to keep my vehicles for a long time so I'm pretty fanatical when it comes maintenance. I use only the best fluids and parts and change them according to the maintenance schedule, if not sooner.

 

Well you have a bike ive wanted for some time. Only issue I know of is the cam tensioners.

 

I hear ya man. I'm the same way. I keep stuff until it's completely shot, and don't give up on things that are shot most the time lol.

I bought a 2002 WG and it has 18k on it now. Only thing I need to do is go into the cam chain tensioner at some point. Probably switch it to gear drive when I do and upgrade to a mild cam for some bottom end boost for 2 up riding. Other than that I don't expect to do much than routine maintenance to keep it going a long time. Yours and my bike still have the strong bottom end timken crank bearings and with a carb that can be rebuilt for 25 bucks I see them going a long time....with the right owner. I usually get a lot longer use out of things than other people and I suspect you do to

I also had a 2003 883 sportster I put almost 30,000 miles on and it was bulletproof. Never turned a wrench once on that thing. I'm kinda partial to the 1999-2002 models. If you read up you find many that have went well over 100k miles trouble free. Most at some point fixed the cam chain tensioner but bulletproof other than that.

 

I put about 35K miles on my 99 FLHT before I sold it with no issues, and the only reason I sold it was because I was moving across the country. I'm still driving my 24 year-old Jeep, so I will probably keep this bike for a long time as well.

I have changed out the carb for a Mikuni HSR and plan to eventually go with a 95-inch kit (I love horsepower.) I didn't know that they even make a gear driven cam, so I will look into that when the time comes.

What about cam bearings? Someone told me that my motor is susceptible to premature cam bearing failure.

What about the Primary chain tensioner? I remember I replaced the one in my FLHT with a hydraulic tensioner, but I can't remember if it was a reliability issue or I just wanted it to be smoother and quieter...

BTW, my old neighbor had a late 90s FLHT with over 150K miles on it with no engine work - just routine maintenance.

 

Stick with your primary adjuster. The auto adjusters have been know to make the primary too tight. Manual adjuster is fine IMO. Yes change the cam bearings as well. Forgot about those.

 

Good to know about the primary adjuster.

When do the cam bearings start to fail? Is there any "fix" for them, or do I just replace them with new ones?

 

There are updated ones. Cant remember the # but they have twice the rollers. This was an issue on the 3/4 cams. In 07 they went to a 1" bearing an all is good now. Someone will chime in with the # though.

 

Well, at least they fixed them. When do the old ones start to fail?