Greetings,


Over the weekend, I started the job of replacing cams and rocker boxes.


Have the rocker boxes done, and will doing the actual cam change starting tonight. Holy lack of room to access rocker box bolts!!!!


Some questions.....


Lifters - In the HD shop manual, it says to make sure the oil holes are facing inward. Does that mean the intake and exhaust lifters have their oil holes facing each other (intake oil hole faces left and exhaust oil hole faces right), or both are facing inwards towards the bike (both facing left)?


Cams - I'm probably not understanding what I'm readying, but when removing the cams, do they have to be timed a certain way before removal? In other words, do they have to be timed to "base circle" or other prior to removing them from the cam chest?

I'm sure there will be more questions along the way....

EDITED TO ADD: How do you tighten the sprocket bolts with using the tool that goes between the 2 sprockets? The tool has teeth and slips between the 2 sprockets to prevent movement.




Greatly appreciated!!!!

 

Cams obviously will come out of your motor attached to your cam plate. Your 2 cams are connected together via a chain and on the chain sprockets there will be alignment marks which you will want to make sure are in alignment when the new cams are installed on the cam plate before reassembly.

 

There is no right or wrong way to orient the lifter oil hole, inward or outward or point one in and point one out; doesn't matter. The oil goes into, fills and pressurizes the oil galley regardless of oil hole orientation.

Cams will be timed when you remove them. When installing, follow the service manual instructions for alignment of the timing marks on the inner sprockets; get them aligned and timing is done.

 

Now, I understand!


Also appreciate the info the lifters / oil holes.

 

The front rocker box was not too bad on mine. The rear was really tricky as the bolts wouldn't even clear the frame. Of all the wrenching I've done on mine, the rear rocker was the toughest of all. Just pay attention to cam timing. It's not a hard job but you don't want to be a tooth off. I colored all my timing marks just so they would be easier to see.

Have fun with the new setup and pat yourself on the back when your done. It's unreal what a good working cam will do for your bike.

 

For the rocker covers, holy crap, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to get some of the bolts back in.

 

Dropping the front motor mount makes servicing the rear rocker box much easier.

 

Or, you can take a 2x4 or some other lever that won't damage the finish on the frame or the rocker cover and simply apply some pressure on the rear rocker cover and drop the bolts in. The back of the motor will drop down; no need to drop the front motor mount.......

 

Here, this will help: