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This is my first big twin newer than a shovelhead so maybe this is normal, maybe it's not. I know these things have a sort of weak cam bearing, so I wanted to ask those in the know. I bough this 1995 FLSTN with 18,000 (indicated) miles a couple weeks ago, allegedly ready to ride. It needed new floorboards and a seat but no big deal, I picked those up locally. On the first ride it turned out to not be charging and the battery died leaving me stranded. I diagnosed it, bought a new regulator, and hit the road again. Then the Dyna 2000i ignition module crapped out and left me stranded again (had signs of water damage/corrosion upon inspection). Ugh. Okay, fine. I fixed that and then the ignition module had a terminal break off and leave me stranded. I blame that on myself, I obviously overtightened the terminal when installing the new ignition module. Still, my wife is about to skin me if I spend more to get this "ready to ride!" bike on the road. I've ridden it about a hundred miles since getting those things sorted out, but I'm still wondering about this whining noise it's had since day one. Seems to be pretty low mileage, if the mileage is true, for a bearing issue. The parts aren't exactly ruinously expensive, even buying the tool and some new lifters, but it may have to wait a few weeks for the sake of my marriage lol. What do you think of this noise? Is it just normal cam gear whine? Bad bearing? Something else?
My track record for diagnosing from a video sound is embarrassing but I'm confident in telling you that is cam gear whine. And, I'll wager when you open it up you'll find an Andrews cam of some description.
Finding good OEM pinion gears is getting harder and aftermarket ones aren't always concentric. If the previous owner has the original cam you can swap the gears or buy several junk cams off ebay and measure till you find one that works. I threw away half a 5 gal. bucket of gears last year, all Andrews, all whined against "red" size pinions. A blue size pinion might run against one without the whine, never got around to trying it, just quicker/less expensive to swap cam gears and move on.
That engine will use the same cam bearing as a Shovel. The factory simply went with a cheaper bearing starting circa '92. If the cam has been changed, likely it already has the "good" bearing installed and if you take the cam out, easy enough to tell.
That is way too much.. I've had some cams whine but nothing like that.. Gonna need to take apart.. Check lifter rollers, cam surface, Cam bearing and bushing in the nose cone and check gear lash.. That one sounds very tight.. Do you have a FSM? Better get one of those as well. Judging by the S&S carb and Dyna 2ki ignition I would sat there was a cam upgrade but it's gonna have to come apart.. Judging by the updated pushrod tubes I would think it has adjustable pushrods as well...
The original side oil cone shovels came with a cam whine new - in restoring those today we add it to the engine
they made 8 different cam gear sizes and 7 different pinion gear sizes - evo engine were in a better place as machining goes but they still supplied both gears in different sizing
they make tooling we have when its all apart to get the lash dead on and the tool to replace the gear as a press on and off but as a home owner the cost of the stuff is out of the question - most guess and see what happens - it its noticeable you can drop a color ( the color is the matched to the gear size ) Normal people dont do it that way but the machine is not for normal people so it works
That is way too much.. I've had some cams whine but nothing like that.. Gonna need to take apart.. Check lifter rollers, cam surface, Cam bearing and bushing in the nose cone and check gear lash.. That one sounds very tight.. Do you have a FSM? Better get one of those as well. Judging by the S&S carb and Dyna 2ki ignition I would sat there was a cam upgrade but it's gonna have to come apart.. Judging by the updated pushrod tubes I would think it has adjustable pushrods as well...
Yes when sizing up this job yesterday I went ahead and yanked a pushrod cover and it does indeed have adjustable pushrods installed.
Yes when sizing up this job yesterday I went ahead and yanked a pushrod cover and it does indeed have adjustable pushrods installed.
The job just got a little easier...you might get lucky and see some residual color on the pinion gear when you take things apart. Could always be the inner cam bearing but you never know. I would replace inner cam bearing while in there. Check cam spacing/shims, etc.
I opened it up this morning and found an Andrews EV51, fresh lifters, a torrington bearing, and an S&S breather. I"m no expert on these, but that seems like a lot of cam for what I was told is a motor that hasn't had top end work done.
Last edited by SledKicker; Jan 20, 2023 at 11:14 AM.
Well that's pretty cool.. So you're probably got a 10 to 1 motor.. I would have done a compression test before I took all that out but no big deal, do one after you get it together.. You're going to need to get the measuring pins their .108", two of them measure the cam gear and measure the pinion gear and you will need the manual to decipher which way to go.. Pressing on a new cam gear or press putting on another opinion shaft gear.. which ever is cheapest..
I opened it up this morning and found an Andrews EV51, fresh lifters, a torrington bearing, and an S&S breather. I"m no expert on these, but that seems like a lot of cam for what I was told is a motor that hasn't had top end work done.
Assuming the cam has the gear it came with from Andrews, the "blue" size pinion gear is what you need # 24044-93 and I saw a few on ebay just now. That'd be your quickest way to get it back together. Pinion gears are easier to find than cam gears (of a known size) and if you buy pins, avoid Andrews. I bought a pair a few years ago, new and sealed - they measured .1083 just saying......
In case you don't already know, that pinion nut is RH threads on that year if you go that route.
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Cam whine noise normal (video)
