Recently purchased this 2006 Road King Classic and it was pretty much what I wanted in a Road King. Beach bars, leather bags, great sounding exhaust and pretty cheap! I have been doing some changes to make it run more to my liking recently. It had a set of V&H true duals and a Stage 1 A/C and tune from H-D. Yeah, ran like poo-poo-ca-ca. Installed a Thunder Max ecu (true duals already had bungs!) and a quick check of the cam chain tensioners revealed we needed to go into the cam chest. That said, WHY would we put stock cams back in, right? So, a set of Andrews 21s went back in with a SE cam plate. Again, Thunder Max to the rescue!

It was running great but I had two main issues. I'd like to put some serious miles on the bike (i.e. 2,000 miles in the past month) and I was always trying to go into sixth gear. FELT like there should be another gear. So, I spoke with my indy and decided to upgrade to Andrews (worked great for me with the cams) 34-tooth front belt pulley. Since my shifter shaft was leaking, there wouldn't be a better time than right now. I researched this forum and the entire internet, trying to decide if the swap was for me. I just got home from about a 150-mile ride with the new pulley and can assuredly say that it suits me perfectly!

My original pulley had 32 teeth and the new one has 34. You may be asking yourself, "What difference does a couple of teeth make?' Well...



Here's my take on the upgrade:

The first thing I noticed was I could actually use first gear efficiently. Now, instead of only using first gear to get the bike going and then almost-instantly shift into second, I could actually USE first gear. With the 32-tooth pulley, I'd barely make it through the crosswalk and I'd be shifting, now I can make it through the intersection before needing to shift into second gear. Also, first was so low, that giving the bike just a little bit of throttle in first had almost no affect at all. Sure, if I wicked the throttle, it would have a devastating affect, but subtle twists of the throttle were useless.

Each gear felt better as I continued to shift. While the RPM at my shift points may have stayed the same, the distance between each shift expanded and the time it took to get into the next gear was a little longer. Of course, this is all predicated on the fact that I was not going all-out, WOT. That's not my riding style. If it is yours and most of the time you're bangin' on the rev limiter, I'd suggest sticking with the OEM 32, or even going with the 30T pulley. But, for me, it seems the change in gearing is good for me and my riding. Each gear stretches out a bit further. It seems to me that I can feel more of the torque the engine is producing. I've got those Andrews 21 cams in there and for a TC88, the bike pulls pretty good. My indy says, "really good." They're designed for my style of riding and have great torque down low. I see no issues with starting out in first now, and there were times previously, when I had started out in second accidentally. I doubt I'd be able to just "roll with it" like I had with the 32T pulley, but that's okay. And no, the 34T pulley does not make it feel the same as starting out in second with a 32T pulley! My TC88 handles it just fine, thank you.

The main determinant as to whether this swap is for you rests on how you ride. I checked the other day and I have NEVER pinged the rev limiter on the Thunder Max. I just don't ride that way. But I do appreciate having more dwell time in each gear and finding the appropriate cog to keep a steady pace in traffic requires less shifting due to speed variations. I'm also staying in 4th gear more instead of shifting into 5th gear when riding around town. Shifting into 5th gear now happens solidly at around 55-60 mph (need to calibrate speedo to know for sure) and 70 mph is not far down the road.

Thanks to the Thunder Max. I can easily change my speedometer calibration, but I've not done that yet, so I can't really say any speed at a certain RPM because I don't accurately know the speed I'm traveling. I'm going back out tonight to hopefully fix that issue. I've read numerous posts from folks saying they should have done this sooner. I sort of think that H-D should have done this from the factory!

 

Must agree , have “lowered” the overall ratio on all the 5 speed bikes I’ve owned.
(twice at the belt pulley . Once in the primary)
Combined with cam changes or other mild engine mods it changes the entire personality of the bike. Gives it “longer legs” for lack of better term
Not for everybody’s riding style ( esp if rider and passenger weigh 500 lbs) and not popular on this forum

As far as factory should have done it;
They did.
See HDI ( export) models destined for other countries

jmo

 

I have had a 34 on my 99 heritage and 98 classic since '04

 

Couldn't agree more with you ( OP). I did this to my Electraglide and never regretted it.

 

gong even further back for me I recall that it made 4 spd iron sportsters & shovels a much more pleasant place to spend the day 👍

obviously less work involved with with chain drive

 

I'm thinking of doing some riding up the coast with this bike so a little longer legs is a good thing for me. Some of the other benefits as I've mentioned are just icing on the cake.

It will take a little bit of getting used to, as muscle memory has be shifting into 5th gear when not necessary any more. Fourth gear is the new fifth for me.

I rode by one of those speed signs on the way home. It's a slow-speed indicator for a 35 mph zone. The T Max has a calculator and I put in the indicated speed and the actual speed (shown on the sign) and it did the math. I HATE math. Went out and found a 60 mph electronic sign and it was dead on so the T Max is definitely better at math than I am! At 60 mph, my tach was right around 2,500-2,600 RPM. Basically, I don't need to shift into 5th gear now until around 55-60 mph and 70 mph is much more enjoyable. Too many deer and dolts out tonight so there wasn't much riding at 70 mph!

 

I did something similar but on the back end. 65T rear pulley from a 90's vintage Softail bolts right up to my 94 EGC and is equal to going up 2.5 teeth on the front pulley.

With my 32T in the front I'm not spinning 3000 rpm til almost 75 mph.

 

Did the belt still fit or did you have to notch the swingarm?

 

Honestly I'm not sure. I've collected a number of used belts over the years and I seem to recall using a different one because the one it had on it was pretty beat up.

I can count the teeth today and get back to you. My current combo is 32T-65T.

 

OP that is a good write up and glad it worked out well for you.

The picture of the guy with missing teeth is a little scarey! LOL

Just FYI:

The correct terminology is "Sprocket" and not pulley. A pulley has a flat face running a flat conveyor or drive belt. A v-belt fits in a Sheave and not a pulley. But a v-belt can run against it's back side on a flat faced idler. I was a Gates distributor for many years and they developed the Poly Chain for HD and they do refer to it as a sprocket because it has teeth,