Hey kids,

I have a 2003 100th Anniversary Heritage Softail Classic EFI. The bike has Just a tad over 39,000 miles on it. I'm the second owner and it had 26,000 miles when I bought the bike not quite 2 years ago. The previous owner did a lot of mods to the bike, chromed the crap out of it, put in a high performance clutch and some other external things. Don't know what else internally they did.

The bike runs like a clock, smooth and good power for an 88 cui., 5-speedy.

I'm planning on taking some long, long rides (500+) miles, maybe even a Saddlesore 1000 and some multi-day rides in the spring. I'm not much of a wrencher, I can do somethings, maintenance and such, but not things that require special tools or gobs of know-how.

How do I know or how will I know if the top-end or bottom-end needs to be rebuilt? Is this something that will come on gradually or would that be something that would leave me stranded 1000 miles from home? AND if that problem does rear its ugly head, how long before I have no choice but to get it done? Again, imagining I'm 1,000 miles from home.

Thanks for your advice, knowledge and expertise in advance.

Ted

 

Doubtful you'll need either a top or bottom end rebuild at 39k. Top ends usually go gradually. You could do a compression and leak down test if you're real curious. However, you should at least check, if not replace the inner cam bearings and cam chain tensioners. Do a search, lots of info about these.

 

You can ask my mother in law, she's know's everything.

 

Get back to us in about 60,000 more miles....It might need it then.

 

Perfect! LOL.

 

Thanks for your input guys.... relieves a lot of stress.

 

I have an '03 RKC, 2nd owner of mine also. I feel the same about mine; runs great all day long.

Like someone else suggested, check on the cam chain tensioners. If you want a winter project, replace the inner bearings and chain tensioners. I replaced mine during last winter season, and just took my time over a couple of months.

Nice looking bike too!

Peace

 

Thanks man.... A lot of HD riders dig the Heritage bars and put them on their bikes. They just feel so much better than others. Who'da thunk that?

 

I hate the stock Heritage bars. Swapped mine out for a set of Deluxe bars and risers. They killed my arms on anything but short trips.

 

That's good bro... gotta be comfy! I know 3 guys who swapped out for Heritage bars... of course they all have simian arms like me.