Donny Petersen(big time HD wrench) writes about Jeggs or the HD oil cooler being his go to ones. Google his name and oil cooler and see what you find.

 

I don't think so. If the gears are wining they are set up too tight.

 

I'm going to check out these suggestions today. Wife and I had a chance for a day trip yesterday so we took the Heritage to check it out 2up. Made a loop from our home over to McCormick SC then north to Hiawasee Ga via 17 then east on 76 and back on 178. On the way up we went thru Helen and the traffic was bumper to bumper from one end to the other, probably 4 miles or so on each side of town. It was like 2 o'clock and in the 90's temp wise...I was getting cooked! BUT, the friends that rode with us were on a SG with the 103 and he was fussing about getting cooked too.

Overall I was happy with the bike after yesterday. We averaged 47mpg and we were mostly comfortable the whole time. I picked up a like new sundowner seat earlier last week and put that on and I had ordered some floorboard extensions from DK. They arrived late Saturday so I put them on before we left yesterday...wow, they made a big difference in comfort for me! I missed my highway pegs more than once yesterday though, but I have some on order.

Besides the heat, my main complaint is popping on decel. I thought this bike was bone stock and am not sure if they all pop on decel or not, but it is annoying to me..especially in the mountain curves.Are the 88's typical for decel popping? I rode a friends early 2000s Heritage before that did it bad, but it was a carby with V&H pipes and I just figured he didn't know how to tune his carb.

Anyways, I now know that the oil cooler or the oil temp is going to be my biggest concern outside of the timing chain.I didn't hear any crazy ticking or anything yesterday but I stayed below 3200 rpm mostly. I have ordered a dipstick with the oil temp in it from MoCo, but unfortunately it has not come in yet. I would have liked to monitored the oil temp yesterday, especially in that bumper to bumper traffic.As mentioned I'm going to check out the oil cooler suggestions here and it sounds like I might need to get a good tuner in hopes of getting rid of the popping.

Question on the gear drives for the cams: How often do you need to check/replace the gears? Just wondering how the SE chain kit compares to the gear drive as far as service. Dude told me 40-50k miles on the chain with the hydraulic tensioners, any thoughts on that? I'm taking it to the shop tomorrow and should know what the chains look like by the end of the week.

Thanks for all the info!

Cotton1

 

I have 30,000 miles on mine and have not been back in there. I have seen posts on here where guys say over 100K and no additional service work. I don't see any reason why the gears would ever wear out if they are set up properly. One more comment about the noise from the gears. People say Harley went to the chains to reduce engine noise. I think it is pretty obvious that chains are much cheaper than the gears. Cheaper to manufacture the chains and easier (cheaper) to assemble the engine. That's my opinion anyway.

I don't see where you said, but I assumed your bike is EFI. The reference to the tuner was for EFI bikes. Carbed will be a little different animal. Generally, decel popping is due to a lean condition and can be corrected without a whole lot of trouble. Is it fuel injected?

 

Yes, EFI. It's my first EFI bike. I hate needing a tuner when I already have lots of CV jets..

 

I have a Vance & Hines FuelPak tuner that will fit your bike. PM me if you are interested in checking it out. Actually, I have a lot of parts that will fit you bike.

You have a keeper there if you like it. 2001 has the Delphi fuel injection which is worlds better than the Magnetti Marelli injection systems. It has a Timken bearing in the left case for the motor shaft and forged rods and flywheels. Arguably the best TC bottom end for building higher horsepower. I have a couple of early softtails and while a lot of people rag on them, I like them. Suspension upgrades are something you should consider down the road, especially if you ride 2 up. I have the Progressive Heavy Duty 422 RAP rear shocks and Progressive mono-tubes in the front on both of mine, but there are other products out there that people like too. I think the suspension is a worthwhile upgrade.

 

I did think the forks could use a upgrade, thought the rear felt alright. Old lady said it didn't ride as nice to her as the Sporty with the RK shocks, but I think its just a different ride. She likes the extra room no doubt. I was wondering how the HD mono tubes were, didn't realize Progressive made those too. I wonder how they compare to a good Progressive or Race Tech spring and Intiminators.

The EFI is taking me a little to get used to as far as the throttle goes. The bike had sat up for almost a year and had a little hesitation, I think from old gas. I ran a healthy dose of Lucas injector cleaner thru it over several tanks of gas and it is a lots better. Overall the bike is very smooth and kinda quiet, but I sorta like it. My other bikes shake the **** out of you at the stop lights but not this Heritage, that is nice. As far as the quiet pipes go, that is different for me too. If this bike didn't have the tach on it I would be aggravated about shifting when riding behind my friends, but the tach saves me there.

I have a lot to learn about the tuners. If this bike had a carb I would first drill out the AF plug and see if that would help with the popping, then up a jet size on the low side and try that. With this EFI, I have to learn how to do that with a computer instead of screws and jets. The whole thing is just going to have a learning curve for me. I have to see how much the timing chains set me back before I can buy a tuner though...baby steps! I will try to PM and will want some info on the tuner if things go well with the timing chains Gas Smasher.

I did look into the gear drive by S&S. They would have to be a down the road thing for me due to the cost of them. I guess I will probably put the hydraulic tensioner SE on it for now if it needs anything. If he thinks they look good to go, I might be able to ride another year and save some cash which would make a difference for me on the gear drive. I dont expect to hear that they are good to go, but I do know several folks with over 60k on their 88's that they bought new, serviced regularly and dont beat their bikes up. I think this one I bought has been cared for in that way, but cant say until we open it up. Dude is going to look at the back tensioner with a bore scope, but if he has to pull the plate I will be putting in the adjustable push tubes.

So far, I like the looks of the oil filter relocation kit from DK- I believe it and their oil coolers are Jagg. The Jagg one is available in 10 row with fan assist, but the Ultra Cool has 17 row and is about the same cost. I will likely do the oil filter relo first and see how that goes. Im about to do a oil service now, so maybe on the next service after that and I should have the temp guauge on long enough by then to get some starting numbers for daily driving here. Its already mid 90's so I should get some good data.

Sorry long winded this morning..

Cotton1

 

Tuners go all over a range of super easy to pretty involved. The V&H FuelPak for the older models is pretty basic. No computer needed. There is a set of buttons and a series of modes. You go to the V&H web page and input information about you bike like what pipes, air cleaner, cams and so on and it gives you a number value for each channel. You use the buttons to scroll through the channels and set the numbers. Done. Pretty basic, but effective.

The other end of the spectrum is stuff like the Thunder Max ECM. I have a Thunder Max on my 2006 Fat Boy. You use a lap top to access the programs in it and you can literally adjust anything in there to any value you want. Load a base map that is close to what you have and either run it or customize it however you want. Idle speed, timing, AFR, custom maps for front and rear cylinders, you can run dual maps for boost like turbo set ups, pretty much anything you want to change you can change. I don't do anything crazy with mine. I have customized the AFR for throttle position and RPM values, but otherwise it is basically a canned map I downloaded from their library.

New price they range $300 to about $900. Just depends on what you want.

 

FLIR Images

Horn mounted fans

OILBUD under frame oil cooler

OILBUD oil filter billet aluminum adapter
On Cooling this is what I did... first bike was a 2011 Deluxe with a 96 Big Twin, I used an HD oil cooler, the Jason Ward version of the Love Jugs Mighty-Mite and Mid Frame heat deflectors heat shields with added extra Aluminized adhesive backed 2000 degree radiant heat barrier made by Cool It Thermo Tec on the underside. On my next bike 2015 CVO Deluxe 110 Big Twin I upgraded the oil cooler to an OILBUD hidden under the frame cooler which adds more oil to the system, Harley Davidson installed for me and warrantied it as well.

Now with all that it still gets toasty on the 110 but the 96 was comfortable. One thing I did that prevents air flow over the engine is I added the fork mounted wind deflectors to stop the wind from hitting me from underneath, so if you don't have those the engine will stay much cooler while moving, the OILBUD is advertised as being able to cool the oil without the bike moving becasue it is mounted under the engine and heat rises instead of a cooler being installed right in front of the header on the front cylinder like my 2011 96.

The upside on the 110 is with all that it never enters Engine Management Mode (Parade Mode) I have tested this while the bike idled in my garage for 1 hour. It never over heated. I have other threads explaining some of this stuff with pictures as well.

 

@CVO2015 - Thanks for the info and pictures. Sweet looking ride!

Just before my trip to work yesterday the big brown truck showed up with a lot of the goodies I had ordered. Included was the oil temp gauge/dip stick from MoCo, so I put that on. My ride to work is about 20 miles with a couple miles of stop and go then about 12 miles or so of highway, then a little stop and go at the end. Ambient temp was 101 degrees here, and when I pulled up in my spot at work the oil temp was only saying 230 degrees in the tank. I didn't think that was bad with the ambient being so hot. Maybe I dont have a lot to be worried about, but I still think cooling it down a bit wouldn't hurt. I will see what the temps are again today.

I need to start investigating the tuners. Not sure what I need there. I know how to swap jets and adjust AFR on a carb but will have to learn how to make the same result with a computer and I am not a tech person at all. @Gas Smasher - just for the record, I can not send PM until I have been here for 30 days. I did figure that much out.

Cotton1