Hello all. I am a newbie here, and a new(to me) FLSTCI owner. I have not been able to find some answers to questions I have and lots of the Google searches have led me here to HD Forums. My new to me ride is a 01 with the TC88 and 5 speed. I have arrangements made to have the timing chains/tensioners inspected as the scoot has 28k on it. I will probably go ahead and put the SE kit in it and both chains in new for piece of mind. Outside of that I want to work on getting that sucker to run a little cooler. The wrench I have arrangements with suggest a oil cooler and possibly a different style oil pan. What did you guys do to cool your TC88's down? I have thought about a tank lift, but really like the way this bike looks from the factory. Also had love jugs suggested by a friend I ride with sometimes.

My bike has spokes which are a toss up for me. I know they are factory and look sweet on the Heritage to me, but I hate tubes. I have made effort to find new aftermarket tubeless spokes or take off smooth HD spokes. So far I have purchased a new tubeless rear rim, but the front doesn't seem to be out there. I know about the custom made rims but really dont want to go that route as most of those seem to be 3.5 wide. I was wondering if I could run a "rear" rim on the front? Are the hubs the same width, offset the same etc. Im not worried about the pulley bolt holes as I think they will be covered up. I plan to mount my new rear tire up on the rim and see if it will work. If it does I could just order another rim and another rear rotor and bolts I think. Anybody ever ran a rear rim on the front?I also thought about looking up the HD ones on Ronnies microfiche to see if I could buy one new from MoCo, but didnt know what year to search for. When I go to HD "for the bike" with my year and model selected it doesn't even show a spoke rim, just a 9 spoke wagon rim.

Any other suggestions for a new Heritage rider? Thanks in advance for any insight.

Cotton1

 

you don't have to replace rims. I sealed the rims on my Heritage 114 and converted them to tubeless. they haven't lost an ounce of air. do a search on youtube, the guy who developed the bike air compressor has the instructions.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I didn't know that, but will definitely investigate.

 

As for making your bike running a bit cooler, I had a similar conversation with my dad (Bluraven is his handle). He has a 2009 Heritage with all the bells and whistles and I have a 2010 Heritage. He has both the love jugs and the oil cooler. He said that if he was to do it over again, he would not buy the love jugs. Essentially, the love jugs are only useful when in heavy traffic to cool the bike down. When you are doing 75 on the interstate, they don't do anything. The biggest reason he did not recommend the love jugs was that when they are blowing, all that hot air has to go somewhere and it ends up in your crotch. I'm not sure what brand of oil cooler that he bought. Look him up and drop him a line if you'd like to find out.

 

Thanks for the info. Sounds like a good oil cooler is what I need. I'm also considering a filter relocation so I can run a larger filter and increase oil capacity.
Cotton1

 

Anytime! Not to knock the love jugs, they do everything that they are designed to do. If you plan on doing a lot of slow riding like parades, then the love jugs would be perfect for that application.

 

If your engine is stock now, take a hard look at the S&S 509 gear drive cams and get rid of the chains. When I took my 02 Fatboy apart at 20K miles the tensioner shoes had already started shedding little chunks and I needed an oil pump and cam plate already anyway. I checked the flywheel run out and just bought the S&S 509G kit with everything in it. The cams are not a huge improvement, but it runs noticeable better than stock and the chains are gone for good. Any engine work, even air cleaner and pipe changes will require a tuner and a richer mixture will help a little bit with temps too.

I would opt for an oil cooler as a first mod to lower temp. That is where you will see the most improvement for the least work. I have no experience with larger pans, so can't offer anything there.

 

I heard the gear drives were noisy. Is that true? I think they cost a little more too, but I will look into it. Oil cooler seems to be my next mod once I recover financally from the first wave of upkeep/ improvements. As hot as it is getting here I may need to get that done yesterday..

Cotton1

 

Captain Itch crotch cooler is a must! He’s a vendor on here...do a search.

 

not a cheap solution to the heat but the video shows an impressive improvement. https://www.harleyoilcoolers.com/

a good tune can reduce heat too