I'm about to change out the cams in an '09 Fatboy and have a couple questions. I've read that gear driven cams are noisier than chain types -is it really noticable? From what I know about it (which isn't much!) there are alot of advantages both in long term reliability and HP gains so am definitely going ahead with it -just curious what the noise impact will be. Also, is there is a break-in period involved when you change cams? Was originally planning to include a 103" kit in this upgrade but I have a pretty good indy mechanic who said the cam change will probably get me where I want to be. Any comments/advice would be appreciated.

 

Forget the gear drives on your bike and save your money. Most changed to gear drives, pre 07 softails, because of the crappy cam chain tensioner setup that was fixed in 07. Spend the money on cams, a good 2n1 pipe, a tune using a PC or TTS or SEST, hi flo a/c... No break in with cams. Do the above and it will be a different bike.

 

Stay with chain driven cams. Scroll down and check out the podcast on gear driven cams:

http://www.revperf.com/video/podcasts.html

 

Thanks for your comments, advice, and link to the video -not making the switch will make this project much more affordable!

 

Look into a Woods TW6-6 cam. Dyno #s are better than doing a 103 stage II kit. Check out fuel moto's dyno runs with this cam. More bang for the buck! And stick with chain drives. I got 70,000 with little wear. Plus if you go with gear drives and your crank is a little out of round it could be a major PITA.

 

I have 05 with gear driven cams and i don't think they make much more nosie then others... When you put in cams they make strange nosies like your lifters are boucing up and down but I here thats normal... lol What they are saying about the 07 and up bikes are right my indy friend says gear driven cams don't work that well with them.