Geardrive Cams

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Mar 18, 2007 | 10:57 PM

Chucky

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Cruiser

Joined: May 2006

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From: Boston

Geardrive Cams

Taking my 2004 FLSTFI to an independent for a service and new tires soon. They do a lot of geardrive cams, claiming increased torque and avoiding problems with chain tensioners.

The price is $1,600 for parts and installation. He will cut out the pushrods save on labor and replace with SE adjustable rods.

I would appreciate any advice on this. Is this a reasonable price? Any pros and cons of doing it. My Fat Boy has 15,000 miles on it. I am only putting 3,000 miles a year on it at this point. It already has a Power Commander II installed.

Thanks.[/align]

Mar 18, 2007 | 11:57 PM

xxxflhrci

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RE: Geardrive Cams

I think the price is a little steep. You can get a complete gear drive kit for about $560.00. SE pushrods are $129.00. That's 700 bucks worth of parts. Where's the other 900 bucks going? Surely not to labor. It is a relatively easy job. The first time I did one, it took me 8 hours. I can do one now in about 4. Surely a pro shop can knock one out in that amount of time.

Mar 19, 2007 | 12:00 AM

FXSTI Guy

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From: Denver Colorado

RE: Geardrive Cams

I've considered the gear drive cam swap on my '06 Standard but to date I've only got a little over 3,000 mileson 'erand will probably wait a few more thousand before taking the plunge...depending on the cam you use it will give you more bottom end and it does eliminate the dreaded chain tensioners...$1,600.00 sounds pricey to me...but I could be wrong. After the swap a run on the dyno will dial your PCII in to the cams. Overall, not a bad way to go IMO.

Mar 19, 2007 | 10:36 AM

Groundhog

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From: Indiana, the great corn sea.

RE: Geardrive Cams

Pulled my cam cover two weeks ago. You can't see the rear tensioner much but it seems to wear more than the front. The front one had maybe 1/16" wear. 2002 FLSTCI, 37,000 miles. I change the oil (regular old dino oil), every 2,500 to 3,000 miles. I ride like an old lady with the occasional "romp it and wind it out" run to blow the sh** out. I figure mine will be wore enough to change out at around 50,000 miles which is what the local dealer recommends. My friend changed to gear driven cams on hi '03 RK with 51,000 miles. His tensioners were about 50% gone. He runs synthetic. I figure that if they're good for 50,000, That'll be one change every 100,000 and by then I'll probably send it in for a rebuild anyway. Unless you're planning some high performance mods, I don't really see the point. Save the money and buy more chrome.

Mar 19, 2007 | 11:31 AM

Geoseismic

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From: Bothell, WA

RE: Geardrive Cams

Quote:

...2002 FLSTCI, 37,000 miles. I change the oil (regular old dino oil), every 2,500 to 3,000 miles

There has been some debate about synthetic oil and cam chain tensioners. I suspect synthetic oil softens the plastic tensioners and causes them to wear more rapidly than with dino oil. When synthetic automobile oils were first introduced, engines would develop leaks from the oil reacting with plastic/rubber gaskets. Most modern auto's have changed materialformulationsto make thier engines compatible with synthetic.

Quote:

Unless you're planning some high performance mods, I don't really see the point. Save the money and buy more chrome.

I'm with ya! If your opening the box to put in some HP cams, why not change to gear drive. I have the same attitude about 95 upgrade, I'll wear my current pistons out before I spend the money for new ones.

Mar 19, 2007 | 01:18 PM

JLOCKHART29

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RE: Geardrive Cams

If all you are planning to do is a cam change save your cash. If however you plan to do more (BB and heads) then diffinantly do it if your run out will allow. With no change except cam you will not realize enough gain to justify the cost of gear drive IMP. Better to just pull the cover every 20k after innitial check and go on with chains. Most people who only do a cam change soon want a BB kit. Then thats not enough so they do head work and end up spending a small fortune more than what they had to if they had done some deep research, decided what they want out of there bike and done it all at the same time. With out doing any thing but cam change you will not be able to use very much cam.(IE Lift,duration) Later if you do BB and heads you will probably need more cam and have to buy another one. There are builds that work with 510,203,204 ect just suggesting one day you may want more. My tensioners after 40k with SYN3.

[IMG]local://upfiles/1355/92F65FF5126B44018C352140F94D68D5.jpg[/IMG]

Mar 19, 2007 | 03:14 PM

xxxflhrci

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RE: Geardrive Cams

If you are swapping cams and have to change the tensioners, going to gears isn't gonna break the bank.....A gear drivecam swapcosts about 300 bucks more than a chain cam swap. However, a new set of tensioners is about 75 bucks. So that makes the gear drive swap only about 225 bucks more. To me that is not much money for "peace of mind."