cam replacement
Road Captain
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 654
Likes: 734
What you do is remove the exhaust and footpeg and anything else that's in the way of the cam box cover.
Then you position one cylinder at compression TDC (not overlap TDC) and remove it's rocker box. Once it's removed, reposition the motor so the other cylinder is at compression TDC and remove it's rocker box.
Now you can safely pull the cam box cover, do the swap, and put the cam box cover back on (warning: the torque sequence shown in the service manual is important to keep the cams from binding).
Position the motor at compression TDC for one cylinder, install that rocker box, position the other cylinder, install that rocker box, and reinstall the exhaust and footpeg and anything else.
Be sure to follow the torquing instructions for the rocker boxes.
Consider upgrading your oil pump drive gear while you're in the cam box. It heads off a really nasty failure.
Good luck.
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Novice
Joined: Mar 2018
Posts: 23
Likes: 0
From: ohio
Unfortunately I had all the cam gears out before I adjusted valves to top dead center and my lifters r n the way from the gears seating all the way in and that with everything aligned for timing
Tourer
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 349
Likes: 57
From: Rancho Santa Margarita, CA
Is that good advice for any recent sportster or his year in particular?
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Novice
Joined: Mar 2018
Posts: 23
Likes: 0
From: ohio
My lifters are not up far enough to allow the cams yo seat all the way in how do I raise them?
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Road Captain
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 654
Likes: 734
At stock power levels, the stock steel gear rarely fails. It's when you go hopping up the motor that you put that gear at risk.
Many Buells came from the factory with 85-90hp at the rear wheel. That gear was a common failure even on bone stock Buells. Lots and lots of Buell owners suffered the failure. And it's nasty! Metal shrapnel all through the motor.
HD finally came out with the fix in 2006, in the form of a bronze gear. But they never put it in XL's. It just wasn't a problem at 65hp.
In my opinion, it's something a guy should upgrade any time he's in the cam box for a cam swap. At that point, you're right there. It's awfully cheap insurance against a catastrophic failure.
You need a pinion locking tool to change it though. If you try to change it without one, you run the risk of scissoring your crank, which is a full tear down to fix.
Did you remove the rocker boxes? You're supposed to do that first.
Many Buells came from the factory with 85-90hp at the rear wheel. That gear was a common failure even on bone stock Buells. Lots and lots of Buell owners suffered the failure. And it's nasty! Metal shrapnel all through the motor.
HD finally came out with the fix in 2006, in the form of a bronze gear. But they never put it in XL's. It just wasn't a problem at 65hp.
In my opinion, it's something a guy should upgrade any time he's in the cam box for a cam swap. At that point, you're right there. It's awfully cheap insurance against a catastrophic failure.
You need a pinion locking tool to change it though. If you try to change it without one, you run the risk of scissoring your crank, which is a full tear down to fix.
Did you remove the rocker boxes? You're supposed to do that first.
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Novice
Joined: Mar 2018
Posts: 23
Likes: 0
From: ohio
No I have not.... so soon as I do that the lifters will easily go up and down? I'm not in there to change any of the cams or because of a prob with cams I took off cam cover to get to the oil lines and all the cams fell out at me .
Road Captain
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 654
Likes: 734
You're supposed to remove the rocker boxes before you remove the cam box cover. Doing it the way you did it is actually very risky to both your cam bushings and your right case half. I saw a guy literally crack his right case half once by removing his cam box cover before removing his rocker boxes.
But it's too late to take it apart correctly. Now you need to go into recovery mode. Remove both rocker boxes as it sits. Don't even bother with that stuff I told you about positioning the motor correctly before removing the rocker boxes. Just take them off.
Then reassemble it in the correct order. Put the cams back in with the alignment marks correct. Put the cam box cover back on and torque the screws in the correct order as shown in the factory service manual (very important to prevent cam binding). Pick a cylinder, position it at compression TDC (NOT overlap TDC), install it's rocker box, reposition the motor to compression TDC on the other cylinder, and install it's rocker box. Be sure to torque the rocker boxes per the factory service manual as well.
Your factory service manual is an indispensable tool for doing this whole job. HD factory service manuals are some of the best service manuals I've ever seen for any vehicle. It's an absolutely essential tool.
