My buddy is buying a 06 ultra classic that has around 50-60k miles and it's time to change the cam chain tensioners. A couple of mechanics are urging him to go with direct drive cam gears which is double the price.
My thought maybe the SE hydraulic tensioner kit would be the best way to go ... What is your opinion.

 

It really comes down to budget and expectations. If he may be interested in a cam upgrade anyway, it could make sense to do it all at once along with gear driven cams. Keep in mind though that gear driven cams require much tighter tolerances for the crank runout and, as you already know, will make a bigger dent in the wallet. If he's more budget conscious and just looking to solve the reliability concerns of the stock tensioners, then the SE kit would make sense. There are in-between solutions too where you would retain stock cams but go with a higher quality cam plate and oil pump like S&S or Fueling.

 

I think the SE kit comes with cam plate and oil pump as well.

 

It does but the S&S and Feuling are still considered upgrades to the SE due to the forged oil pump and manganese-bronze(?) bearing surfaces.

 

As a guy who installed gear drives at 83,000 ('00 Road Glide,) and ran it trouble free to 172,000, if this guy has 60,000 just now on an '06, the Cyco aftermarket pads with a fresh set of inner bearings makes the most economical sense IMO.

 

Is he having a mechanic do the work or himself? Changing cams too or just tensioners? At that mileage he’ll at least want to do the lifters as well.

 

I replaced the stock with hydraulic Fueling kit on my 06 Road King. Kept the stock cams. It still will require maintenance but it's far and away better than the stock spring tensioners which can cause major engine issues as the pads disintegrate. My understanding is that not every engine can be changed to direct as there is a specific measurement on a component in the cam chest that needs to be met in order to do it. Someone on the forum with more knowledge will know what I'm referring to and can give more detail.

 

This is my friends first Harley and it sadly is already at the top of his budget. He just wants it reliable. Performance isn't really a concern. He's having a mechanic " not harley " do the work. They are wanting to do gear cams and didn't mention having the bike tuned. The bike already has a stage 1 .

 

I'll 2nd the suggestion to go with the Cyco tensioner pads and all new bearimgs, especially since he's on a budget.

My personal opinion is that gears are overkill for most riders and it's hard to justify the extra cost when a set of new tensioner shoes will last him for years before he needs to open it up again. In that time he can decide what, if any performance upgrades he wants to do and save the cash to do them all at once.

 

Just based on what you have reported the mechanic said, I wouldn't let him near my bike....

You can't just pop gear drive cams into any Harley cam chest... Before even considering gear drive cams, you need to check the crank runout. S&S says anything more than .003" of runout and the gear drive cams are not recommended. They would wear quickly or can fail at runout numbers over .003".

FYI... The Harley twin cams had hot forged cranks and lefty timken bearings '99-'02. These were solid bottom ends. Then in '03-'04, they lost the timken bearings, went to roller bearings and cold forged cranks. Not horrible, but a definite step down in quality. Then in '05+. Harleys had cast cranks and roller bearings. They also started to have increased runout numbers. Instead of fixing the problem, Harley just changed the allowable runout numbers. By 2010ish, Harley allowed a crank runout of .012", which is laughable...

The fact that the mechanic didn't mention checking the runout before pushing him into gear drive cams is troubling... what else doesn't he know about Harleys.......???

There are basically 4 ways to address the tensioners.
1) Just change the spring tensioner pads to the Cyco Brand tensioner pads. The cheapest, easiest and has proven to be reliable and last many miles. This is my go to for people who don't want to change cams.
2) Get the Harley SE cam plate upgrade. It uses OEM cams and changes the front chains to roller chains and keeps the OEM link chains on the rear, but converts to two hydraulic tensioners. It's pretty a expensive for a fix that leaves the link chain between the cams on the back of the cam plate. If changing the cam plate, I'd go to#2 or #3 depending if I wanted to change cams...
3) Use a Harley '07+ cam plate/oil pump, hydraulic tensioners, and conversion cams. You can also use aftermarket '07+ cam plates in lieu of HD, but they are more $$$$$. This is my go to if someone wants to change cams.
4) If your crank runout numbers qualify, you can install gear drive cams. This is the best fix, the most expensive fix, but is not available to those with large crank runout numbers unless they want to spend the $$$ to address the bottom end too. I would do this if I wanted to have a high HP build, but the bottom end would be addressed...

If your friend is on a tight budget, and only Stage I, I would just change the spring tensioner pads to Cyco brand tensioner pads. No new cams, no new cam plate, no tuning needed. Just some time and some gaskets. People have been reporting much better wear with the Cyco tensioner pads than the Harley OEM pads. It should last an easy 30K+ miles before inspecting them again, if all else is in good shape, and the bike has had good maintenance.

Your friend has the good Harley "B" lifters. I'd be tempted to reuse them, if all else looks good at his mileage, but I would definitely change out the inner cam bearings from the OEM INA brand caged bearings to the better Toyo captive needle bearings while I was in the cam chest. the bearings are cheap.

FWIW...
I've owned 5 Twin Cam bikes, two of which had spring tensioners. One got new Cyco Pads because it's just a Stage I and I wasn't planning on adding cams... The second one got an '07+ Harley cam plate/oil pump and conversion cams, because I wanted to add cams anyways. Then later I upgraded it to a big Bore w/headwork. Then it got the '07+ S&S cam plate/oil pump, with hydraulic tensioners, and new conversion cams.

I have also done two good friend's early Twin Cam bikes that only have Stage I mods, with just replacing the spring tensioner pads with new Cyco pads.

All these bikes are ridden regularly, and have had no issues since the cam plate upgrades....

Good luck with guiding your friend's decisions and with his mods...