Cam Adjusters / Engine Mod
Thread Starter
|
Road Captain
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 654
Likes: 11
Cam Adjusters / Engine Mod
Good day guys.
I was speaking with a "non" motorcycle mechanic with regards to the cam tensioner system that is used on most if not all HD engines.
He tells me that there is an engine mod that can be done that eliminates the cam adjusters with a sprocket gear wheel.
Does anybody know of this mod., where to get information about it, the cost etc; etc.
As always "Thanks for the opinions, advice and guidance".
Ride In Peace
I was speaking with a "non" motorcycle mechanic with regards to the cam tensioner system that is used on most if not all HD engines.
He tells me that there is an engine mod that can be done that eliminates the cam adjusters with a sprocket gear wheel.
Does anybody know of this mod., where to get information about it, the cost etc; etc.
As always "Thanks for the opinions, advice and guidance".
Ride In Peace
Tourer
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 383
Likes: 1
From: Boston & thereabouts
tensioner shoes
Sounds like he's talking about the timing chains on the TC88 motors. The shoes on some of them fail early. H-D fixed the issue by replacing the spring loaded tensioners with a hydraulic set up in 2007.
If you have some miles on the bike, you need to go in and check the shoes (orange plastic pads).It's a hit or miss thing, if you've got bad ones, they go early. Some have failed at 9,000 miles. Others 50,000 miles plus. If they fail, the parts fall in to the oil sump, get sucked up and pushed around the engine, doing damage. There is an outer shoe and an inner shoe, one on each side of the cam plate. In the 1999-2006 TC88 bikes, you can retrofit the hydraulic tensioner kit, or go with a gear drive cam kit.
Most guys (like me) see this as an opportunity to put in a nice set of cams, and replace the inner cam bearings with B-148s while you're in there. If you do a search on cam tensioners, you'll find more info than you can read in a day. Here are a few before/after pics from when I changed over to gear drive.
Before:
and after:
JR
If you have some miles on the bike, you need to go in and check the shoes (orange plastic pads).It's a hit or miss thing, if you've got bad ones, they go early. Some have failed at 9,000 miles. Others 50,000 miles plus. If they fail, the parts fall in to the oil sump, get sucked up and pushed around the engine, doing damage. There is an outer shoe and an inner shoe, one on each side of the cam plate. In the 1999-2006 TC88 bikes, you can retrofit the hydraulic tensioner kit, or go with a gear drive cam kit.
Most guys (like me) see this as an opportunity to put in a nice set of cams, and replace the inner cam bearings with B-148s while you're in there. If you do a search on cam tensioners, you'll find more info than you can read in a day. Here are a few before/after pics from when I changed over to gear drive.
Before:
and after:
JR
Last edited by JR-Boston; Jun 17, 2010 at 08:17 AM.
Banned
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 249
Likes: 0
It should be noted that orignally the cam chain tensioners had a plastic shoe in a metal tensioner. First the shoes were changed to all plastic so that if they wore out, metal would not enter the oil system, but the springs were kept. Later on, beginning, I believe, with the 96 cu. in. motors on the 2007 big twins, hydraulic tension was introduced to lower the wear on the shoes (less tension at lower oil pressure). The gear drive for pre-2007 engines is a good fix, but the chains were introduced by H-D to lower noise. The gear drive will be a bit noiser than the chains, but you will not hear them on bikes with loud pipes, and they probably will not be noticeable on other bikes.
Last edited by tedcmiller (Cry Baby); Jun 17, 2010 at 11:49 PM.
Road Captain
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 619
Likes: 2
From: Midway, UT.
I just took mine in to have it checked, they where bad, the shues whee not gone but almost, I am having mine converted to the hydrolic, and having new bearings put in, I would have done the job myself but I am just now going into my busy season.
Terry
Terry
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
