I have a 2001 Ultra Classic with 34,000 miles on it. The original owner said he never had any issues with the tensioners and never changed them or the bearings. I plan on checking them this weekend but my question is should I just go ahead and do the upgrade and get it over with considering the mileage? My dealer said $429 for the new parts and around $500 for labor and new bearings. I've been working lots of overtime to pay for it so moneys not the issue.

Thanks

 

No brainer......Do It......plus you get more oil.....

 

If money isn't the issue and you're going to tear it apart to look at it , why not fix it and be done with it?

 

I had mine replaced with the gear drives at 13000 when an exhaust lifter collapsed. Indie checked tensioners and they were about 50% wore.

 

replace them ONLY with geardrive/cam change....yes, its time

 

do it. went to my local hd dealer today to price out the exactly same thing. winter speical 825.00 complete,free pickup & delivery within 20 mi of dealership. there is still 3 inches of snow on the ground.

 

Don't be swayed by the gear drive banter; gears are an old school hold over from the days before the hydraulic tensioner/roller chain setup became available. If you are drag racing, gears make sense.

Assume the dealer is installing the "hybrid" kit since you are retaining stock cams. A nice package with billet cam plate, hydraulic tensioners, outer chain is roller but inner chain is old Morse "silent" chain but still a good package.

Save yourself some $$ and install yourself. Pull it down and take the assembled cam plate to the dealer and have them R/R the cams and bearings and return you the assembled cam plate. Most of the labor you are paying for is R/R exhaust, etc.;

Take advantage of this opportunity and upgrage the inner cam bearings to the B148s and install new o-ring at oil pump/crankcase scavenge port.

 

Definitely go with the gear drive over the hydraulic/chain setup - this is an "old school" bike! That new setup is great for newer bikes with cast cranks that seem to have a lot more runout than the older bikes - but this is an '01 with a forged crank, a good candidate for a gear drive conversion. If I had an '03-and-newer bike I'd hesitate to install gear driven cams until I was certain the runout was within GD install specs before I'd go with gear drive - I'd probably get the hydraulic tensioner setup. Otherwise it's the best way to go with no need to allow for chain last, no lost hp due to chains and fewer parts to wear or replace or break.

 

That's whats great about these forums; the diversity of opinion. I have an '02 FLHT, 107", trued/balanced and welded crank with .00015" TIR. I run the '07 OEM cam plate, hydraulic tensioners, TMan N style cams, fully ported heads, blah, blah, blah. I have run gears on my other bikes but only because gears were the only alternative to the old spring loaded spring tensioner setup.

The banter that the parasitic power drain of the chain drives is greater than the parasitic power drain of gear drives has never been proven. Both require HP to drive them and I would bet a six pack that the parasitic power drain is near the same. Furthermore, if there is a difference, it won't win/lose a race or register on the "butt dyno".

Anyone that thinks just because an engine is an early model with a forged crank makes one immune from the wheels slipping just isn't thinking; it happens. When it does, with gear drives; bad juju!

The reasons I prefer the hydrualic cam drive to gears are:

1. much easier to work on: no cam gears to press on/off, no lash setting of inner gears, no cam bearings to press on/of (unless you have the hybird conversion)
2. new tensioner shoe material like the primary chain tensioner material that will last a long time.
3. the added benefit of the improved oil pump that provides better flow and, more importantly, better scavenging. IMHO, the oil pump alone is worth making the change over to the hydraulic setup.
4. If you decide to change cams, you can do it much faster and you don't need a hydraulic press to make the change.
5. the new hydraulic setup has been out for four years now and has help up. The only problems I am familier with are the results of DIY installers that did not install the cup/spring in the correct order. Even then there was no failure, just premature wear.

I will also tell you that I have an '05 with a cast crank and I installed gears when I converted to 95" but gears was the only alternative at the time. That crank had .0025" TIR and I spent hours getting the inner/outer gear lash set to spec and had to order an under size pinion gear to get it setup right. I did get it set up right and the gears are quieter than the stock chains were. However, my next upgrade on that bike will be a fresh top end, different heads and cams and I will convert the gear drives to the hydraulic setup for all the reasons cited above.

There are no absolutes, either drive system will work. The decision is an individual choice but I don't think guys should just blindly jump on the gear band wagon because joe six pack says gear drives are the "only way" to address the issue; there is an alternative. JMHO.

 

I want to do it myself. I did all my wrenching on my Goldwing which was something I took pride in. But I don't really want to buy tools that I will use once. Do I have to have the inner bearing puller to do the job myself? Or does taking the assembly to the dealer do away with needing any of the specialty tools? I just figured even if they weren't worn that bad to go ahead and get it over with.