cam bearing failure
Novice
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 15
Likes: 0
From: Pomona NJ
I have a 96 road king Evo that had 6700 miles and it started out wining took to the HD Mec. and he said that was not unusual so i took it out to the highway and the bearing went $1,700 in damage but not to the engine itself. new pump, rods,cam, you name it
Elite HDF Member
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 4,128
Likes: 27
From: florida swamp
I have a friend who's 04 had a bearing failure at 30,000 miles and my 06 at 28,000 miles had a scored cam and the tech said the bearing wouldn't of lasted much longer. That tech is a well respected mechanic around here and he say's to use the full compliment bearings so that's good enough for me. The 96" motors went to 1" bearings so they may be more robust but for the TC88s the problem is definitely not hysteria. Also remember the 2 cams turn at half the RPM as the crank so that's not an issue.
Elite HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 3,947
Likes: 5
From: Ontario, Canada
Decided to do cams at about 60,000 miles on my 2005 Ultra. Mechanic said it was a good thing I did, because the inner cam bearings were going bad and were about to start chewing into the case. This would have meant a new case, meaning probably a new engine. I was lucky and caught it just in time.
Mine chewed up the cases too. My mechanic, that is also a machinist, lathed out the damage and installed the new 1" style used on the newer engines.
From what I can tell in the SE catalog the SE cam bearings are not the caged type, so that would tell me that even the MOCO considers the full compliment bearing an upgrade. I don't know who manufactures the SE bearings for them, but they cost $15 a pair, not much for peace of mind.
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 3,036
Likes: 65
From: Earth
Lost an inner bearing on my 06, 95build. It took out the motor. Torrington is the only way to go!
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Road Warrior
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 1,672
Likes: 18
From: Orange, VA,
My 99 EG standard is stock except for SE air and slip ons, at 38k the tensioners were replaced, nothing else, has 43k on it now with no problems. If you are going to upgrade the cams then yes, change the bearings, you are putting greater force on things with more horsepower.
