s&s cam upgrade kit

[chas]

Hi All- I decided to upgrade my cams in my 03 Ultra. The kit I purchased from S&S came with the 509c cams. The issue i'm having is with the rear cam and how it fits in the roller bearing. The cam came with a washer and a bushing. The bushing slides half way over the spline but stops short of going any further. Common sense says it should slide further so the cam will fit lower towards the cam plate and fit into the roller bearing. Any thoughts on this? Anyone used this kit on their twin cams? I ried contacting S&S but they have not responded!.Many thanks in advance.

[rigidthumper]

The bushing is a light press fit, you can use an arbor press, or small hydraulic press, to seat the bushing. Once seated, it becomes the inner race for the rear cam bearing.

[wolf_59]

The bushing is a light press fit, you can use an arbor press, or small hydraulic press, to seat the bushing. Once seated, it becomes the inner race for the rear cam bearing.

If you don't have a press you can put the cams in the refrigerator to cool them down and warm the race up in the oven a little bit or use a heat gun and then slip it on

[smoserx1]

Service bulletin M1097 available on this site has instructions for pressing the bushing (race) on the cam using the drive sprocket and a box wrench.  See Fig 2 in the bulletin.  The race must go all the way on so the washer will not spin.  Anyway I used this method with no problem years ago installing a set of 203 cams in my FLHT.   Later I replaced those cams with Andrews 21N cams and gave the 203s to a friend.  For some reason I had removed the race from the old cams.  He tried pressing another race on from a cam gasket kit, and he could not get it on using the procedure in M1097.  Neither could I and this was my old cam.  The new race was tighter.  I had to use my shop press to get it on for him, so there are tolerances in this stuff that affects the degree of effort required.  Do make sure it  goes all the way on regardless.

[chas]

Ok thanks for the info regarding the race. I thought it would have to be pressed on, but S&S said nothing about pressing the race and the location of the washer! So the washer is a spacer? I am also rebuilding my front end, and having a problem getting the nut lose from the fork tube which houses the spring. I tried getting it off by tightening the pinch bolt in the bracket, but for some reason it would not hold tight enough! I thought of putting heat to the nut and somehow hold the tube so it could come lose. Any thoughts on this?

[Scotty]

I am also rebuilding my front end, and having a problem getting the nut lose from the fork tube which houses the spring. I tried getting it off by tightening the pinch bolt in the bracket, but for some reason it would not hold tight enough! I thought of putting heat to the nut and somehow hold the tube so it could come lose. Any thoughts on this?

Put it back in the pinch bolts and put the spanner/wrench on and give it a hard nudge sometimes they are just a little tight.
Had one that I had to use a rattle gun on once but normally they just need a hard nudge.

[smoserx1]

I am also rebuilding my front end, and having a problem getting the nut lose from the fork tube which houses the spring.

I got mine off by removing the fork and putting the tube in a vise with soft jaws (I used a wide leather belt) but special vise jaw inserts are better.  Using a large adjustable wrench clamped tightly on the flats of the fork plug adjust the vise so the adjustable wrench is horizontal to 45 degrees.  Whack the end of the wrench very hard with something like a rubber mallet to break the plug loose.

[chas]

Ok thanks Smo, I will try the leather in the vise, and see what happens

[smoserx1]

Here is a tip for getting them back together.
[attach=0,msg1381047]
The idea is to compress the spring just enough to get the threads of the fork plug and fork tube to meet then you can rotate the fork tube counterclockwise (as viewed from above) till the threads catch.  Then take the assembly back to the soft jawed vise for final tightening.  If you don't have a press you can usually accomplish this by pushing down on the fork plug with whatever and have a helper rotate the tube till the threads engage (wear safety  glasses if doing this way).  If you put in stiffer springs or use preload spacers it will be harder obviously.

[chas]

I do have a press, but dont think it is tall enough to work

[tbird]

Always wondered why the bushing doesn't come installed from the factory. Pulled apart a bike yrs ago where the bushing was not installed. Bike had been run that way for 40,000 miles and didn't seem to have caused any damage.

[smoserx1]

Just looked at some of the images from Ronnie's site and it does not show bushings on early 80s FL forks.