Bottom end life?

[fbn ent]

Tried to ask this in another thread with no luck.  What life can one expect from an '02 bottom end that has been serviced regularly? Top end is getting a bit tired and want to go 95" now. Thanks.

[choseneasy]

 An easy 100,000 miles, odds are alot more.

[se]

 +++75000 miles or until you notice more vibration or something else

BUT
if you are going to re-fresh the top end might as well check the cam area first.
take the cam plate off and check for any gouging and deep scratches or rough edges on brass bushing and check cam plate also. if you have one put a dial indicator on the shaft and check the play or run out as its called..
if ok continue to tear down top end and refresh it leave the bottom end alone and ride it.

now if run out is excessive
tear bottom end apart send crank to hobans i think it costs around 500 bucks or so to have them streighten and weld pin and service the bushings. get timkin ....highly recomended..put together entire engine and your good.
or
send lower end out to have timkin and crank done.

[bouncingVman]

For what its worth... I've been rebuilding my 1999 FLHRCI from a 88 to a 95". The crankshaft seems in good shape after 70,000 miles. The run out at the pinion was just a needle's width over .002... the spec is 0.000 -.003... The cam plate had no irregular wear. There was virtually no wear when the old wrist pins were removed from the connecting rod...and no discernible looseness or roughness through the full rotation of each connecting rod... so I feel pretty confident putting it back together as is. My hope is to get another 70k out of it.

My fear was the same as yours.... you really don't know until you get a chance check. Hope this helps.

[bbqjmaki]

SE , The 02 all ready have timkin bearings, A guy here has a 01 Deuce last time I ran across him he had 152k on it and only done cam tensioners and painted it

An easy 100,000 miles, odds are alot more.

[moose]

bottom end life usually lasts till you get married then its all downhill

what give your wife a headache forever   





wedding cake

[ridgerider]

that is a question i have wondered the answer to also. i have a 1999 flht with about 135,000 trouble free miles...with the realative low cost of take off  ( 2006 ) heads and cylinder-pistons combo's available on ebay,, i could freshen my top end with better flowing heads, and fresh compression for a few hundred....IS IT WORTH IT?...the old days pre evo we did top end jobs only to find the new compression would pound the bottom end out. but than it was just a $40 crank pin and back together..i don't know wether to just keep going or do a fresh top end?

thanks for any input

[bouncingVman]

Ridgerider,

What you just mentioned sounds exactly what I'm doing right now. 06 style heads, KB flat tops... etc. So far so good.

I'm not going to get too crazy though... it's still going to be a 95" cruiser... I figure it should all work out since HD more or less designed the motor for 95" right from the start.... besides I'm having a lot of fun doing my own project... maybe it will help me keep my sanity during the winter. 

Some day I may do a high end build on a different bike... then I'll have the crank sent off to Hoban Bros. for sure.-Todd

[se]

is it worth it the answer is... if you think so.. to freshen up the top end for a couple hundred bucks absoluty
.
you figure if you were going all out it a hipo 95 would run ya 1500 bucks and up  i say closer to 2300 bucks with everything.
.

[Deye76]

An easy 100,000 miles, odds are alot more.

Absolutely

[Overcamber]

whatis hipo a short form for?   

[dakota224]

A Hippo motor is using Se-1550/95 inch flattop pistons, S&S 570G cams,  SE-Pro heads, Se-adjustable pushrods, bore cylinders to specs. and a good tune your running 100hp/tq.. very good build.. 

[Faast Ed]

I would check your runout before building. If it checks good, go for it. If it don't check good, you know not to invest in the top-end-only scenario.
It's that simple!

What's your bottom end "good for" is a question that don't have an accurate answer. Some hold out with bigger builds than Hippo's, and some fail with stock builds.
All you can do is check your runout to "see where you stand" before you make your investment.

[PoorUB]

Tried to ask this in another thread with no luck.  What life can one expect from an '02 bottom end that has been serviced regularly? Top end is getting a bit tired and want to go 95" now. Thanks.

There was an article in the Hog Tales magazine that had a TC88 with 250,000 miles on it. IIRC he had replaced cam chain tensioners, but that was all of the major service he had done.

[Overcamber]

whatis hipo a short form for?   

thanks 

[fbn ent]

Thanks for all the input. I'll set up the dial guage and go from there. Love the old Road Glide and am definitely not EVER going to buy another new bike from HD.
R.