Hydraulic Cam Chain Tensioners @ 94K

[hd06myway]

they dont look bad at all.....

[hd06myway]

Proof the old tensioners do hold up and the failures were a small % of riders ...

[petebob]

Old Bob has turned 150,000km old this month, so it's time to give him a birthday. The last one he had was in 2014 when he turned 75,000. That entailed an upgrade to an SE 103 stage 3 kit, with SE cam plate & oil pump thrown in for good measure. Research and experience has told me that the cam chain tensioner pads in these post '06 twin cams are good for about 80,000km, give or take - that's the reason for the birthday. Anyway, dropped it of with Bryan at Farrows Customs for him to deal with. Went in to see him after he'd stripped it down. To be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect. We've all heard the stories of scissored cranks, self destructing cam chests etc. Long story short.. crank run-out well within limits at 7 thou. Tensioner pads pretty much rooted (as expected), lifters good, cams starting to lose hardening on one lobe of the front cam and the others starting to show signs. Also some slight making on the cam plate made by the gerotor of the oil pump. Rockers, pushrods - perfect. Compression 200psi front and rear. So, things to do......

Cam chain tensioners..going with S&S ones, good for 100,000km supposedly.
Lifters... Fueling - just as good as S&S but not as costly.
Inner cam bearings - unsure of replacement brand, but not stock HD.
Cam chains...Fueling - again, S&S quality without the cost.
Cams...the 103 stage 3 kit comes with SE 259e cams which I have been running and actually quite like. They lack a little bit down low, but get them in the band and they pull real hard to the limiter. On Bryans advice  (he's an HD trained tech, so has seen a lot of how the SE quality has gone down over recent years), we've decided to go with S&S 585 cams. It's the same cam they put with their 106 kits, it'll handle the 10.5:1 compression no worries. 5 thou less lift and closes a little earlier, but should be fine.
Had hoped to have everything back together on Friday, but Rollies messed it up and sent pre-06 cam chains. Only got the right ones today, so hopefully will have the old boy back tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing if i can tell any difference with these cams. I somehow doubt it.
Anyway, I just thought I'd share a little story about a high mileage bike. Bryan said that if I only did 5000km a year he would've told me just to replace the tensioners and bearings and it would last another 10 years.
Goes to show the bad press about Harley is all bullshit. I'll let yas know how it all turns out.

[Scotty]

Goes to show the bad press about Harley is all bullshit.

It's not all bullshit you would have to be naive to think that.
Yes some is blown up out of proportion to the number of bikes made and sold and some are correct and do present problems.
Seen plenty of high mileage Harleys with little to no issues and seen plenty of low mileage ones with problems.
Roll of the dice sometimes.

[PoorUB]

Goes to show the bad press about Harley is all bullshit. I'll let yas know how it all turns out.

I had to laugh!

You did a major rebuild, less the lower end at 75,000KM or 46,000 miles, and now at 150,000KM, or 93,000 miles you are replacing everything in the cam chest again? Doesn't seem like something to brag about. Great that the crank is still in one piece, but  would not brag about .007" run out either. Ten years ago guys would have had it rebuilt with less run out. .007 is a lot of run out, .002 or less is good, but Harley found it easier to loosen the tolerance than to improve manufacturing process. Luckily the larger run out has been working for them. The last Twin Cams I had a part had .004"-.005" run out and I was not happy with it, but ran them.

Today with the technology available an engine should run 150,000 miles with nothing more than oil changes and minor repairs. Plus we shouldn't have to put in big bore kits and cams to get acceptable performance.

[petebob]

Glad I gave u something to laugh about. I didn't realise I was bragging. I was trying to contribute a little extra to the original post.
(Some of) You guys obviously do a lot more miles per year than we do. I guess I was just trying to say  that I'm happy with my bike. I was interested in the comment about replacing "everything in the cam chest again". It was pulled down to replace tensioner pads that were due to be done. They mayve done another 10000km (6300 miles) but I made the call. So while the cam chest was apart, we decide to change out parts that were showing signs of wear. The worst of those being the cams. So. Not gunna run old lifters on a new set of cams. Replace lifters. Cam chains are cheap, might as well replace them. Inner bearings etc all come with the kit. Why skimp on this stuff and just have to pull It all down again in another year or two? As far as I can see, I've got many more years of riding left in old Bob before I have to spend any more dollars.
As for the statement shouldn't have to pay for cams etc to get performance...we dont do it because we have to, we do it because we want to. Thats like saying we shouldnt bolt a 671 blower on top of a 327 chev. No, it doesn't need it, but it sure is fun.