replacing the cam shoes on my 99 fxdx ? are tigersgate cam shoes tensioners good choice

 

http://www.taikaiwei.com/

No thank you.

 

Damn Blue... Bike is still sharp as hell

 

So, I'm the OP.
Bit the bullet and got this done by a mechanic - I do a fair bit of maintenance, but this was too much for me; I watched a pile of clips and read the manual (and still didn't feel confident).
He showed me the removed parts and they were very close to failure. He also let me know that the rest of the innards was in good shape, so I should have a long and happy future.
He also swapped out some hoses etc that were cracked, once again showed me the bits removed to demonstrate he wasn't 'inventing' jobs.
Cash swapped for peace of mind - and very happy with the service and explanation from the mechanic.

Steve

 

Glad you got the chest in order... Did you go hydraulic or gears?

 

I did something similar few months back.
I’ll be hanging on to my 2016 FXDLS into retirement and I wanted to get things checked as it now has 65,000 klms. The bike has been totally reliable so far and I want to be confident for more klms in the future. Plus I wasn’t interested in pushing more power with a cam swap etc, I want to keep the engine as stock as possible for long term reliability. The engine has not been touched until now apart from normal servicing

Took it in to a local HD tech and he suggested a few things should be upgraded to prevent issues later.
Apparently the 110’s have a known issue with lifters so they were replaced with Fueling lifters and adjustable pushrods, the heads came off and he replaced the excessively stiff valve springs on the 110 heads with lighter springs as the stock heavy springs give the lifters a hard time.

He replaced the cam chain tensioners with OEM bits as well as new cam chains and bearings. The old tensioners were still in very good nick at 65,000klms.
The oil pump was replaced with a Fueling pump as he thinks the stock oil pump doesn’t have enough oil pressure at low revs.

The primary was treated to a Hayden chain adjuster and new primary chain. A bearing in the clutch assembly was replaced as well.

Had front and rear motor mounts replaced, front with a Predator mount and rear with HD OEM mount.

The bike has always run really well and handled well, it is now even better, the engine pulls hard and smooth and gives good fuel economy on tour. The handling has been tightened up nicely.
The exhaust is the stock headers with the cat removed and screaming eagle slip ons with a SERT tune.

 

Here's why you should check the tensioners regularly..

 

Here’s the cam chain tensioners from my 2016 Dyna Lowrider S, 110.

65,000klms about 40,000 miles.

 

Those look good, the ones above had just under 8 thousand miles, I had someone pop the chest and check them out and he said they were fine. 2 hundred miles or so later they came apart.

 

Just a FWIW....

Post #7 is showing the spring cam tensioners that run a link style chain... They were in the Twin Cam 88" engines.

Post #8 shows the hydraulic cam tensioners that run a roller chain.... they were in the '06 Dyna and all '07+ models with the Twin Cam 96" engines..

Two different animals...

The spring tensioners with link chains were problematic. There were failures at 30K miles causing damage to the engines. Anyone with spring cam tensioners that have never been addressed, needs to check them ASAP.... regardless of mileage, age has also taken its toll and they become brittle. I wouldn't run an 88" engine today without checking and/or just addressing those spring cam tensioners..

The hydraulic cam tensioners with roller chains have been far less problematic. Most have gone well over 50K miles without incident, and many have 100K without problems... You can see the advantage of the roller chains in post #8.. the chain wears into the pad, until the roller part of the chain contacts the pad.... then the wear is significantly reduced...