For you guys with older TC Dynas, having an inner cam bearing fail is a deal-breaker. My bike has 70k miles on the original cam parts so this winter I've decided to change them out. While I was in the bottom end, I also decided to change the outer cam bearings and the cam chain tensioners.

I decided to keep everything stock and just change out the worn parts. The biggest reason for this is price. The SE kit that converts everything to hydraulic tensioners costs around $400 (on the low end) and doesn't eliminate the tensioner shoes. So you still have a replacement component that eventually has to get changed out. I was really pissed that the price of the replacement spring tensioners is around $100 a pop so it seems like Harley is forcing people to go with the SE kit. I called BS though and found some nearly new OEM tensioners and worked a deal for them for $25 apiece.

Another option is to go with gear drive cams and if I had unlimited funds that would probably be the way to go. But the total price would be in the neighborhood of $1400 and I would still need the upgraded inner cam bearings.

I decided to reuse my old pushrods (again to keep costs down) so that meant my rockers had to come out. I used my car jack to hoist the bike up and with the engine in 5th I rotated the rear wheel until I got each cylinder at TDC, then removed the rockers and pushrods. I follwed the Harley manual on removal of the cam support plate and oil pump. I also removed the lifters.

Then I took the dissasembled bike down to a local independent shop and he put in new torrington inner cam bearings, new OEM outer cam bearings, and installed my tensioners for around $200 (including parts costs). Once I got the bike back, it was just a matter of reassembly. Pretty straighforward as well.



Here are the new inner cam bearings.



Oil pump goes in...



And now the cam support plate. I didn't take a picture of the outer gears going on, but note my "detensioner tool." A nail!

I still have to put the rockers back together but then I'm finished with the engine! Next up is new paint and I'll post some pictures when it's done.

I'm by no means a world class mechanic so I hope this post encourages you guys to dig into your bikes when the time comes. I was encouraged by other posts on this site, so many thanks guys!!