Mine was whining heavily at 51,000. It was the inner cam bearing. (INA). I was lucky and pulled it before it went through the bottom end and oil pump. The cam was ruined. (96 FLHTCU-I)
Finally found the pic of the bearing and cam. As you can see, the engine had only a few turns left before something 'bad' happened. That roller dropped out of the bearing as I removed the puller. If you have or think you might still have the INA bearing, REPLACE IT!
After reading this thread I decided to replace the cam bearing. There was a whirring noise. The bearing was OK but found to bad lifters. I replaced the lifters also. 97 FLHTCI.