I have read in American Iron and thunder press recently about the cam chain tensioners being a week link in the twin cam motor. I have a buddy who says he has read this else where, in a more consumer reports kind of cycle magazine. I have a 03 heritage with 32K and am wondering if I should have the shoes replaced, replace the chain with a gear drive (I realize this is usually for high performance but then I would not have to do this again) and of course while I am there I will put in SE204 or equivalent cams. Do I need to do this? Sometimes the valve train seems louder, but that could just be me making something out of nothing. TIA

 

If your shoes are gone you would know . Checked mine today and will post step per step soon so you can check yours.

 

if you plan on keeping your bike for a long period of time the gear drive is essential its not just for performance motors its for prevention of catastrofic failure of the tensioners 32k is an amazing amount of life in the tensioners imho

steve

 

what he said!

joe

 

Ok I have a price from a harley dealership and a shop in Napa, anybody recommend a place in the north bay?

 

How many miles before a person should become concerned? 10K? 20K? 30K? On average, my dealer says they are not to worry about until the 50K range, then just check them to see how they are wearing. I don't want to drop the $ unless it is needed.

 

I had the gear drive put in at about 13000 miles and they were pretty bad but I ride hard maybe someone else can give you a better answer

 

I live in the east bay but I've heard good things about the dealer in vallejo over here I'd say dee's american cycle in hayward

 

Here are the guidelines we use in helping determine the necessity of gears....

Gears are a good choice for people who put on a lot of miles per year. If you exceed 15K per year, gears could be a good choice for you. Then you don't have to go in every 1-2 years to check/change the tensioners.

If you put on 5-10K per year, you are 3-6 years from having to worry about tensioners. We recommend changing them every 30,000 miles. If you buy a new bike every 3-4 years and only put on 5K per year, you never have to worry about changing anything so why spend the money?

Also consider this, even if you use gear drive cams, the lifters should be changed every 30,000 miles for preventative maintenance. IMO

 

I had both of the tentioners,and the stationary shoe/guide replaced while the motor was open doing the stage 2 w/cams ,My EG police which i'm sure it didnt have a real easy life showed almost no wear at 9,008 miles,I had a hard time catching my fingernail on the slight wear groove. even the dealers mechanic was surprized how little wear they showed,said most he has seen show alot of wear around that mileage and sometimes at only 3,000 + miles.

For me the coin wasn't there to change over to gear drive cams this year,so for the short money and piece of mind I had the tentioners replaced,dealer didnt charge me any extra for doing so,they were in the motor already doing the cam upgrade

my 2 coppers