You are absolutely correct, I read those instructions. They do sell both types of bearings however(INA and Torrington) and that application, 99-06 Gear Drive, is the only application that calls for any bearing change, which I find kinda weird. Edit: I looked a little closer and they sell the caged INA SCE-168 for the late 07 and newer and the full complement Torrington B-148 for the early 99-06. The early is a 7/8's" I.D and the late is a 1" ID , early will have more bearing speed at the same engine rpm.

 

I have Andrews 26 cams in my 2001 88"twin cam.At the time I changed them the bike only had 10,000 on it.The tensioners were worn about a 1/4 of the way thruogh so I replaced them.I also replaced the cam bearings with an install kit by s&s cycle.I really liked the results,plenty of low and midrange power.Later on I added a Mukuni 42mm carb,2into1 Vance&Hines pro pipe,SE ignition module.Also at the time of the cam swap I installed SE adjustable pushrods.The bike runs very well,,I know I could make more power with bigger cams and a big bore,but I was looking for the bike to run a bit better than it did.I'm happy with the way it turned out.

 

I have 23000 miles on my build with the 26G's.No problems.

 

I say keep what you have, the hydraulic tensioner is a good design.
For these reasons I would stick with the hydraulic:
* your crank is stock and probably never trued so run-out will be a concern
* your crank is not welded so you run the risk of damaging other items, say if the crank twists for some reason. Chances are it wont but the risk is there.
* the gear drives are noisy and with noise there are harmonics, and harmonics are bad for the crankshaft.
* the chain drives are made to take up imperfections in design and quality. Also takes into account wear and tear.
* its expensive your looking at $300+, and for something that is designed for high performance applications.

So unless you have your crank done and run the **** out of your engine keep the chains, you wont regret it.

 

There is guy on here that has a fat bob and he put the 575 redshift cams in his bike. He wasn't too impressed. Of course he did not do any other work to the engine.
That being said, the same guy took those cams out and replaced them 26 Andrews. With no other mods. He wasn't impressed with them either, BUT they did out perform the red shift cams and the stockers. Peak numbers were less with the Andrews but the torque curve was way better then the red shift cams.
I believe his style of riding is one that dosent rev out his engine but like to hear it scream every now and then. mostly just cruises. Hope that helps.

one more thing he has a 96 in motor and you have a 88. So the 26 will act like a bigger cam in a smaller engine.

My say is the Andrews 26 will be a good choice

 

I have had 26G's in my 2000 for the past 5 years and really like them.

The cost of going to gears isn't all that much more if your tensioners need replaced. Plus the money is only spend once, unlike simply replacing tensioners and then having to do it sooner or later down the road if you own the bike long enough.

As far as runout goes, I'll make a bet that the OP's 2001 bike won't have too much runout. It has a better, and most liklely straighter forged crank in it compared to newer bikes....When I bought my gear drive kit, it came with intructions from both S&S and Andrews. Neither mentioned measuring runout....I would guess that was because the issue with the sloppy cast cranks in the later bikes hadn't reared it's head at the time they were printed.

 

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There are two upgrade kits for your '01. The "hybrid" kit which has the billet plate and all the other goodies but retains the early rear cam chain; no biggie and this kit allows you to retain early camms.

The second option is the full compliment of OEM parts for the '07 and later models that uses the OEM cam plate and all the goodies plus the inner chain is a roller chain. this kit requires that you go with the N style cams.

IMHO, you don't need either or gear drives; the upgraded oil pump would be nice but you don't NEED it; unfortunately you need one of the above kits to get the pump. Replace the tensioners and they should last longer as the chains have been "polished" with mileage; just keep an eye on them every 10K-15K miles.

You will like the 26 cams; some say for a cam only upgrade that is the best choice. You should replace the inner cam bearings with the B148 which is superior piece of hardware to the stock INA pieces.

 

I will jump in and add that, IF, the heads came off of these 26 cam builds, and were nothing more than cc'd/equalized/surfaced to 9.6 cr, they will pull much harder/farther, and believe this or not, fuel economy goes up as well, and a noticeable smoother running motorcycle will be established also.
Scott

 

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Good to know, I did the 26's in our 07 heritage 2yrs ago..
I studied long and hard for a cam to match our riding.
I also seen several 103's and head work dynos's that used them and thought they would be a good choice if and when I do the 103 kit,& heads,?.

I'll also add that when I had them installed that the Andrews bearing kit that came with them included the INA's.
I called Andrews and was told that with the new larger size cam bearings on the 07's and with less pressure on the cams because of the new HYD tensioner system that there test showed the INA's had zero issues using them on cam mod only motors.

Anyway there in and with almost 20k on them they've been fine. I am perfectly happy with the 26's