Here is a quote from my local dealer last week. I also got a quote from another dealer the was within $50.00

Screamin' Eagle Hydraulic Cam Chain Tensioner and High Flow Oil Pump Kit (P/N 25284-11) $499.95
Spacer Kit (P/N 25285-08) $19.95
Cam Service Kit (P/N 17045-99D) $109.95
Drive Gear Retention Kit (P/N 25533-99A) $6.50

Total Parts $636.35
Total Labor (5 hours at $94.00 per hour) $470.00
Total $1106.35 Plus Tax


I ordered the parts from Lakeshore Harley for 20% off, free shipping and no tax. I'm having a local independent install them for $200.00. I'm also putting in an SE203 cam and adustable quick install pushrods. The push rods reduce install time of the cam kit by an hour.

 

I'm kind of curious about the financial benefit to changing over to the newer Hydraulic Tensioners, or for that matter a Gear Drive? If I do some farmer math on this; it seems like the break even point money-wise is like 125K miles. In other words if you just simply treat these shoes as a 25K maintenance items; the cost of replacing the shoes every 25K miles is slightly less than the cost of converting to the Hydraulic Tensioners. Going with Gear drive would shoot things up to near 200K miles!

 

Just did the SE Hyd upgrade with 40k on the clock. Both looked great BUT that being said had a buddy with a softtail go Tango Uniform at 40k. Wasn't pretty.

 

I'm putting in S&S gear driven cams, I would hate to get to 25K on this bike and then everyday is like a ticking time bomb.

 

There is no mile limit on these things, some can go 100K some explode at 20K. Many people just want the piece of mind knowing that they're not in there and not going to cost them a huge repair bill if they do explode.

It's also a good reason to do a performance upgrade.

 

It really is peace of mind thing since the wear schedule is all over the place. I had my first set replaced as part of the HD inner cam bearing fix at 10K. Yes, my cam bearing did fail, it is a '99, but didn't disintegrate thank goodness.

I replace the cam tensioners again at 60K with the HD Hydraulic kit, and it was also a great time to add cams (best move ever). So with 50K on the second set of shoes they were still functioning, but way too worn for my comfort level.

Here is a pic of my outer, but the inner was just as bad.

 

Check your crank runout. I thought about gears but didn't want to either invest in gears and findout my crank was out of spec or tear it down and then wait for parts. That why I went with the SE Hyd upgrade. I was just like you....ticking time bomb syndrome! Now no more worries.

 

Replaced at 49,000 miles. Not sure how long they had been broken but fortunately, no damage to engine. I didn't know they were bad, I just decided to upgrade to the Screaming Eagle Hydraulic Cam Chain Tensioner system and the upgraded oil pump. Also put in adjustible valve rods but no upgraded cam.

 

Is that for getting the backlash correct when installing the CAMS? The parts for over or undersized pinions are about $100 so I may just buy everything I would need, then return or sell what I don't need.

The hydraulic option definitely is easier, but I'm already in there, may as well get the performance too.

 

checking crank runout is so you don't bind up the gears when they get to their closest points because of runout. you can break gears, and other related damage, including running hot metal shavings floating in the oil and all kinds of other good stuff, suggest that unless crank has been welded (on the newer bikes) that the hyd setup is just fine.