For 2007 Harley has addressed the problem by going to what they say is a "smoother" set of cam drive chains, and hydraulic tensioners as opposed to spring loaded.

For my money, you can't beat the gear drive cams like S&S offers....it completely eliminates all the problems associated with Harley's stock setup with no downside except the initial cost of the parts, and labor if you don't do the work yourself.

The balancer chain and balancers don't seem to add to any problems outside of being more parts, adding some weight and lowering the "redline" about 300 rpms.

 

We're only talking about Softails here, peeps. Roadkings and baggers don't use the TC88B engine. Mine has about 43K on it but was rebuilt as a Screamin' Eagle 103 at around 20K.

 

I had 40,00+ on my 04 Ultra when I sold it.

 

Great. Did your ultra have an 88B engine?

 

It'll be hard to say, most people who want to brag about hundreds of thousands of miles will not tell you about top-end rebuilds, or worse, crank their odometers ahead by hand so they don't look like noobs.

I'd honestly expect 60k before needing anything serious done. If you don't care about rebuilding, the component nature of a Harley engine should permit an unlimited amount of mileage (break a cylinder, buy a new one, etc etc).

 

did cams at 20,000 and had very little wear on the pads. i don't know how fast they wear out when they go butmine had a lot of life left in them. change my oil every 3500. H-D Syn since break-in

 

Sounds like the EVO had it right, So many twinkies have to come apart so early on. And for the price that really sucks

 

My buddy's dad has a little over 120,000 on his TC88 Ultra.

 

52,000 on my 02 Ultra, cam tensioners done at 44,000. No other problems with the engine to date. Running excellant.[8D]

 

I may be wrong but I don t think the ultra had the 88B engine.