SE-203 cams, bearings and tensioners shoes installed
#1
SE-203 cams, bearings and tensioners shoes installed
I did my cam upgrade yesterday, what a job! I wouldn't say hard but time consuming, took me almost 5 hours. The first thing I checked was the tensioner shoes, they are worn, I have 22,000km(13,xxxmiles) on this bike, the primary shoe has a few chips and the secondary shoes has a really deep groove on it. Nothing surprised me, I have heard enough stories. After I took the cam plate off, pull the inner cam bearings out, those are the INA bearings, I believe they are the original ones. I have ordered the B-148 inner bearings from George's garage, they are full roller bearing. I opened the HD bearing kit and found the inner bearings that came in the box are crap, the old style bearing. I compared the two and found the INA bearing has bearing cage, no wonder why it fails, I junked them in the garbage lol. Now I understand why those shoes fail all the time, the tensioner spring is too strong, after backed off the secondary tensioner, I can hardly spin the camshafts by hand, imagine how much load it takes. I don't understand why the tensioner has to be so tight, those Chev 350 don't even have a spring loaded tensioner. Pulling the cams out wasn't bad, I have a hydraulic press at work, piece of cake, the outer cam bearings look good but I replaced them anyway. The adjustable push rods saved me a lot of time, I figure if I ever pull the cam plate again in the future, I don't need to touch the rocker and fuel tank. Push rods adjustment is pretty easy, the hardest part was working on the intake rods, not too much room, the bad thing is the SE push rod has 4 flats only, have to play around with the angle. For the oil pump, I spent $25 and bought the alignment bolts from George's garage, don't want to mess around with it. Before I started the motor, I left the spark plugs out and crank for 15secs to prime the oil pump. I was a little nervous before I started the motor, she fired right up, thank god no ticking or noise. Ran it for 20 mins at 2,000rpm to break in the new cams. After all, it wasn't a bad job, I bet I can finish it in 3 hours next time.
Rode it to work this morning, it ran smooth, bike sounds a bit louder, the low/mid is definitely improved. Idle isn't as smooth as before but not bad at all, engine shakes a bit between 1,000-1,500rpm. Although many people say this 203 cam falls early but it fits my riding style, even passing on the hwy and taking off, I do feel the extra pull when I need it. I am a happy camper now, not because I have the cam upgrade, at least I know the bearings and tensioner shoes are not going to give up for a while.
Rode it to work this morning, it ran smooth, bike sounds a bit louder, the low/mid is definitely improved. Idle isn't as smooth as before but not bad at all, engine shakes a bit between 1,000-1,500rpm. Although many people say this 203 cam falls early but it fits my riding style, even passing on the hwy and taking off, I do feel the extra pull when I need it. I am a happy camper now, not because I have the cam upgrade, at least I know the bearings and tensioner shoes are not going to give up for a while.
#3
I did my cam upgrade yesterday, what a job! I wouldn't say hard but time consuming, took me almost 5 hours. The first thing I checked was the tensioner shoes, they are worn, I have 22,000km(13,xxxmiles) on this bike, the primary shoe has a few chips and the secondary shoes has a really deep groove on it. Nothing surprised me, I have heard enough stories. After I took the cam plate off, pull the inner cam bearings out, those are the INA bearings, I believe they are the original ones. I have ordered the B-148 inner bearings from George's garage, they are full roller bearing. I opened the HD bearing kit and found the inner bearings that came in the box are crap, the old style bearing. I compared the two and found the INA bearing has bearing cage, no wonder why it fails, I junked them in the garbage lol. Now I understand why those shoes fail all the time, the tensioner spring is too strong, after backed off the secondary tensioner, I can hardly spin the camshafts by hand, imagine how much load it takes. I don't understand why the tensioner has to be so tight, those Chev 350 don't even have a spring loaded tensioner. Pulling the cams out wasn't bad, I have a hydraulic press at work, piece of cake, the outer cam bearings look good but I replaced them anyway. The adjustable push rods saved me a lot of time, I figure if I ever pull the cam plate again in the future, I don't need to touch the rocker and fuel tank. Push rods adjustment is pretty easy, the hardest part was working on the intake rods, not too much room, the bad thing is the SE push rod has 4 flats only, have to play around with the angle. For the oil pump, I spent $25 and bought the alignment bolts from George's garage, don't want to mess around with it. Before I started the motor, I left the spark plugs out and crank for 15secs to prime the oil pump. I was a little nervous before I started the motor, she fired right up, thank god no ticking or noise. Ran it for 20 mins at 2,000rpm to break in the new cams. After all, it wasn't a bad job, I bet I can finish it in 3 hours next time.
Rode it to work this morning, it ran smooth, bike sounds a bit louder, the low/mid is definitely improved. Idle isn't as smooth as before but not bad at all, engine shakes a bit between 1,000-1,500rpm. Although many people say this 203 cam falls early but it fits my riding style, even passing on the hwy and taking off, I do feel the extra pull when I need it. I am a happy camper now, not because I have the cam upgrade, at least I know the bearings and tensioner shoes are not going to give up for a while.
Rode it to work this morning, it ran smooth, bike sounds a bit louder, the low/mid is definitely improved. Idle isn't as smooth as before but not bad at all, engine shakes a bit between 1,000-1,500rpm. Although many people say this 203 cam falls early but it fits my riding style, even passing on the hwy and taking off, I do feel the extra pull when I need it. I am a happy camper now, not because I have the cam upgrade, at least I know the bearings and tensioner shoes are not going to give up for a while.
Just a comment on the INA's, I also looked into which one to go with when I installed my cams this spring..
After talking with an Andrews tech he told me that the pre 07 with the old style Tensioners applied a lot more pressure on the cams & bearings and that the bearings failure was more often due to cams shafts not hardened correct and causing flat spots on the portion of the cams where the cams bearing ride and that in turn caused bearing failure...
Actually Andrews now recommends the INA's in the 96" motors and in their testing they barely won out over the B-148.
The tech also stated the the INA"s has not had any failures on record with them installed while using an Andrew cam on the 96" motor.
Its also what they put INA's in their cam bearing kits for the 07-09 motors..
I'am not saying anybody wrong for going with the B-148' but at the same time there's nothing wrong with the INA's in the newer motor either..
also I talked with 3 HD service depts, at one of 3 a wrench, I fully trust and have known a while, All said they also use the INA"s in the 96" motor, all reported zero failures.
Just my $.02
Last edited by oct1949; 07-11-2009 at 11:15 PM. Reason: added
#7
I totally agree with you The 07 hydraulic tensioners don't put that much load on the chain, it should be less wear on the bearings as well. My experience, the more rollers, the less resistance, just like those 4x4 U-joints used on the truck, the heavy duty ones always have more rollers in them, they last much longer than regular ones. For a TC88, the full roller bearing may take advantage, it should help on the poor spring tensioner design. Whatever works for you!
Just a comment on the INA's, I also looked into which one to go with when I installed my cams this spring..
After talking with an Andrews tech he told me that the pre 07 with the old style Tensioners applied a lot more pressure on the cams & bearings and that the bearings failure was more often due to cams shafts not hardened correct and causing flat spots on the portion of the cams where the cams bearing ride and that in turn caused bearing failure...
Actually Andrews now recommends the INA's in the 96" motors and in their testing they barely won out over the B-148.
The tech also stated the the INA"s has not had any failures on record with them installed while using an Andrew cam on the 96" motor.
Its also what they put INA's in their cam bearing kits for the 07-09 motors..
I'am not saying anybody wrong for going with the B-148' but at the same time there's nothing wrong with the INA's in the newer motor either..
also I talked with 3 HD service depts, at one of 3 a wrench, I fully trust and have known a while, All said they also use the INA"s in the 96" motor, all reported zero failures.
Just my $.02
After talking with an Andrews tech he told me that the pre 07 with the old style Tensioners applied a lot more pressure on the cams & bearings and that the bearings failure was more often due to cams shafts not hardened correct and causing flat spots on the portion of the cams where the cams bearing ride and that in turn caused bearing failure...
Actually Andrews now recommends the INA's in the 96" motors and in their testing they barely won out over the B-148.
The tech also stated the the INA"s has not had any failures on record with them installed while using an Andrew cam on the 96" motor.
Its also what they put INA's in their cam bearing kits for the 07-09 motors..
I'am not saying anybody wrong for going with the B-148' but at the same time there's nothing wrong with the INA's in the newer motor either..
also I talked with 3 HD service depts, at one of 3 a wrench, I fully trust and have known a while, All said they also use the INA"s in the 96" motor, all reported zero failures.
Just my $.02
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#8
My stupid camera ran out of battery at that tume, I will take some pictures when I have a chance, stay tuned.