Another option would be to bring it to the dealer and have them send it back to harley davidson for a reman. From what I've read that seems to be a good option, they are supposed to rebuild it to new bike specs with all the upgraded parts that harley has come up with since your bike was built. Something to consider.

 

The bad news is that there is no markings to align the sprocket to the crank and it is a press fit. Mike

 

allright, if there is no markings to align the sprocket to the crank, how do I tell if it is out of alignment with the crank.

yea Ive heard about the factory reman deal, a guy that works at the same plant I do said he went that route, he has put roughly 30,000 on the reman motor with no problems, that is deffinitly an option.

 

IMHO, trying to fix the engine you have will turn into a black hole for cash and will wear you out; the bike will spend more time in the shop than on the road. A remanufactured engine is the cheapest route: $2795-$2995 depending on the color comgbination. You will need to retain your intake and primary. You could spend a little more, $3249-$3449 and jump up to 95", again depending on color combination, i.e., all black, silver/polished, black/chrome or silver/chrome. I am not selling the MoCo reman program but for someone in your situation, not a bad way to go. The engines come with a 12 month warranty, if installed by a dealer, so you will want to put some miles on her that first year to see if she will break; at least 5000 miles, more would be better. Also, you can finance, if necessary, the reman cost but will have to come out of pocket for the shop labor to R/R the engine.

You are still stick with the old chain tensioners and a weak crank but if you don't do wheelies, burnouts or drag race, she should hold up fine. Roll up as many miles as possible during the warranty period and, if so inclined and budget allows, start upgrading with exhaust and air cleaner; fuel mangement system, upgraded cam plate/pump/hydraulic tensioner package, headwork and the power plant will be in good shape.

You should be looking at wheel bearings, steering head bearings and suspension components as well. The five speed gearbox is near bullet proof and should be working fine if fluids have been changed regularly.

Don't try and fix the engine you have; go the reman route, fix any other items that are worn beyond factory tolerance, make sure brakes and tires are in good condition and you will have a nice ride for less than $10K that is dependable and fun to ride.

 

crank assemblies are throw aways....go 103....darkhorse

 

You are entitled to you opinion but the fact is that there are only about gazillion stock cranks running around in 88/95 and 96/103 configured engines, some with gear drive cams I might add, that are rollling up many trouble free miles.

Not disagreeing that the later cranks, particularly '07 when the change over occured, had problems but still a very small percentage of the total.

Obviously Tired_bird doesn't have money to burn, otherwise he wouldn't have bought a bike with 108K miles on it. If he tries to repair it, I think he will be opening up a money pit and the bike will never be right unless totally rebuilt which would include a bottom end rebuild by Hoban Brothers AKA Darkhorse. So, the most economical and quickest solution, now that he has the engine out, woud be to go the reman route. Financing is available and the reman unit comes with a warranty.