I'm going to look at a carbed, low mileage 04 Heritage tomorrow and I have no Idea what to check out or ask about the motor.

Do these run hot, does it have issues with the cam chain, any known issues I should pay attension to or more importantly, run away from?

Thanks
Doug

 

I have had an 00 Heritage for 11 years now. It's been bulletproof.
It only has a little over 20K on it now. My son was born almost 9 yrs
ago, so that has cut into riding time a little. All good though.
I was riding about 5K a yr up to that point.
I did cams @ 9500 miles. The inner cam tens/shoe was 1/3 worn. Plus mine
had the earlier style bearings. So we did new shoes & brgs with the cams.

I'd say 30K is the magic # for those earlier cam tensioners, to chk em at least.

Other than that, I see no issues. I would take carb'd any day of the week over FI. My wife has an 03 FI Heritage. We have had no problems, but it just sounds like a loud air compressor when it idles. I guess cams would help, but I'm not going to. She doesn't even ride it.
I just prefer the simpler version. Totally trouble free. On another note, my carbureted bike runs considerably cooler. 20 deg (aprox) oil temp and WAY
cooler on the legs in traffic etc - even going dowen the road. I don't like how the (new) bikes run so hot.

Enjoy your new ride !!!!

 

Cam chain tensioners. Check my last set at 20K miles after the install...I have 60K on my bike right now.
https://www.hdforums.com/forum/softa...-paranoia.html

Drew

 

Thanks,

Does this motor have the good cam bearings or is it running INA's?

Dr.V Twin, I saw that thread while I was searching, comming off an EVO those tensioners scare me. How hard is it to change the inner one?

Doug

 

You have good taste in bikes John B.

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++

U need to ask the owner this question, not Us, They come with the INA's and if someone did some cams they usually upgrade to Torrington's. not always though.

I've only know/seen 1 TC motor that had cam bearing failure, that was on a highly build motor that the owner ran the Pi$$ of out her,, He was told that even the torringtons probably would not have helped.

 

I saw a stock motor softail that had a front outer cam bearing failure. It was ugly. People will usually only know tyhis if they have done the work themselves. I also ahd an issue with teh fuel line inside the tank for the fuel pump soon after buying my bike with 10K on the clock. The line got a pinhole in it causing extremely erratic idle. I would rather have a carb in this year bike as well.

We need to know more about the bike. Post some pics or tell us what kind of extras it has if any.

 

My '04 Heritage has been very reliable. There was a recall or service bulletin regarding the float in the tank sticking that the dealer corrected under warrantee. The seam on the float would get stuck against part of the tank and it would read full when it wasn't. I think the fix was to shave a little off the seam. My bike has EFI so I'm not sure if it also happened on carb'd bikes. I had a 95 inch kit and cams installed at about 8,500 miles. Love the bike.

 

Thanks for all the info,

Pretty much stock, does have V&Hines BSS, not real sure about anything else yet, have not seen it in person. I'm not a big fan of that exhaust but I hope he did a complete stage one to go with them. Here's the only pic I have.

I'm 6'3", am I gonna have leg room issues and if so, what's the fix??

Doug

T minus 4 hours.....LOL

 

Start the puppy up and take it for a ride...you will know if there are any issues with the motor. But do remember it is a used bike, and there is no warranties.

The thing about a Heritage....you can make it how ever you want it each day.....I leave my solo seated for shows and poker runs, then put the fairing, bags and trunk on for weekend get aways.

Good Luck!

Jimmy