A friend of mine is getting ready to change my cam bearings. He told me to get Timkens and from what I've read it sounds like that's the clear choice. I do have a couple questions thoug . One, he told me to "get inner and outer cam bearings" When I look up Timken bearing for anow 88, all I can find are "two inner cam bearings". Why can't I find an outer? And two, is there a difference between Timken and Torrington? Or did they just combine and no one knows what to call them. Haha. Any part numbers would be great too
I'm not replacing the cams yet. I'm just over 30,000 and ill be riding to Arizona from the kansas city area for bike week. My friend has an 06 road king and the bearings went out on him and it ended up being very costly. I don't want to be broke down 1200 miles from home. Cams and a 95 kit will come next winter
With 30K on a TC88A I'd look in the cam chest sooner than later. Inner cam bearings are only one potential problem in there. The tensioners pose a bigger risk for failure than inner cam bearings.
There shouldn't be a need for outer bearings with 30K on them. The early TC88A outer cam bearing problems were taken care of in late 2000. There are ways to remove the cams from the plate without using a bearing puller should you need to replace the secondary cam chain tensioner to change the shoes.
Make sure you get the full compliment bearings,if not,you will get the same bearing as stock,wich is a waste of time.had a round like that at a bearing store last month on same thing.
I have to echo Nomadmax on the tensioners. I just had it happen to my '03. Get them done and you'll have less stress on the ride. I also got lots of good advice on the cam plate & cams upgrade so if you can do it, get 'er done!
With 30K on a TC88A I'd look in the cam chest sooner than later. Inner cam bearings are only one potential problem in there. The tensioners pose a bigger risk for failure than inner cam bearings.
There shouldn't be a need for outer bearings with 30K on them. The early TC88A outer cam bearing problems were taken care of in late 2000. There are ways to remove the cams from the plate without using a bearing puller should you need to replace the secondary cam chain tensioner to change the shoes.
+1 on this, the 2006 Ultra I just got had the cam tensioners go out on the last owner at 40K miles and it cost him a pretty penny to replace and fix everything! I got the service records for it directly from the dealer to verify everything that was done and it was not cheap!
The outer bearings are ball type having inner and outer races, and rarely need to be replaced.
The inner bearings ride directly on the camshafts, having no inner race. The oem ones have a spacer with fewer needle bearings. These are the bearings that indeed should be replaced.
Fwiw, inspect your camshafts as well for damage where the needle bearings roll on them. One of mine had just a touch of galling starting. This likely would have wiped out a replacement bearing in time. I ended up replacing the camshaft as a result.
I'm not replacing the cams yet. I'm just over 30,000 and ill be riding to Arizona from the kansas city area for bike week. My friend has an 06 road king and the bearings went out on him and it ended up being very costly. I don't want to be broke down 1200 miles from home. Cams and a 95 kit will come next winter
Don't do that! I've been wrenching over 50 yrs and advise you that if you are going far enough to replace the inner brgs, you would be foolish not to do it all at the same time. Why go into the exact same spot and do the same work twice???
03-10-2016 | 10:02 PM
Cam bearings in 2006 88in road king
