How many miles do you have on the 08? If the outer one is fine, the inner one more than likely is as well...

 

My outter was ok but the inner was completely worn out. A dental mirror works great for checking

 

the 2007 and up are different and I dont know if this will help me as mine is a 2008

 

Wheelie Ripper what year is your Motorcycle

 

You can see the surface that is against the chain unless you have an xray vision mirror... and the chain is the culprit. It is better to just bite the bullet and replace them after about 25k but there is no guarantee... you could still be too late to replace this design defect because a >few< have lost them at less than 25k. HD is counting on the garage/trailer queens to keep buying...

 

Yes, it will help....

With your 2008, you have the hydraulic cam chain tensioners. The vast majority will last the life of the engine. I just saw a pic of one with 119,000 miles, described as "hard miles" by the owner. It looked fine...

There are some reported failures of the hydraulic tensioners popping up here & there... they are still few, especially compared to the pre-2007 spring cam tensioners. Most seem to think the cause is an oiling issues or more commonly, a stuck hydraulic tensioner that lead to the early failures.

Keep up with a good maintenance schedule and the odds are way in your favor that you'll be fine..

 

Thanks Hattitude I know about the change to the hydraulic in o7 I had a 06 the tensioners took my engine out at 30000 miles I had ESP and it only cost me 50 dollar's for a H D reman engine I know the 07 and up last longer but I have 95000 on them

 

Sorry, I missed your mileage. At 95K, if I were to go into the cam chest, I would just pull the cam plate, install new hydraulic tensioners, and pop the cam plate back in.... It is a bunch easier to replace the hydraulic tensioners than the spring tensioners.... if you're not doing anything else it wouldn't take long at all...

Of course, I have the "sickness" so I would probably also do cams while I was in there (and cam bearings if they are OEM)...

Enjoy...!

 

I don't think you missed it...I don't think he mentioned the mileage until his 6th post (which is his most recent)

Why would that info matter anyway?

 

It's not necessary to cut the pushrods, fairly simple to go through the top on the 08 and later. With 95,000 I would want to pull the plate anyway and have a proper look-see and replace the inner bearings to boot. Also, going through the top will allow you to freshen up things up top such as the newer style breather baffles, drilling the rocker supports, and adding rocker shaft inserts if so inclined.