Trying to descide which way to go hydraulic or gear for cam chain tensioner,I hear the hydraulic lasts a long time without he chatter noise from the gear tensioner,even if done with output shaft .003 or under

 

Paco I just did a post last week (tensioner's or gear's any regret's) had 4 pages of great responses, pull up my post for your answer's.
*** I'm going gear's on my 2003 for sure*******

 

Or better yet post a link to your thread here so we don't have to search.

 

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/softa...-regret-s.html

 

I went stock tensioners and for what I saved by not going gears, I installed a set of S&S 510 cams. I'm happy.

randy

 

I just replaced to OEM cam tensioners @ 50k and again @ 100K.... alas, @141K the front cam bearing **** the bed, and gouged out the cam race, sending fragments all through the engine.... but I can't blame that on the cam tensioners (which were fine, at the time)
You'll have to check the crankshaft run out, before going gear drive... but you'll never fret about tensioners again

 

I'm happy with the SE cam plate. Good oil pressure with the pump & running threw oil cooler. Pic after 22,000 miles, tensioner's​ both look like new. The inside is tuff to see but with dental mirror and flash light all is good on M1 15-50 race with STP changed often. Think the key is sprocket to sprocket alignment, mine is with in .001inch. Friends gear drive going strong for few years now. So basically if either one is done right, should be fine.

 

Nothing wrong with the stock spring tensioners with proper inspections and replacement. Absolutely little/no performance gain either way. On the low end spring tensioners should be inspected at 20k and hydraulic ones at 50k. Most folks don't put enough miles on their bikes to do the third or even second inspection. Put some CRYO pads on and run it.

 

People with gear drive think they are done with inspecting anything in the cam chest, but they are wrong. The cam bearings are the next thing they should look at. They should be checked about every 60 to 70k miles to be safe.
I personally changed my 03 to the 08, and up setup with ROLLER CHAINS on the inside, and out, the tensioners should last the 60-70k miles without a problem.

 

Were the cam bearings original?

If pullING cam, I would replace in and outer. It's what I did. New lifters every 50 wouldn't be bad either.