Mine was impossible to see inner shoe accurately for cracks. However, if you measure the link chain, that distance from the top to the pins is apx the max wear depth for the shoes. If the links are touching, it's done.

 

I'd like to know more about this conversion.

 

It requires special tools and a press, plus knowing how to find TDC for each cylinder, centering pins, and assembly lube. Buy new inner bearings if your bike doesn't have Torrington or Timken bearings. When I did mine there were a few places that sold this stuff... I used HD's SE setup and Andrews cams. I don't know what variations are proper for your bike, if any.

 

I converted my 2003 Heritage to the '07+ cam plate.... no press or special tools needed... unless you are going to replace the cheap INA brand inner cam bearings with the better Koyo-Torrington inner cam bearings... then you'll need the bearing puller/installer tool.

The key is the conversion cams... they fit the inner cam bearing of a pre-'07 engine AND fit into the cam plate for the '07+ engines... no pressing of the cams into the '07+ cam plate is necessary..

Along with conversion cams, you'll need all the parts for an '07+ cam plate.... outer cam gears, inner/outer hydraulic tensioners, inner/outer cam roller chains, and the '07+ oil pump.

Andrews and a few other cam makers used to offer kits with their conversion cams that had all the necessary HD parts to make the switch.... HD stopped selling parts to other shops and resellers several years ago... now you'll have to get the conversion cams, and then get all the cam plate/oil pump parts from HD yourself.... Some of the aftermarket conversion cam makers have a list of necessary part numbers needed...

Once you get all the parts together, it's a pretty easy swap and a complete fix for spring cam tensioners... the only thing better would be to get gear drive cams, but it will cost more and you'll need to ensure you have the proper crank run out first....


FYI... the HD SE setup, if you're talking the orange SE cam plate, uses the same cams any pre-'07 engine uses. They will still need to be pressed into the SE cam plate and the rear cam chain will be the OEM link style chain. It only switches the outer cam chain to the better roller chain... it's kind of half a fix...

 

Thtas the least of it I think they also make a tool that screws in spark plug. I think it basically goes up on compression.

When sticking things in the hole, be careful not to wedge it.

Pulling heads in all isn't hard. But it is not something I enjoy, or would do on Friday night cause board. The manual is well written, step by step. I use zip lock bags and label each one each step A,B,C, ect. Little over kill.

They claimed the tq values for cam plates was wrong in some of the old 88" manuals. I used the other one off the internet Back when I had faith in what I read on the internet. Though that was 45k miles ago, so far so good. Main problem now, is people just don't know their years, and don't know what was done in what year, and are not smart enough to admit it. LIke this this thead, dumbasses who say you got hydraulic so don't worry. Rather than they changed around that time, not sure which year.

 

Thanks for this info. I do have a bike in my stable that would benefit from this and was already planning for a shoe replacement for it this winter. The main reason I ask is I do at a minimum 3 of these jobs per year. Most of these older bikes don't really get a lot of miles put on them but I have a few guys that still clock around 10k or so a year on theirs. This would be a viable upgrade for those guys.

 

I don't know how the cam plate determines the chain type... the cam does. The oil pump is a higher performance pump and to properly install the oil pump you should use centering screws. If the newer stuff eliminates pressing in the cam journals, that's great. Unless harley has changed their cheap ways you should definitely install new cam bearings into the main block. With the right puller and installer it's not a big deal. I know you can put something together to pull and press in the bearings but I didn't want to learn how on a good engine.

 

Buddy of mine has an 03 Road King ,when his went, there was a "scraping noise" inside the cam chest, I was aware of the shoe problem and told him I trhought thats what it was, I reccommended the Screaming Eagle hydraulic upgrade, thats what he went with. I think it was 16-1800 buck st the dealer like 5 years ago.His bike had 43000 or so miles on it I seem to recall. I think when the engines greanade, its from the plastic clogging up the oils sytem, is this correct? My friend heard the noise, and rode it home immediately and parked it, he wasnt far fromhiome within 50 miles I think...

 

Doubt it's the plastic.The return side of the pump in the crank side of the sump. The cam galley side only connects back way up high through the crank bearings. Know if the tensioners break, the parts drop down in there. Cleaned them out of two. Actually, even when they break, if you don't drive it around making all that noise with the spring tensioner pin grinding on the chain, it really hurts nothing. That little plastic is not going to hurt the oil pump. Of course, if you carry one in, they are going to show you that and the serviceman, mechanic and part man are going to get a few car payments from you. On a TCb softail, you do need to clean the small screen in the balance cam oil line. (there is a screen in cam plate) There is also a plug in top right upper edge of the cam plate that is a flush area. On a Dana and Tour, it would be a good idea to drop the pan and rinse it out.

 

The cam plate doesn't determine the chain type, the cam sprocket does.... but ....

When the MoCo upgraded the cam chest in the '07+ engines, they changed the inner cam bearing size (in the cases), changed how the cams fit into the cam chest, changed the cam sprockets to use roller chains, and of course switched to the hydraulic tensioners.

The result was that the way a cam fits into the cam plate and the size of the cam where it fits into the inner cam bearings was different between the '07+ cams/plates/cases and the pre-'07 cams/plates/cases.... cams are not interchangeable between the two and it has nothing to do with the type of cam chain sprocket....

Pre '07 cam chests had smaller inner cam bearings (in the cases), the cam is pressed into the cam plate bearings... and the cams just happen to have link chain sprockets, and of course the spring cam chain tensioners

'07+ cam chests had larger inner cam bearings (in the cases), the cam just fits into the cam plate by hand.... and the cams just happen to have roller chain sprockets, and hydraulic cam chain tensioners.

This is where the conversion cams came into play.... The conversion cams allow a cam to fit into the pre '07 inner cam bearings, and yet also fit into the post '07 cam plate... plus it will have cam sprockets for a roller chain..

That's why using an '07+ cam plate, and a set of conversion cams, is the cheapest & easiest way to switch over to hydraulic tensioners AND have two roller chains on the cams.....

There is a tool that will enlarge the size of the inner cam bearing holes of pre-'07 cases, to match the size of the '07+ inner cam bearings. Thus you wouldn't need conversion cams, you can just use any '07+ cam and inner cam bearings... but most people aren't equipped to do that modification in their garage..

The SE orange cam plate "upgrade" allows the use of a pre-'07 cam with hydraulic tensioners, but you can only switch the outside cam sprockets and chain to a roller chain. Because of the cam's sprocket being for a link chain, the inner cam chain needs to remain a link chain... so it's only a partial fix....

I think I covered it... clear as mud...?