It's not absolutely necessary, but well advised. The original INA bearings have half the rollers of the Torrington B-168. It's very cheap insurance.

You can order them from Amazon, or buy them from your dealer

http://www.amazon.com/Torrington-B-1...4357107&sr=8-1

 

Tons of threads on cams on this site.
Use your "Search" feature.

 

I agree with Boogaloodude that although it might not be essential, it is good insurance since the bearings are more robust than stock and you will be stressing the bearings a bit more with the higher lift. They cost <$15/pr. and once you're inside the cam chest they are easily replaced if you have the right tool, which a dealer certainly will. I've never heard of the stock INA bearings failing in any application and my dealer uses them routinely for cam upgrades, but I made the change anyway.

They are available from HD for $15 in the SE catalog (#24018-10), listed as "SE high-performance inner cam bearings." The Amazon site lists them for $7.14 each but once you add shipping ($8.39 for one) it will be higher than most sources. I bought mine from a local bearing-supply store for $15/pr. including shipping.

 

Before I did the job myself I asked the dealer and they quoted me six hours with adjustable pushrods. At the time I told them I could do it in four, which turned out to be a gross understatement. Reusing the stock pushrods it took me a full day and part of the next, but I worked very slowly, labeled all parts, and double-checked everything. Reusing the stock pushrods adds 2-3 hours to the job, as the rocker covers and plates, etc., must be removed and reinstalled. It's a hassle but eliminates the $125+ cost of adjustables, and once done it is done with no pushrod adjusting to do then or later.

I did my job in March '09 and had some warranty work done on the tranny (mainshaft bearing) later that year. I don't hide anything from my dealer and they knew I had done a DIY cam job, yet they arranged to have the warranty honored even though it expired 10 months before that (long story). So, it really depends on your dealer whether or not they want to hassle you about warranty or not, as unless a cam job causes or contributes to an otherwise-warrantable repair neither the dealer nor HD can legally deny your warranty.

 

Just a thanks to boogaloodude and iclick for taking the time to reply to my question. I'll give the points you guys made some serious consideration...

 

Cams and good head rewoking will give you more than a 103.Look around at some good head reworking shops.

 

Is this inner bearing thing something only you guys on this sight worry about??
When I had my cams put in at my local dealer the mechanic didn't say boo about upgrading them and it wasn't like they where busy it was the dead of winter and they had almost nothing else to do and he could have nickle dimed me for another $50-75 but didn't.

 

No, check the other forums and you'll likely find the same opinions. Changing to Torringtons is a routine step in a cam change for many techs. This may have become a habit with some from the Evo days when changing the bearings was a requirement rather than an option for all cam upgrades. The stock 3/4" bearings were not robust enough to handle much more than stock cams. The early-TC's had upgraded 7/8" bearings, but I don't know the service history on these. The late-model TC's have 1" INA bearings and it could be that these are good enough for any cam upgrade. I can't say, but I'm not sorry I made the change to be on the safe side.

As I mentioned earlier, my dealer routinely replaces the inner bearings on cam installs but uses the stock INA's that come in HD's cam-install kit. OTOH if you want Torringtons they'll certainly oblige. If your dealer billed you for this kit I would bet they changed the inner-bearings with new INA's, or should have. It takes very little time and they obviously have the right tools to do the job. If you have INA inner-bearings in your bike I wouldn't worry about it, as I haven't ever heard of these failing. I know, if they don't fail why replace them with Torringtons, right? Just call it habit or paranoia.

 

Thanks iclick I think I won't worry about it

 

You don't need to worry about it until you start building higher performance motors. Running cams with big lift puts more strain on the valve train, and changing to full needle bearings is more than just a good practice, it's a necessity. For true bolt-in cams, where you aren't making any changes to your valves/valve springs/rockers, it's not really necessary, but it is cheap insurance.

Since I do a lot of my own work, and I figured I was gonna be in the cam chest anyway, changing over to full needle bearings cost me all of about 18 bucks, and maybe 10 minutes.