Thanks guys. Like I said I was having a mental block, or senior if you prefer, moment.

George

 

Sure can't fault a guy for getting his ducks all in a row before starting a project. Makes things go smoother and gets ya mentally pumped.

Dang I wish I had a build going this winter!

 

Yeah, I think I had the service manual memorized for my cam job. Must've read it 20 times, looking for something that might give me a hard time mentally or equipment-wise.

We could help you think of something. Finding build projects on Harleys is easy, especially if it's someone else's money.

 

I didn't have any plans to do a winter project either, but if you read this forum enough, you will. Funny how that happens.

I am starting my final write up tonight...

 

Awesome! I can't wait, I should be starting this project in the next two weeks, depending on what my company does. They are reveiwing salary levels and word is looking at reducing them, we should know by the 15th. If they get cut again, already had about a $15,000 cut in 2009, I wount be doing this anytime soon I'll be looking for a new job.

George.

 

Thanks everyone on the tensioner, it looks like it will be very easy to Check/replace and not much work to get to, im wondering if maybe a guy shouldnt maybe check it at 50K and if its needed then he should be in plenty of time.

 

Great post, very well done. I used your guide to pull my cams today. Only 1 snag for me.....outer portion of the oil pump stuck to the cam support and the oil pump wave washer fell out. Took me a while but I figured out where that wave washer went.

Thanks again.

 

Me too.

 

When checking for TDC, how do you know if the piston is coming up on the compression stroke, or the exhaust stroke?

Could you also please tell us exactly how you use, and mark, the plastic straw?

Thanks

 

What I did was stuck the straw down the spark plug hole and when the piston was at the top I stuck the straw down to each lifter and if the lifters were both at the same height I knew it was on the comp stroke (base circle of the cams). If they are not, you are on the exhaust stroke I've read here. Also I was told that if the cam cover is not installed yet you can look at the timing marks and line them up the rear cylinder is @TDC. This is how I did it and double checked it with the straw down the plug hole and lifters. Hope this helps as it baffled me too for a while.