Everything is junk! You have to take care of your junk and improve it. My appendix exploded, but I ain't sueing God!

BTW, I love my twin cam and think they are the BEST!

 

I owned a Shovel and a Panhead series, knew of a few with EVOs' and they were fine for the time. I have owned Yamaha, Kawasaki and Honda, all have their drawbacks all have issues. I currently own a '03 TC and love it, very dependable to date and as with yours, when I get miles on it the stock 88ci goes away for most likely a 103ci. I can deal with a little less power until the engine wears to a point it needs O.H., I can still remember V8 Chevy's needing valve jobs at 30k and rings shot at 50-70k burning oil to the point of a quart added between changes so 40+k on a stocker Harley cannot be too bad on luck.
Most likely yours has developed piston slap which is not uncommon and far from destructive, just noisy until the engine heats up and comes and goes as the engine works or coasts.

 

Evo's bulletproof? I seem to remember Evo lifters being good for about 25,000 miles. They were finally upgraded to a larger axle for the roller, not to mention weeping cases, and leaks at the cylinder bases. The Twin Cam oil system is far superior to the Evo's, and O rings at the cylinder bases don't seem to leak. The Twin Cam's only Achilles heel was the old spring loaded cam chain tensioners which has been corrected with the hydraulic tensioners. The earlier models are easily upgraded with gear drives or the later hydraulic set up. I have two twinkies and they have been the most dependable motorcycles I've ever owned, and I've been riding over 40 years. Twin Cams ain't junk!

 

+1 troll.

 

Yeah,well,I have two 05s they are good runners,but at 30,000 replaced tensioners, cam bearing ,lifters,pushrods and fuel filter,none of these things were needed at time of replacement just as preventitive maintenance.No problems and fully expect not to go back into motor untill 70,000 to do the same things.Is that the kind of maintenance you have done?

 

sell it and buy a new can am then go to the can am forum

 

I just find it amazing that with "some" people, every bad thing that happens is attributed to union workers. I try not to paint with such a broad brush. Are our bikes perfect? No. After weighing all the options, I know what I've chosen so they (the company, the workers) must have done something right. When I wear this one out, if I feel the need for something new, I'm sure I'll be going with another HD. Out of all the bikes I've had (incl. Honda CBX, Kaw KZ900, Suzuki 1200 bandit), I've riden this one the most. It rocks.

 

I am betting the cam tensioners shoes never got changed in that 43K miles. And that is what took it out. I had an 05 with about 28K Flawless miles. Shoes were about half worn when I traded it for an 08. The 08 now has 23K flawless miles. Everything in life has a weak link. The shoes are a widely known weak spot on your year. Had you shown up here 25K miles back you would have known about this.

 

I agree with Donnylee's assessment. Outer-cam bearings were a problem with the early-TC's, primarily the first few years starting in '99, but I thought this had largely been fixed after the first few years. I know that owners of some years received letters from HD giving them a 50k-mile no-time-limit warranty on the cam area, so you might inquire into this. I'm not sure if it applies to bikes as late as '05, though. I think there's at least a chance you might get some relief in the form of a goodwill warranty from HD. OTOH if the problem was caused by the tensioners wearing-out and failing I doubt if you'll get much assistance, as everybody knows that is a maintenance item on these engines. They should be checked every 25k or so.

As much as I revere the Evo, I would recommend either to fix your present bike and install a late-model cam plate with hydraulic tensioners and upgraded oil pump, or buy a late-model TC. These newer bikes have a much improved design in the cam area and to date I've heard about very few problems with them.

 

Look on the bright side,when it quits you don't have to swim or bail out just walk away!


HAVE A BRIGHT SUNSHINE DAY