I assisted a buddy from work swap the cams in his generally stock 2003 Ultra Classic last night. He has 36k miles on it and I've been telling him he need to check these for a while.

He bought a set of Andrews 26G's a couple months ago and had them pressed into a spare cam plate I had lying around so we could do a "quick swap". Well.... It's been hotter than crap here for a while and only got around to opening it up last night.

When we pulled the cam cover, he immediately began inspecting the outer shoe and pronounced it "OK". I looked & thought it was getting close. When we pulled the cam plate out, we found a much greater degere of wear on the inner tensioner shoe. I'd say that within another 500 ~ 1k miiles, he would heve been chaning more than cams! Check out the pic....

For the curious, his untuned 88" Ultra with just Stage I air filter & flash + D&D slipons runs REALLY strong with the 26G's. Once he gets the PCIII installed and a Dyno tune, I'll post numbers from and 88" w/26G's.


[IMG]local://upfiles/8665/CEF5B69EAD3E4EE1814B1ADFA00A110F.jpg[/IMG]

 

Just curios.Has anyone replaced the cam chain as well as the shoes?

 

Good post, Phil! The pic tells it all. My trip was uneventful (thank heavens) to Monument Valley and back. Chilly going over Wolf Creek Pass...35*. Have the Andrews Gear Drive with the 26's going in on September 12, and looking forward to the results. Appreciate your posts and assitance on this subject. I 'll be pleased, no doubt, if she performs as well as she does now with the current recipe, but won't be surprised at the improved throttle response. Additional torque would be just a plus.

As a side note, I highly recommend the Dogwood Cafe in Pagosa Springs, CO. Best 16 oz ribeye I've EVER had.......pan seared on both sides and then charcoaled to perfection.[sm=loveeyes.gif]

 

I did not replace the chains but did polish them on suggestion from HD. They hint that maybe the chain is extra rough and is the cause of the wear. (Magic uses the same principle of re-direction to fool you too)

Polishing the contact surface (back) did not make any difference.

Attached are a couple of photos of my tensioners. Total milage on them is 21,000 miles.



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[IMG]local://upfiles/15860/9685D39B67804E98BFC5CC7B1920E73E.jpg[/IMG]

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Yours look smoother than mine did. Polishing the chain......good idea, but doesn't it just postpone the inevitable?

 

Does anyone know if they replacement parts are updated? Are they any more reliable than the original tensioner shoes? HOw about the '06 Touring Models....do they still have the same tensioner shoes as the previous years?[sm=biker.gif]

 

Just curious as to what oil you you use and the your change interval is.

 

In my mind.....Yup!

That's why I run S&S 510G's now. (and as a side note.....you can turn the gear cams with your fingers but the chain cams require tools to turn. (there is that much friction) This should translate to a few HP or MPG depending on your goal.