I noticed in Scotty's cam swap that the chain was retained.

Whats the pro's and cons of gear v chain drive cams?

what Rob said.... whilst gear drives give better performance, they are not advisable for a simple changeover on 06 and up Dynas and 07 and up Softtails because of the crank runout tolerances.... well that is what I have come to understand from trolling through threads

Well at the start of the twin cam motor, the chain drive had a limit on the valve lift you could run at the cam lobe, also the chain tentioners were crap and not cheap .

now they have made a few improvements & they say the chain drive ok.

just changing to gear drive on its own does nothing at all, but it turns cams in opposit dirrection so it might help harmonics but i doubt it. about  6 or 7 years back i was runing andrews 55,s with chain, a friend in the states got me a set of andrews 55G that had just been put into a motor tested & pulled out, he got me a gear drive set cheap, so i switched to gear drive still useing the same cam ( andrews 55 ) we dynoed the motor ( my motor has been dynoed 130 times last count ) with the 55 chain drive 01 model, then dynoed it with the 55g gear drive. same HP & TQ not 1hp in it. but i did not expect there to be a gain. i remember when the gear drive first came out some people in the states seemed to think there was a 6hp gain going to gear drive. s&s used to take a demonstration set up to shows, they had stock chain drive with tentioners fitted and they had a gear drive set up, they told people to turn the stock cams over, then turn the gear drive over. everyone was amazed at how easy it was to turn so thought thats why there was 6HP gain. made me laugh.

just thought i would tell you, the gear drive is more for trouble free long term, depends how far you ride and how long you plan to keep your bike.

on another note, a guy i used to know showed me he could get more Torque from motors useing chain drive, over what he could get with same cam in gear drive.

cheers

So there is no difference between chain and gear driven motors at all except for longevity? Running opposite directions/harmonics sounds interesting though.More torque from chain over gears has got me even more confused about installing gears. I do plan to keep my FXCW/C for many years.

I'm running Andrews 26 Geardrive in my 02 Heritage.. 

the reason I went with the Geardrive was that I was aware of the piss poor  adjusters in the early TC motors need changing...

the 26G cam was just what I needed to suit my riding style on this heavy bike, ( low down pull )

I wasn't  looking to rip up the ashphalt, for me it was a no brainer coz I intend to keep this bike for life...

 CHEEKY BUGGER...   hahaha....  I should have mentioned that because it's got a CARB so I KNOW it's going to last longer than me...  

unlike the EFI's that pack it in once the PLASTIC components break down... in a couple of years... 

Amdrews 26 Chaindrive going in mine in a few weeks if I can find the USPS shipment from the states

Thanks all..I think

just to confuse you more, the same guy that showed me he could get more TQ with chain drive now likes the Bobby Wood belt drive as chaning cam timing to fine tune is easy, its also very quiet as uses different cut inner gears and belt outter. but expect to pay$$

I was talking to a guy involved with Harley & he said that there was a batch of 42 bikes (I think superglides) worldwide that had failures. Australia had apparently only 3.

That looks same as my old 01 tentioner problem looks like they use same type of friction material. i would go to gear drive. if you want it quite use Woods belt drive set up. would not matter what oil you use that friction plate wear has noting to do with hydralic's, just crap material they use. makes you wonder were the bits that are missing went.

But then again look at it this way, you probably drive a car that uses a cam chain that is a lot longer than the one HD use in the TC and probably has a tentioner just like this but do we ever check that?

 

 i have a 2000 heritage with 14k on the clock hasnt been ridden hard. Am i in for any nasty surprises with cam chains/ tensioners ??

i have only had the bike a few weeks and have given it a full service and cut open the old oil filter to have a look for any shit that shoudnt be there and all was fine. what sort of mileage can you clock up before you can expect problems ? Are the tensioner pads on 2000 models the crap ones ??  sorry for all the questions but i am new to the whole Harley thing.

The woods belt drive, expensive? So the belt is rubber type stuff? Must be good to be better than a chain. Fucknose guys, even more confused about cam drives. Sounds like I should just stick to my stock setup ('08 fxcw/c) because hd have them sorted out '08 and later? Wouldn't mind "warming" up the motor though,nothing extreme.

That looks cystal clear Scotty, or maybe I need glasses?

Sorry to dig up and revive an old thread but im thinking hard about this issue while looking for a harley.
I ride minimum 30 thou a year and upto 50 thou so reliablity and less maintenance is most important to me.

My only reall problem is I dont have a garage or shed at my place to do much work so im looking for an idea on what it might cost to get somone else to do the work of the gear conversion.

If worst comes to worst I can con a mate into letting take over his shed for a day but while the missus is working remote NT on the big bucks I (she) can prob afford to pay somone.

So from experience, what has it cost you guys to A, buy and install yourself and B, what has it cost to have it done?

+ 1 on the crank runout, it has to be within limits or gears are a waste of money. I bought my cams, gears, lifters, rods, bearings and gaskets for about one thousand in Brissy. While your there you could get the upgraded support plate and larger oil pump as well, cost probably another thousand. The job isn't difficult but you will need some specialist tools.Buying parts from states is cheaper but take the shipping costs into account.