TC 88 cam cover off check

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  • steelo
    steelo
    3 years ago
    I must say. They do look brand new. I replaced mine at 105k. 
  • Krash Kinkade
    Krash Kinkade
    3 years ago
    rick k , yes they do look good & oil very clean too!
    mine used to come out looking like the one's in Steelo's pic. But with a lot less KM than 105k.
    having said that I also had a brand new replacement tensioner fall apart, soon after replacing them & was lucky to get to it while all parts , still in the cam chest.
    mine was a 2001 year tc 88" but was tuned up, & I raved it to 7,200 regularly. I put gear drive cam's in & proved to be reliable.
    I would think your motor probably uses bee hive valve springs, with less valve seat pressure than what I had.
    I was using Andrews 55 cams & a m8 in states got me a set of Andrews 55G at a good price, so I got to compare chain drive & gear drive on Dyno. as there was no other changes to my motor. And I can tell you, there is not even 1 HP difference between Chain Drive & Gear drive. but that bike still going strong & still has same gear drive. So only benefit of gear drive, is don't have to service it. but. if your only changing the tensioners at 105k, stick with what you have!
  • beaglebasher
    beaglebasher
    3 years ago
    Glad you started this thread  rick.  I am planning on taking the cover off this weekend. I have been looking at you tube as benno suggested but I get frustrated with it. I watched a couple last night but after 20 minutes  of listening to a really annoying prick I gave up.
    My bike has nearly 50 k on it and if they look like yours I will just  put the cover back on. 
    Any tips would be appreciated



  • beaglebasher
    beaglebasher
    3 years ago
    Cheers for that rick.  I will take a few pictures like you did.
    The last time I changed the oil I didnt change the filter so if there is anything in there it should be obvious.
  • beaglebasher
    beaglebasher
    3 years ago
    Just had the cover off and real happy with what I saw. I boxed it back  up. Wouldn't have  taken  me  any more than an hour. Its gonna  take me longer than that to figure out how to put up the fukin pics.
  • beaglebasher
    beaglebasher
    3 years ago
    Its got around 55k on the clock.  If somone has a pic of what worn shoes look like before they have been removed I would appreciate that.
     I reckon steelo will  be googling and photo shopping like fuck  when he reads this.  Dont let me down mate !
  • beaglebasher
    beaglebasher
    3 years ago
    I used a small  torch and looked in as best as I could but as you know i you can't see much.  I brought  a small  telescoping  mirror  home from work but  it was slightly too big to get in there  and I didn't want to break it.
    The only  concern  I have  now is that the  leading  edge  of the shoe or the  trailing edge and do  they wear evenly?
    Hopefully  someone  with  more experience in thie tensioner  department might   comment. 
    I have  looked  closer  at steelos   photos  but  it is hard to  tell. 

  • beaglebasher
    beaglebasher
    3 years ago
    Just  on the  off chance  steelo,   do you  still have  the  old shoes?  I know  I am  pushing my luck  here but  if you  still  have  them  any chance you could take another couple of pics from  both ends.?

  • steelo
    steelo
    3 years ago
    Sorry Beags. I  no longer have the shoes. Just checked. Found some more pics.  You can see how the shoes got eaten into and bits broke off
    What is your issue, perhaps someone can help
  • beaglebasher
    beaglebasher
    3 years ago
    Thanks  steelo. 
    I I am just  wondering if it is  possible to get the wrong impression of the  condition of the shoes just by looking at them.  I think  mine  are good  but you  really  can't  see everything just by taking the cover off, especially  the  back one.
  • steelo
    steelo
    3 years ago
    BB. New Cam shoes and gaskets for my job were about $400. The labour was quite a large component. You look to have only a couple mm wear at most on the shoe plates. It's the stained age color that'd worry me. (have they become more brittle?) You could be realistic. I'd give em another 10 to 15k kms (2 services @ 8k) and have another look with a view to replacing them no matter how they look. You have the technical skills to do it which I don't
  • Kato
    Kato
    3 years ago
    I was quoted $2200-00 to replace my cam tensioners. 
    Was told that the cam plate must come off to replace the rear tensioner .
     This in turn requires the pushrods to be removed and replaced . Then of course HD has a new cam plate that replaces the spring tensioned shoes to hydraulic shoes (VERY unusual for HD to have a conversion kit - not .....and thats a $1000-00 by itself FFS) 
    the spring loaded cam tesioners changed to hydraulic in 07 i think.
    Ive got 82,000 Kms out of my original cam tensioners but i  wil be replacing them soon (just not sure which way i should go) 
  • Krash Kinkade
    Krash Kinkade
    3 years ago
    All twin cams have a cam tensioner for the inside short chain & another for the outside long chain, outside one what you can see easy, inside you can't see.
     I had the tensioner replaced & soon after the new tensioner fell apart. so I went s&s gear drive ( no gain in HP or TQ just less maintenance ). I don't own a twin cam now. but that gear drive still working ok as know new owner.
  • Ratbob
    Ratbob
    3 years ago
    Quoting Krash Kinkade on 16 Dec 2020 02:08 AM

    All twin cams have a cam tensioner for the inside short chain & another for the outside long chain, outside one what you can see easy, inside you can't see.

     I had the tensioner replaced & soon after the new tensioner fell apart. so I went s&s gear drive ( no gain in HP or TQ just less maintenance ). I don't own a twin cam now. but that gear drive still working ok as know new owner.

    Hey Krash, was the gear drive very noisy?
  • fatbat
    fatbat
    3 years ago
    Older harleys were all gear drive. They’re not much noisier than chain. To be honest you never hear the difference if you have an aftermarket exhaust 
  • Krash Kinkade
    Krash Kinkade
    3 years ago
    Quoting Krash Kinkade on 16 Dec 2020 02:08 AM

    All twin cams have a cam tensioner for the inside short chain & another for the outside long chain, outside one what you can see easy, inside you can't see.

     I had the tensioner replaced & soon after the new tensioner fell apart. so I went s&s gear drive ( no gain in HP or TQ just less maintenance ). I don't own a twin cam now. but that gear drive still working ok as know new owner.

    Quoting Ratbob on 16 Dec 2020 02:56 AM

    Hey Krash, was the gear drive very noisy?

    Ratbob , at the time, I could not hear below 100dec , now have two bionic ears . when I'm up Sydney next I'll listen to it let you know. but guessing it would be something like the Gear drive old EH Holden six's, used.
  • Ratbob
    Ratbob
    3 years ago
    Thanks Krash
  • beaglebasher
    beaglebasher
    3 years ago
    Quoting Krash Kinkade on 16 Dec 2020 02:08 AM

    All twin cams have a cam tensioner for the inside short chain & another for the outside long chain, outside one what you can see easy, inside you can't see.

     I had the tensioner replaced & soon after the new tensioner fell apart. so I went s&s gear drive ( no gain in HP or TQ just less maintenance ). I don't own a twin cam now. but that gear drive still working ok as know new owner.

    Quoting Ratbob on 16 Dec 2020 02:56 AM

    Hey Krash, was the gear drive very noisy?

    Quoting Krash Kinkade on 16 Dec 2020 05:38 AM

    Ratbob , at the time, I could not hear below 100dec , now have two bionic ears . when I'm up Sydney next I'll listen to it let you know. but guessing it would be something like the Gear drive old EH Holden six's, used.

    I would hope to fuck the gears are nothing like the old EH timing gears. They were made of plastic . I spent four days and nights stuck at Ayers Rock when the cam gear shit itself.  Just as well we had a rather large bag of dope to smoke. 
  • Krash Kinkade
    Krash Kinkade
    3 years ago
    Quoting Ratbob on 16 Dec 2020 02:56 AM

    Hey Krash, was the gear drive very noisy?

    Quoting Krash Kinkade on 16 Dec 2020 05:38 AM

    Ratbob , at the time, I could not hear below 100dec , now have two bionic ears . when I'm up Sydney next I'll listen to it let you know. but guessing it would be something like the Gear drive old EH Holden six's, used.

    Quoting beaglebasher on 16 Dec 2020 10:10 AM

    I would hope to fuck the gears are nothing like the old EH timing gears. They were made of plastic . I spent four days and nights stuck at Ayers Rock when the cam gear shit itself.  Just as well we had a rather large bag of dope to smoke. 

    BB all I used to wreck on my EH 179 Ute was the diff & the old three speed manual gear box. both could not handle much. the gears on the EH cam were not straight cut like the S&S gear drive &  were not plastic but not steel. all the Speedway sprint cars V8's have gear driven cams & steel.( or looks like it.
  • beaglebasher
    beaglebasher
    3 years ago
    The cam gear that shit itself at Ayres Rock was a bakelite type of stuff that was attatched to a steel boss that fitted on the camshaft. Never saw anything like it then or since.  The only way we could get it off was by holding a snapped in half hacksaw blade and sawing along the top of the keyway. Took us a fair few hours.
    We waited for four days for the new gear to come up from Adelaide but it never turned up so we got towed up to Alice Springs by some young pretend hippy dude driving a Kingswood. All he wanted was for us to fill his tank when we got to Alice Springs. And a couple of joints.
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