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harley preventive maint

my bike now has enough miles that it really *should* have a lifter inspection this winter, so im going to take the sidecar off so i can get the exhaust off without contortions. im wondering if there are any other bits that are worth just doing while its off - im idly thinking about rear swing arm bushings and the front lower engine mount - anything else to pay attention to?

if the lifters show *any* wear im going to replace the lifters, install 255 cams and new inner cam bearings while its apart. if the lifters look perfect im just going to put it back together as is till 50k or so.

thanks

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when was the rear belt replaced ?

What year bike and how many miles, HD's are pretty low maintenance anymore.

its the factory belt - has several holes - but no fraying or cracking

if i elect to change the belt ill change the compensator & the inner primary bearing and race and possibly the chain tensioner. & quite likely ill go to a 30 tooth trans sprocket and modify the swing arm to allow me to continue to run a stock belt.

"so far" that is not on the list this year

its a 07 and has about 30 thousand on it 100% with the sidecar on it.

so far the only known item that is questionable at that miles is the lifters - they are cheap & can actually be changed without removing the cam cover

the ONE item on the list this year is the lifters

belt? hmmm

motor mounts? hmmm

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I have a 2001 roadglide/california friendship 3 I bought new with the sidecar the bike may have about 2000 miles with out the sidecar, it now has 79000+ miles, extensive traveling 3 up. The belt broke around 60,000 miles I looked it over that week it truely looked fine but........

I began to notice metalic in the oil the last couple oil changes before the belt broke so after I changed the belt and pullys I took it to the dealer, the cam chain adjusters were shot the book said you should check them at 50,000 the cam lobes were wore that was the reason for the metalic glistening in the oil they installed new lifters,cam chain adjusters and installed new take off cams I have been good to go since.

Now in july this year I installed an automatic primary chain adjuster and replaced the original chain and sprokets I got tired of adjusting the chain

It gets stock new plugs every spring and I change the oil and filter (black filter no chrome one for me thankyou) every 2500 miles and I don't use synthatic oil

timo, if anything it wouldn't hurt to look at the cam chain adjusters

My 02 ultra only 1200 with the hack which I have only had it on for about 2 1/2 months put 89K on it with out. Being you have a 07 should not be a problem with the chain adjuster like on the touring Harley s 06 and earlier. The dyna where the first to get the hydraulic cam chain adjusters in 06 all others in 07.

At 50K in 2005 just before I rode to Alaska the adjusters where eat clear though the nylon shoe into the metal. Since I have up dated to the hydraulic. I have not replaced anything on the swing arm. Only other thing I had to do to it is replace a stator and general maintenance.

I all so use black filters and use full synthetic Mobil 1 V twin oil and change it every 5K. I changed my belt at 80K just to be on the safe side but mine all so has the wider belt then the later bikes which I like a lot.

You might want to think about changing the fuel filter which is a bit of a pain. I have replaced mine twice and getting ready to do it again. Are you having problems with your lifters?

Hey Tim: Something you might want to check is---if your bike has one of HD's primary "self adjusting primary chain adjusters-- they have a bad habit of overadjusting and taking out the engine or trans, bearings. A couple of guys locally have had this problem. By the way am enjoying your wheel and have run it quite a bit. The smaller diameter raises my gearing about 300 rpm which works out good for me.Pulls the hills better--but with 110 back wheel h.p. hills weren't,really a problem anyway.LOL "TOO much is just about right". Anyway thanks again and good luck and/or hackin,

glad it worked out for you.

i am thinking about a hayden or a baker tensioner - the expensive part is not the tensioner its the primary cover - no inspection port.

two options - get a baker cover.... or machine a cover to hold a inspection port - i lean to the latter.

either way ill see what i find when i get around to the winter inspection.

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I do not see a need for an automatic primary chain tensioner. How often do they need adjusted maybe once every 30k miles if that? With all the problems I have read with the later models with chain tensioners, compensating sprockets I am so glade I have a 02 all so the 02 was the last year with the good Timken motor sprocket bearing from the factory. 90K and still going strong.

when ever the primary comes apart - new compensator, 30 tooth trans sprocket, manual adjuster, new inner prmary bearing and seals.

if [well, when] the engine goes south - 96", hoban crank, timken, gear drive cams with a cam close to a 255.

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Do late models run a differen primary bearing from my 02? My primary bearing has 90K and still looks go0d. Another thing I like about mine is it has the wide belt. 😉

they do and its a known problem that they crap out.

pros of new bikes - the efi works really really well, they are fast - very fast. my shovel with me alone acted stressed at 65 - the 07 pulls the sidecar 80... night and day

cons of new bikes - the chain tensioner sucks, the lifters suck, the gearing for 07 is too tall, inner primary bearing craps out.

oh well, i just keep riding

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Only real problem I had with mine was the mechanical cam chain adjusters. First time I replaced them in 2005 before they came out with the hydraulic adjusters. Second time I up dated them to hydraulic. I do not care about fast at my age as I have had plenty of hot rods I just like going far. My old 88 does well puling my HD hack so far at 90K. EFI works well on mine first year for the Delphi on touring models. It is all good and I agree ride on.