[cowboy]

Does anyone have a pic of the 03 TC with the nose cone removed ? I'am getting ready to change /check my Cam tensioner's, & the HD manual just has A brake down of it , I would like to see it all together with out the nose cone on Thank's 03 FLHTPI

[ringo912]

Here ya go Cowboy...this is my 02' Heritage, but you should have the same setup. Also, if ya go to page 2 of the post from November 29th title "Assembly Lube", I have a bunch of pic's posted there of my change over to gear driven cams. Hope this helps ya!

[cowboy]

Ringo thank's for the pic's ,now i have A better idea of what I'am looking forword to , the top /back one look's to be a bitch to get at

[ringo912]

Originally Posted by cowboy

Ringo thank's for the pic's ,now i have A better idea of what I'am looking forword to , the top /back one look's to be a bitch to get at

The only way to get the inner shoe out is to remove the cam plate assembly. This of course means the push rods and lifters have to come out. So you either have to cut the push rods with bolt cutters and replace them with adjustables or remove your gas tank, rocker box covers, and rocker arm assemblies to pull them out from the top. Either way the cam plate assembly has to come out to replace the inner shoe. And you can't replace the inner shoe without removing the cam shafts from the cam plate. And of course once you push the cam shafts and bearings out of the cam plate, you have to replace the bearings.

The shoes are about $35 each. The cam chest and rocker box gasket and 0-ring kit is $65. The kit includes new bearings for the the cam plate and the inner cam roller bearings. A bad design creates a lot of extra work.

[stevenh]

Hi Cowboy, the good news is that you can see the inner shoe pretty good with the cover off. Hopefully it won't need replacing.

[cowboy]

Thank's for all the info Ringo, & StevenH it's my kinda luck it will have to be replaced & with 52K miles on her , I'am sure it will have to done , I'am planning on doing the Run For The Wall in March & don't want any trouble from them on the road , then it will will be into A shop somewhere & high buck's wil be Lost , My rear rocker cover seem to have a parttime leak right above the exhaust , so it will have to come off & new gasket put in so apart she will be , I'am looking At Mid feb to do this , after my knee heals a bit

[ringo912]

Let me know when your ready to do it. I'll be glad to help with any info I can provide.

[cowboy]

Thank's ringo , I'am going to start getting the special tool's after the holiday's , & hope to start the job mid Feb

[kenfuzed]

Great pictures Ringo, thanks for sharing.

[stevenh]

Yeah, thanks for sharing. Apparently we'll all have to do this at one point. From what i've read it seems to be a requirement around 50K. I wonder if anybody has gotten much more mileage before having to replace those shoes.

[ringo912]

Glad to contribute to the cause. That's the great thing about this forum. A great group people, with a lot of good info to pass around that keeps all of us rolling down the road.

As I always tell the wife, I'm just here to serve!

[Hot01]

Steve, I got 70K out of mine, but I just got the word that they were on their way out and messed up the oil pump. I just started a thread about it. Before I went on my trip last year I was just short of 60K. Twin States (Lebanon, NH) took a look and said they were worn, but looked OK for the trip, and they probably were. I was planning on replacing them anyway, in fact that's why the dealership out here was in the bottom end. I'm sure I got through the trip OK, but I put another 2,500 on after the trip. I can't say for sure, but maybe the synthetic oil with regular changes helped them hold out that long. Maybe I just ride like a girl and didn't strain anything too much. Who knows.

BTW, I'm heading out to Loveland right now and am taking pictures of my motor all apart, so I'll have something to contribute as well.

[duke76]

I think there is a lot of variables, to why some peoples are shot at 15000 miles and other people get 70000. I took mine apart at 25000 and there was some ptting but was only worn little less than a third. Seems like the guys that use synthetic oil get longer life also I think there is differences in material for the tensioners, some is better, less porous, also how rough the tensioner chain is, if it is stamped out with a sharp die the chain is smoother and the tensioners will last longer, Some guys will polish there chain when it is out also I have heard that the second set of tensioners will last longer because the chain is polished from running on the tensioners and I dont know this to be true for sure but heard that the moco raised the price on the tensioners to 70 bucks almost double what they had been and some people are speculating that they are making the tensioners out of some other material that is better hence, the price increase. or so it is more feasible to do the roller chain conversion, to keep people from doing the gear drive, The moco doesnt make any money on the gear drive, but they do make some on the roller chain conversion.

[cowboy]

duke thanks for that info , I call the one real good dealer in our area & the part's counter said eather 14 or 24 for the front one did not have the rear in stock Goes HD gives A 10% discount to returned buyers on parts & clothes TRG will tell you this as well , So I try to use them as much as possible for dealer stuff , I'll try to remember to call after the holidays & double check

[chucktx]

goes is a good dealer to deal with....i find cowboys also a fair dealer....was on the way to goes when cowboy's steped up with a deal i could not refuse!

[Hot01]

I put the pictures up in my gallery. All you can see are the gears though.