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[phato1]

Spent some time this weekend changing out the lifters in the CUSE6. I bought the S&S lifters with the travel limiters after reading about some of the issues other members experienced with the stock stuff. took a quick photo of what I think is abnormal wear for a bike with 8000 miles on it -- I know I wish I could ride more 

one of the lifters appears to me like it was "skidding" on the cam lobe somewhat. From what I could see of the cam lobes from looking through the lifter bores -I know it ain't much but I wasn't and am still not prepared to pull the whole cam chest apart - the cam lobes look fine with no evidence of wear. Am I crazy to think I may have averted disaster by changing these out??

By the way the S&S instructions sortta sukkked when it came to adjusting the pushrods. Thank god for the forums search feature and having a friend willing to take my call 

[sadunbar]

That's definitely not normal.  It looks like a fair amount of trash went thru it.  I'd be curious of the source.  Not likely the cams are unscathed.  I'd not recommend putting it back together without a good look inside the cam chest.  I'd also be concerned about the condition of the cam bearings..

[phato1]

I may have to phone that friend again asnd see if HE'S prepared to go into the cam chest on my behalf. Work will not allow me sufficient time to perform that kind of surgery......bummer is the 2 year warranty just expired and I rolled the dice and skipped the extended service contract.... not that that would help since the bike wasn't "broke" I just wanted to avoid a bigger repair later -- actually I may have, if the bigger repair is going to happen now.......

The thing is I would think the other lifters would look as bad if there was unwanted debris going though there? Only one showing this lets me hope it was just a bad roller assembly on the lifter..I can hope can't I?

[porthole]

Scroll down and look at the lifter in this thread.
About 4000 miles.

http://www.cvoharley.com/smf/index.php?topic=84030.0;topicseen

[phato1]

Ok, so today I'm in NC doing the college enrollment thing with our daughter and the bike is in a friends garage in Ct on the lift -- said friend's "normal" job is as lead tech for a local HD dealer and I do believe he knows his stuff -- good guy all around also -- I should have a better idea of what I'm dealing with by the time I get home Sunday night.

 I'm still holding out hope that I averted a serious problem, but we will see....

[aclass]

Good luck phato.   Good thing you went in when you did.

[phato1]

Soooooo.. I got my answer and it is a good news bad news thing.

First the good, I double checked my records and my factory warranty actually expires - get this - TODAY -
Bad news is the cams are toast and god knows what else....I'm not to happy with the situation considering the bike only has 7400 FREAKIN' miles on it  

  The dealer is coming to pick it up Thursday and the factory warranty will cover me   - Thank you to the DEALER ( HD is on my sh*t list at the moment), the folks at the dealership just smiled and acknowledged the problem with poor heat treating of the parts in question and also went on to say they have seen MANY cases of this. They didn't define many but probably more than should happen -- Hello HD are you out there? --

the dealer will open up the cam chest, replace the cams, replace cam chain tensioners, inspect cam bearings, inspect oil pump ect... also will drop the oil pan and inspect that for any debris - like fine metalic dust and stuff... right now I'm just hoping they can at least leave the top end alone,  but at this point optimism is not my friend.

AND I ended up working with the dealership to buy the ESP today since it was my last day to do so...I'm sure it won't go to waste, especially if I have to do this much "maintenance" every 10,000 miles....the cost of the ESP was about the same as the estimate for cam replacement - if I had to pay that, so the way I'm looking at it I'll pay the repair cost and get 5 years of ESP free.....If the damage is more extensive I'll definitely come out ahead.  

[aclass]

 .

[murphy]

Go buy a lottery ticket mister!

[phato1]

Glad you're getting covered by the warranty Phato.   Were you hearing any abnormal noises with the bike before this tear down?

I didn't hear anything you would consider abnormal - just the usual sounds that seem to eminate from the 110's like the "piston slap" type noise at around 2400 RPM that goes away at about 2800-3000 RPM.
Bike was running great I just wanted to do something preventive after reading about the problems others have had.

[phato1]

Got 'er back today. 3 weeks later and new cam plate,new cams,new tensioners, oil pump,updated cam bearings and the newest version of the SE lifters. I went with HD parts since I now have the extended warranty and I don't want to give them to much reason to deny a claim later.

Bike runs great again. Here's the thing though, that "piston slap" type noise I was hearing around 2400-2800 RPM or so? IT's GONE! Seems to me it may have been valve train related the entire time  and I was conciously trying to hear anything strange from the engine - I even turned the radio off 

Now if the rain goes away I'll get some miles on it and then change the oil and inspect the filter innards to ensure there's nothing left in there as far as debris. Then it will be time to get ready for Laconia bike week

[SBB]

Got 'er back today. 3 weeks later and new cam plate,new cams,new tensioners, oil pump,updated cam bearings and the newest version of the SE lifters. I went with HD parts since I now have the extended warranty and I don't want to give them to much reason to deny a claim later.

Bike runs great again. Here's the thing though, that "piston slap" type noise I was hearing around 2400-2800 RPM or so? IT's GONE! Seems to me it may have been valve train related the entire time  and I was conciously trying to hear anything strange from the engine - I even turned the radio off 

Now if the rain goes away I'll get some miles on it and then change the oil and inspect the filter innards to ensure there's nothing left in there as far as debris. Then it will be time to get ready for Laconia bike week

Hey buddy, glad all is better now.
When or if the rain ever stops get out there and put some miles on that beautiful machine.

 


SBB

[DICKW]

Luck was on your side ....be grateful your one of the few 

[phato1]

Thanks SBB,
I took advantage of the rain this afternoon to install some new Lyndall brake pads and Daymaker headlight and spots. Some other rainy night this week I"ll install the harness to give the tourpack lighting the run/turn/brake functionality.

[HILLSIDECYCLE.COM]

Got 'er back today. 3 weeks later and new cam plate,new cams,new tensioners, oil pump,updated cam bearings and the newest version of the SE lifters. I went with HD parts since I now have the extended warranty and I don't want to give them to much reason to deny a claim later.

Bike runs great again. Here's the thing though, that "piston slap" type noise I was hearing around 2400-2800 RPM or so? IT's GONE! Seems to me it may have been valve train related the entire time  and I was conciously trying to hear anything strange from the engine - I even turned the radio off 

Now if the rain goes away I'll get some miles on it and then change the oil and inspect the filter innards to ensure there's nothing left in there as far as debris. Then it will be time to get ready for Laconia bike week

The words "piston slap" is kicked around like a socer ball, not only by the bike owners, but also by those that CLAIM to know what they are refering to, when 99% of the time it is NOT that whatsoever, but rather just what you found.....valvetrain noises.
Scott