you are excellent at presenting the task at hand, thank you

Thanks for this... im buying my 1st TC88 and have heard about these issues...appreciate the knowledge...cheers.

Kevin Baxter from "Pro Twin" mentioned that some people have gone as far as polishing with jewelers polish and wheel, the outside of the chain (your particular type). Makes sense to me as a cheap way to extend the life of your shoes. Thank you for an informative video on how to properly make this crucial check of the cam chain tensioners.

Great video, I check mine every second year but haven't lifted the tensioners yet. I already got the new SE kit home that will be installed in the future

A buddy of mine that has a 2006 Ultra change his at 50k and forgot all about it and at 117 the tensioners fell apart and the metal went through and destroyed a perfect running tc88 that had a lot of life left in her. We replaced it with a S&S 111 and it's a Runner now. Long story short $8500.00 later. Change the tentioners.

This was really useful, i will check those shoes as soon as i can... Thank You so much for this video

Great info I have to do this because I have some noise,, thank you very much for the video..💯

Awesome!! Thank you for sharing!! Will be a huge help for me

I replaced mine with the hydraulic tensioner upgrade and there is a lot less worry about failure and tensioner wear. Cam plate with high pressure oil pump, hydraulic tensioners and cam upgrade. Well worth the money to upgrade.

Great video dude ! I found this link on a hd forum about cam tensioner failure..saved me a ton of cash and sleepless nights ! Thanks brother..I've shared the link for this a few times ...scary shit a dishonest shop could check this same way in 30 min and tell u they were bad and charge 600 or more and litterly do nothing

Great video you have some excellent input on all your video it sure help me I learn from this, thanks for upload this.

Thank you, a very helpful and clear video!!!

Very helpful vid, thank you

Will be checking mine out soon.

Good vid! I appreciate that you didn't film all the simple stuff! Thx

I see that this an old video but I just had my mechanical tensioner replaced with the hydraulic replacement. It wasn't cheap but wasn't as bad as paying Harley to put new bars (12") on my '04 Road King. I had the stainless braided control cables instead of the black plastic. it is pretty bright to begin with. I've only ridden it home and started it again tonight, but the motor is so much quieter than it was. Granted my tensioner was ate up so that is to be expected. The reason I'm posting is I had that done at 24k miles or so and "if done right" I covered a lot of issues and don't have to worry about it again for a long time. I found this video by accident, I wasn't actually looking for this one and it is a good video, but on the 88 I suggest you put the hydraulic kit in. It replaces a lot of parts that may cause you an issue in the future. I have a bad back and no place to work on it so it cost me about $2 grand for the dealer to do it, but I got some help I think. Sounds like it was worth it so far though.

эх, гдеж ты раньше был с этим видео, когда я не знал как посмотреть задний башмак.. до меня дошло что можно было так сделать только после того как все разобрал.. а старый башмак, который я поменял, еще походил бы..😁

some great info, thanks.

thanks for the video, I had to drain the oil to do this but the video helped a lot!

Very clear thanks ride hard and free.

Harley-Davidson never should have gotten away from the evolution design with gears, all they had to do was bump up the design. As we all know the new Milwaukee 8 has basically went back to a gear design with less maintenance, even if you have to check the M8 it’s just one chain and one tensioner on the outside of plate for easy checking. Secondly, Harley-Davidson needs to get rid of the chain primary and 3 hole oil fill because Indian, Victory , Honda, and Yamaha have done it which is why they take away sales from Harley-Davidson to this day.

It looks like I see the opening of the cross over pipe at the start of your video in the lower left hand corner at the start of your video? Are you able to take off the front header without removing the rear? The manual says to remove the entire exhaust, but I'd rather not mess with seating two exhaust gaskets and handling the whole system if I don't have to. I have 20K on my bike and am thinking about getting a Feuling 7088 kit, but at the very least, it's time to take a look. I can't tell if the center clamp on the cross over clamps the two pipe together or just holds the heat shield. Thanks.

Very clear video! Thanks! Did you replace the cover gasket and do you have to drain the oil?

Great video, watched twice so far! Just bought an 01 RK and it appears to have been well taken care of. I can tell the carb has been modified, and it has nice flow intake and exhaust. 23.000 miles …No service records though. Can I possible see if tensioners have been upgraded by removing the small cover on the cam box cover? I'm definitely going with a borescope idea too!

If you have to replace them , buy updated hydraulic setup, bolt cutters, and a adjustable push rods kit to do the job if not removing tank , rockers etc... if you do then install rocker lockers kit !

Nice! Many thanks for info! 🥰

It looks like you took off the exhaust, the peg and rear brake pedal . Is that right -rear brake pedal as well?

Very informative video. Thank you. At what mileage do these tensioners tend to wear to the point of replacement?

You can also get a cheap USB borescope online (

Good video, thanks. I wonder how hard it would be to replace the just outside cam tensioner? Considering you have it apart.

You got me thinking about acessing a view of the inside tensioner. I Have a inexoensive Endo-scope that plugs into my cell phone. I'm going to give it a try. I've also heard that both shoes wear pretty evenly. So the outside probably tells us what the indisde one looks like. Thx

I have a HD 2003 Softail Classic FLSTC. Does it matter what gear my bike is in when I'm doing a clutch adjustment?

If I'm opening up the cam chest the cam plate, cams, and oil pump are all coming out for close inspection. The inner cam bearings are getting replaced.

At 10 k miles and 18 years old mine looked fine. I replaced the outside one because it was so easy. The inside one I left alone a lot more work. Usually they give you a warning by making a noise when worn through. If I had to do it again I would not check till 20k miles.

Thanks

That tool made from a plummers faucet wrench is a good idea.

I am not much of a mechanic... do you know approximately how much it costs to have them changed? How many hours labor involved?

What year and model is this? Do you prefer the 88? If so why? Thanks. I am trying to decide what to get next. I had a 2005 Softail and it was fine as long as I stayed under 60-65 when It would buzz the foot pegs something fierce at any over that speed?

I assume that the cam plate would have to be completely removed to replace both shoes ?

If it is grooved is that time to replace it

How do you change the inside tentuner

🏁👍

when i put my gear drive cam in the shoe was cracked in half. How many minutes till my motor blew up.

I'm about to change my tensioners out just for good measure...I'm at 25,000 mi, so I figure when I check them, might as well change them while I'm there & then I'll know it'll be a while before I have to crack this thing open again & give me some time to save up for a gear drive conversion...great hack on the tool...how old is this bike & it's only got 5,000 miles on it? Need to get out & put some more wear on those tensioners! Lol!

I understand the front chain because of Crank run-out but making the rear-drive a chain was a really stupid idea Harley Davidson

I have an 02 Road King with 88TC, Mileage was in low 30s K when I got it.. Now 5 years later it has almost 57k on it.. I feel confident someone (previous owner) did something to it, I have not been able to look up any service records, HD has none anyway.. However I would like to inspect and see at least what it was upgraded with and if it needs service.

oh, ya..... as a side note , i pulled this cam chain tensioner off my 1999 fxdl. it run just fine without them...

Wouldn't be surprised if the fuel in the oil from blow by trashes the plastic. Seen videos of 3 turns out and up the idle jet. If you can smell unburned fuel on the dipstick it's not good.

29000 mine was worn out/breaking up

I checked the tensioners on my former 1999 , by pulling both of them , and throw them away.

I think i can get to all the hex bolts without taking off the exhaust!! One or two bolts are a little close to the exhaust but i stuck a long Allen wrench on the bolts and cracked them lose. I,m hoping I can do it that way because i fear not being able to get the exhaust back on correctly. If I can see and do what i have to without taking off the exhaust Great. If I need to change them well, I guess the exhaust will have to come off for sure then. I am looking for the cheapest way to do the work. I know without adjustable push rods there is more work involved but I am on disability and don't make crazy money anymore. Although it looks like i can get to all the bolts with the exhaust still connected, I am hoping i don't have to beat the cam cover off with a rubber mallet cause then I will definitely take the exhaust off!! I don't know why I am scared to take the exhaust off, but I AM LOL. I used to have a good friend that knew Harleys inside and out and had the tools to do what has to be done and he and I used to work on my bike all the time, then go for a ride. I've since moved 1200 miles away and have no friends like that where I am now, so I'm on my own. I pray my tensioners are okay but it is a 2001 with 24000 miles so I'm thinking they definitely have to be replaced. If I want to ride I'm going to have to do it myself cause being on disability I sure can't afford a Harley mechanic.

TC 88 designed by a high school flunkie. Replace shoes every 25-35k and need to rip half engine apart to do it???

Plastic chain tensioners who in God's world came up with that idea

The preparation for removing the plate is a couple of grulling hours. A large list of tool and when you do get the heaers bolts off you have to pry them off the engine. Just saying for thos who want to tackle this be prepared.

My 2005 Road King Custom's tensioner broke and it cost me $1,100 to fix - damn Harley dealer sold it to me without telling me it had to be replaced and it broke 1000 miles after buying it used - bastards!

When are people going to figure out that you can remove those tensioners and run these engines without them. The engineers that designed these gears and that chain measurement never intended for some tensioner to be used on the non tension side of those chains. The tensioners was created by sales marketing competition to get rid of the sonic hum. I removed all my tensioners on my early 2000,s 88 TC engines and they do well

good. now make a video of how to pull both spring loaded tensioners , and show the motor running without them.

Harley really screwed up this design. Nice vid though

Harley davidson are the yugos of the motorcycle industry

Ridiculous design!!! if I was doing the designing I would have made where you can replace both tensioners without pulling out all the cam chest.

I would NEVER get close to that cavity with ANYTHING that can slip out of your hand and fall down in the hole. I'd tape a string or chain or anything to it.

Cam in the block, when was this engine invented 1936, Oh yeah that is right, in 2020 engines have their cams on the head, where they belong

Cant see a Dam thing with your hands in the way !!!!!