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I have a 2002 Harley FLH with about 25K mi. on it. A buddy said that I should replace the cam tensioners because after 25K mi. they are prone to fail. Should I be concerned about this or is it an old wives tale?

I'd check the manual and see if it is a scheduled item or not.

Nothing in the manual about it, just a primary chain adjustment at 20K that was taken care of.

What does the manual say about 'cam tensioners'?

I had a customer who was worried about this on his. I did some research and while some are good til 100K, others are failing at 25K. Be warned, it's a very time consuming and costly repair.

Wrider wrote:I had a customer who was worried about this on his. I did some research and while some are good til 100K, others are failing at 25K. Be warned, it's a very time consuming and costly repair.

If it is a common failure with no advance notice, I would probably replace it. Do they have a new improved version? I replaced the left cylinder cam chain tensioner on my 2002 BMW R1150R. The earlier ones were known to clatter at startup and although allegedly it was not harmful, just annoying noise, enough people complained about it that BMW re-designed it in 2005. On my Oilhead, it was incredibly easy to do, and the new tensioner kit was about $90. Wrider, is it a real PITA to do on the Harleys?

Yeah on the Harleys the cam chain is only accessible once you split the cases, and the all knowing motor company made it so that you have to press bearings in and out of both sides of a plate (which means pulling the whole plate out of the motor). I did the research this spring, and I think the flat-rate time was somewhere around 6 or 8 hours.

Wrider wrote:Yeah on the Harleys the cam chain is only accessible once you split the cases, and the all knowing motor company made it so that you have to press bearings in and out of both sides of a plate (which means pulling the whole plate out of the motor). I did the research this spring, and I think the flat-rate time was somewhere around 6 or 8 hours.

Wow that's insane!

So there is absolutely no indication that the engine may self destruct? No metal shavings in the oil or noises?

I think you should get the manual and read everything there is about cam tensioner's.