Gear drive cams vs chain?

[HDDon]

picked up bike yesterday, not sure about performance yet! but I do notice that there is a good bet of whining with the gear drive.

I have read that many have the whine problem with gear drive. When I called S&S and ask about the whine problem, before changing over to the gear drive, they were very helpful and even spoke to the Harley shop where I had the work done. Maybe I just got lucky, but nobody can hear my gears, not even my wife, and she can hear every word I say under my breath.:newsmile100::newsmile100:

 

[Jack Klarich]

I have read that many have the whine problem with gear drive. When I called S&S and ask about the whine problem, before changing over to the gear drive, they were very helpful and even spoke to the Harley shop where I had the work done. Maybe I just got lucky, but nobody can hear my gears, not even my wife, and she can hear every word I say under my breath.:newsmile100::newsmile100:

Bet she hears you typing in the middle of the night like mine does

 

[59Panhead]

Hi Jerry from the Denver here ! The gear drive system is far better then the chain one Harley came up with! Timing and valve operation is far more accurate and there will be a slight increase in HP ! Harley had gear drive cams in there engines since the 30's....all the way till the Twin Cam came out!

 

[Jack Klarich]

Hi Jerry from the Denver here ! The gear drive system is far better then the chain one Harley came up with! Timing and valve operation is far more accurate and there will be a slight increase in HP ! Harley had gear drive cams in there engines since the 30's....all the way till the Twin Cam came out!

With out a doubt gear to gear more accurate and less to go wrong but that posses the age old noise problem once again and we all know how The MOCO complies with the EPA right?

 

[FishHunter]

One point of interest I'll make mention of, is the fact that the gear driven cams will deliver more power, vs the chain counterpart, as back in 2001 we did back/back testing and the geared units showed 2-3 more hp and torque.
Dead-(edited) accurate cam timing is what we atributed it to.
Scott

 

[globalwheels]

Have found no whine but gear drive a little noisier, also a little more response. As far as the noise goes I think that I'm on one of the older scoots I used to ride. Live + Learn

 

[jim1102]

i just got my motor completely rebuilt,i installed a.625 lift gear drive cam with gear drives by S&S and it is quieter now than it was bone stock.You have to check the backlash in the gears when setting up.I also would definitely have the crank trued,balanced,and welded if installing any kind of performance gear drive cam.If not you are asking for problems.j.m.o. jim

 

[Buster]

I know this is an older post but just ran into it the other day while doing research for a customer. As I read this, doing a replacement on an 01 FLH and going the new hyd tensioner route, I need to replace the cams with the earlier version(up to 01) and buy a new silent chain? I'm not looking to beat a dead horse, just want to make sure I've got it correct.

 

[TQuentin1]

I know this is an older post but just ran into it the other day while doing research for a customer. As I read this, doing a replacement on an 01 FLH and going the new hyd tensioner route, I need to replace the cams with the earlier version(up to 01) and buy a new silent chain? I'm not looking to beat a dead horse, just want to make sure I've got it correct.

Check this out:

Roller Chain Conversion white paper

Roller-chain Conversion - Harley Davidson Community

TQ

 

[Buster]

Very cool, thank you