Cams for TriGlide

[Rod69]

Thinking about putting cams in the 103. Which Screamin Eagle cams would work the best in the TG. The 254E or the 255 cam? Need your input please. Thanks.
Rod69 TOI#900

[Trent]

I have the 255's in mine. That is what the tech at my dealer recommended. No complaints so far!! Do the lifters too!!

[msocko3]

The 254E may be a touch softer on the bottom end than the 255 due to its later intake close, 43 vs 25. I have no experience with the 245E, I have run the 255 in a trike and aside from its desire for good quality fuel it was a pretty good cam.

[eagle1]

consider the S&S 510 gear cam. it eliminates the cam shoes, and really made my '09 t/g
a better bike to ride. s&s said that was the biggest gear cam before haveing head work. at 14k my cam shoes showed more wear that i or the shop guy thought would be normal.

[jcolson]

I have the 259e cam in my 2011. I was suppose to get the 255cam. The 259e cam was a new cam.Don't know how the 255 cam reacts. I installed the SE Ported & Polished heads also. Maybe that's why they put in the bigger cams. I have plenty of power. I also have the SE tuner,10:5/1 high compression forged pistons,V&H Power Duals &Pro mufflers. It puts out 100hp.

[Oldmsocko]

consider the S&S 510 gear cam. it eliminates the cam shoes, and really made my '09 t/g
a better bike to ride. s&s said that was the biggest gear cam before haveing head work. at 14k my cam shoes showed more wear that i or the shop guy thought would be normal.

Please remember if you go to gear cams you have to worry about your crank run out instead of cam shoes. I have 26,000 miles on my TG and the shoes look good.

[bullet 10]

How about Andrews new 48 cam Intake close at 29? New this year.

[msocko3]

I have the 259e cam in my 2011.

I was suppose to get the 255cam.

The 259e cam was a new cam.Don't know how the 255 cam reacts. I installed the SE Ported & Polished heads also. Maybe that's why they put in the bigger cams. I have plenty of power. I also have the SE tuner,10:5/1 high compression forged pistons,V&H Power Duals &Pro mufflers. It puts out 100hp.

The 259e cam requires the installation of 10.5.1 pistons. Cam selection is a choice one has to take a lot of things into consideration. One has to look at their riding style and expectations, they have to consider available fuel quality, they have to have a means to tune it once the modifications are complete, they have to look at the everything from air cleaner to exhaust including the cylinder heads and throttle body and injector size. The vast majority of simple cam swaps won't have to sweat the heads, throttle body and injector size along with pistons.

To me in this day and age fuel quality is a big driver when choosing components for a build or cam swap.

There have been some pretty good rumors floating around that 15% ethanol is right around the corner. If a person only rides in an area with good quality fuel available they can put together a pretty stout build.

When I choose cams for my dads and my Triglides I took in to consideration we travel a considerable amount and run into crummy fuel. Last year I was filling up with 89 octane with 10% ethanol and aside from a drop in fuel mileage mine ran like a champ, I could have pumped 87 in it if I had wanted to.

Now if I kept close to home I could have put together an nice 103 or 107 build running in the neighborhood of 110 - 120hp and torque around 10ft/lbs greater. The down side is it would have required 93 octane.

Sometime I'll be posting a build I'm in the process of doing for my around town fun bike which could be duplicated in a trike if a person felt like it. Even with the build I'm doing I should be able to feed it 89 octane in a pinch.

[msocko3]

consider the S&S 510 gear cam. it eliminates the cam shoes, and really made my '09 t/g

a better bike to ride. s&s said that was the biggest gear cam before haveing head work. at 14k my cam shoes showed more wear that i or the shop guy thought would be normal.

The only thing with gear drive cams is the worry of crank shaft run out which S&S recommends a max of .003 for gear drive. My 2010 Triglide with 10,000 miles had .005 run out on the pinion side, would have sounded like a cement mixer with gear drive. This engine was running gear drive until the crank shifted beyond the limits and the gears started getting noisier. I could have switched to chain drive cams and a hydraulic tensioner conversion and kept running it until either the crank shifted more and ate the oil pump or nothing happened. I opted to just pull it and build a new engine with a crank crank shaft custom built to keep it from shifting.

[msocko3]

How about Andrews new 48 cam Intake close at 29? New this year.

IMO the Andrews 48 would be a better choice than the 255, 29 intake close vs 25. Even with 29 intake close fuel quality and tune will have to be good.

[Rod69]

Thanks for all of the information. Have a lot to think over. Rod69 TOI#900

[Trent]

Hey Rod...Was at the dealer today to talk about installing LED lights on the tour pack...asked my tech, who has been doin' Harley's for 32 years about my motor. They dont have a dyno to fit trikes, but he figures with the 255's, lifters, Ness Big Sucker, Screamin' Eagle tuner, V&H Power Duals and V&H Black W mufflers, mine is puttin' out 90 to 95 HP with the similar mapping he did on it. If I ever travel where there is a dealer with a Trike dyno, I will have them do it and re-tune it. The 255's work just fine for me.

[Rod69]

Thanks for the info Trent. Have the Stage 1, Fatshots, and PC-V. Numbers look pretty good. Will really consider the 255. Have to do some more talking to the service manager and service tech about their input. I have gotten some pretty good info from the Trike Talk Family. Thanks a lot.

Rod69 TOI#900

[msocko3]

Hey Rod...Was at the dealer today to talk about installing LED lights on the tour pack...asked my tech, who has been doin' Harley's for 32 years about my motor. They dont have a dyno to fit trikes, but he figures with the 255's, lifters, Ness Big Sucker, Screamin' Eagle tuner, V&H Power Duals and V&H Black W mufflers, mine is puttin' out 90 to 95 HP with the similar mapping he did on it. If I ever travel where there is a dealer with a Trike dyno, I will have them do it and re-tune it. The 255's work just fine for me.

You might be surprised what it actually is putting out, I've seen bikes and trikes make their first un-tuned pull and be 10hp and more than that down on torque. I haven't seen many SE255 builds hit 90 hp, the average is in the mid 80's with torque around 100 - 105 ft/lbs. With the quick intake close it doesn't have the legs to horsepower, kind of runs out of breath around 4,500 rpm. A trike will HP lower than a bike due to all the parasitic loss through the drive line and the extra mass of the tires. A bike has a belt to the rear wheel sprocket and a singe rear wheel to drive. A Triglide has the belt to the rear sprocket which turns a differential with the addition of 2 axles and 2 rear wheels. When my dad had his 09 Triglide tuned the year before last when it had SE255 cams it went 73hp and 93ft/lbs torque.

It could have made a little more with cooler temps and lower humidity, it was tuned on a 88 degree day in August.

[jcolson]

MSOCKO3,haven't had any pinging issues with my built engine as of yet. Last year we drove to California. The lowest octang I put in was 89,no issues.Years ago all you could get was 85.That was in Colorado. When my lifter took a dump in October I asked if I should put in SE lifters. They told me for the price,it isn't worth it. I hope this new set of stock lifters doesn't go out again & take out the cam & oil pump. I only had 7800mi.on the motor. Next time it will probably be out of warranty. I would not be a happy camper.

Jim

[Trent]

That is good info Msocko.. and makes sense,,,It will be interesting to see what it is really puttin' out when I can get it done..Will let ya know when it happens.. soon I hope.

[msocko3]

MSOCKO3,haven't had any pinging issues with my built engine as of yet. Last year we drove to California. The lowest octang I put in was 89,no issues.Years ago all you could get was 85.That was in Colorado. When my lifter took a dump in October I asked if I should put in SE lifters. They told me for the price,it isn't worth it. I hope this new set of stock lifters doesn't go out again & take out the cam & oil pump. I only had 7800mi.on the motor. Next time it will probably be out of warranty. I would not be a happy camper.

Jim

Near as I can tell running some quick calculations and making some assumptions I figure your static compression is around 10.19:1 and corrected compression is around 9.08:1 and your ccp is 187 give or take. I took my figures based on a WAG that your heads are the SE CNC ported MVA heads which have a 95 cc combustion chamber, and I figured .045 for the head gasket thickness because most SE head gaskets fall in this range, I also used a dome volume of of 12 cc.

Your build actually with a good tune as you found out can run some of the cheaper fuels in a pinch with no issues.

You made the right choice passing on the SE lifters, their made by Jims and are not the best quality. I've see some pictures of them grenaded and some pictures where the rollers started taking a funny wear pattern.

[jcolson]

Some one on here was talking about the rear brake kit. I was at the HD shop today & the parts guy found out the kit is from Performance Machine. Cost is $2000.00 for everything.To rich for my blood! The front brake works just find in conjunction with the back. Not worht it. Just my opinion. By the way MSOCKO3,my pistons are 10:5/1. The heads are SE Ported & Polished. They are better than the 110 heads.

[TheBobs]

Some one on here was talking about the rear brake kit. I was at the HD shop today & the parts guy found out the kit is from Performance Machine. Cost is $2000.00 for everything.To rich for my blood! The front brake works just find in conjunction with the front. Not worht it. Just my opinion. By the way MSOCKO3,my pistons are 10:5/1. The heads are SE Ported & Polished.

Wow, +1 passing on that kit. Can buy a WHOLE bunch of brake pads for that, and throw in a couple rotors to boot.

[Don 1800]

rod you mite call williams get alittle more intake on this