S&S Gear Drive System
For anyone considering the installation of an S&S Gear Drive system, please take note. The gear drive system eliminates
the cam chains and adjusters found in stock 88 and 96 inch twin cam motors by replacing them with two gears that run the cams
from the crankshaft. The system eliminates the chance of the stock adjusters wearing out or breaking and trashing your motor.
The drawback is this. There will be a loud valve clattering noise that sounds like your motor is running with no oil in it.
That is because most of the motors roll off the assembly line with an untrue crankshaft. The runout on the right half of the
crank where the bottom gear is located will cause the gear-to-gear meshing to be uneven and the noise will travel up the valve
train to the rockers and valves, causing the clattering. The noise varies from motor to motor depending on the amount of runout
on the crank. Mine was unbearable. With the stock cam chain/adjuster setup, the chain absorbed the uneven runout and eliminated
the clattering. There are only 2 remedies to fix this. First, have your crankshaft removed, trued and welded or trash
the gear drive system and reinstall your stock cam chain system. I chose the latter. You can also get a hydraulic cam chain adjuster
which will be more effiicient and take away any chance of a faulty adjuster ruining your motor. As an additional tip, any
time you replace a stock item with an aftermarket or custom item, save your stock parts, just in case you need to reinstall
them later on. This includes stock mufflers, as they will be nessesary if we ever have to get our bikes smogged. Remember,
the only part of your bike that should be loud is the pipes.
- J R Canaguier
