twin cam bearings

i am right now in the process of replacing the cam chain tensioners in my 01 flht. the bike has 40,000 miles on it. and per instructions i am replacing the cam bearings. upon taking everything apart everything in the lower chest looks new with the exception of the adjusters. the bearings look new with no wear marks or anything. if mine look this good how do they they look in bikes with 12,000 or 20,000 miles? my real question is are we changing the bearings out because they really need it or because of the trouble they had on the first twin cams? this job would be so much quicker and easier without changing bearings. what do other people think?

[shovelmike]

The INA bearings the factory uses are not a full complement bearing. The Torrington bearings are full complement. Just a little wear in the cage in an INA and the rollers are no longer properly aligned. From that point they can damage the surface on the camshaft, drop out of the cage and cause expensive damage throughout the engine. It is not worth taking the chance of failure of these inferior bearings. Yes it takes some time, the special tools need to remove and install are expensive, but that is pocket change compared to engine damage.
Ride safe and God bless. Sincerely: Shovelmike.

[gefish]

At 37,000 miles, my 2000 FXD suffered a failure of cam chain tenisoners, cam bearing and then oil pump as a cascade! Granted, it is an early TC. I wasn't aware of this issue on early TC's until it happened to me. I got it fixed and it runs fine now, but it set me back $1200. Since you are in there, might as well change the bearings and save grief down the road.