[neuendorf]

My wide glide has 34k and the front tensioner is 80% gone and the back is 99% gone caught it just in time. I'm going gear drive run-out is .002. Has anyone went with the fueling cam chest kit with the 525 reaper cams any feed back would appreciated.

 

[gregbcorley]

Changed my cam chain tensioners at 32,178 miles. The inside tensioner was worn throught to the metallic holder. The outside tensioner was worn about 50%.
The only reason I was not caught out on the road somewhere is because I heard about the wear factor on one of "our" Harley Davidson forum.
The bike is a 2001 RK.
The appropriate parts were replaced on February of 2010.

 

[singe]

Cam Chain Failure

I have 42,000 miles on my 05 Road King Custom. I had oil leak and found the primary was leaking the shop I use also checked the cam and saw it was worn beyond factory specs so I changed it. I went with the gear driven rather than using the chain again. My shop said they see most chain driven cam failure at around 45,000 miles or more. I have done all my scheduled maintenince but have not used a HD dealer. I have prefered a local owned shop that is freindlier and not as costly.

 

[HugoBetz]

When I converted to gear drive at 35K, on my 2000, the tensioner shoes where about half worn. I had less than .0015 runout on the pinion shaft. This along with chain quality may have something to do with premature wear.

 

[dak47]

My front shoe @50,000KM/32,000M, suprisingly back was about only half that wear, Amsoil or Redline and always changed a little on the early side.

 

[GLODIGGER]

2009 ultra failed @ 28,000
Question this; thread has 71437 veiws and 405 posts.
whats that mean ? that Im just one of a very small percent who have had this problem?
If thats the case then HD isnt going to change a thing and cam shoes is part of regular
maintanance for mileage @ ???

 

[800zr]

Switched to hydraulic cam plate at 25k on my '06 Road King. I have always used Mobil 1 V-twin Syn oil and both tensioner shoes maybe showed 25% wear.

 

[MontanaRoadKing]

I too switched to the hydraulic cam plate using the Herko kit on my 04' RKC with 24,000 miles. Only had 15-20% wear on the tensioners. It appears that they were good for at least another 25,000 or more but who can tell for sure. No worries now and a better oil pump, and 21n cams. Great kit from Herko!

 

[craigp95]

2000 Softail Standard

I had about 10 or 12 thousand miles on my FXST when I did a big bore kit & the tensioners were replaced. At about 48,000 mine blew up, requiring much more than if I'd changed them out earlier----new oil pump etc.
I traded that bike in on a 2011 Road Glide Ultra in October.
My understanding is that the tensioner issues have gone away with these new model bikes----is that correct?

 

[1550vt]

"Looked Good" is the operative word. They can look good, and be very thick showing little wear. The thing is that little wear sometimes seems to be small particles of tensioner shoe floating about and hopefully being caught by the oil filter....after they go through the oil pump.

The newer hydraulic style shoes are made from a different material and I have not read, or heard about anyone having any flaking problems with the hydraulic style shoes. I have seen pictures of a pair with around 30K on them that showed some slight wear....no evidence of flaking.

 

[RickDeVon]

2009 ultra failed @ 28,000
Question this; thread has 71437 veiws and 405 posts.
whats that mean ? that Im just one of a very small percent who have had this problem?
If thats the case then HD isnt going to change a thing and cam shoes is part of regular
maintanance for mileage @ ???

Are we seeing an 09 tensioners failure at 28000....hard to believe...

 

[sjgrzz]

Have pics of mine out of a 2008 Ultra w/ 51,000 miles. The inner tensioner had less wear than the outer. If I could only figure out how to post them

 

[Fefe]

I had a 2006 Low Ryder that jumped time right around 40,000 miles. Luckily, it was parked in my garage at the time, 2 days after i got back from a 1500 mile road trip.

I just replaced the tensioners in my 08 103ci, before they wore out 100s of miles from home.

 

[Trumpeter]

Are we seeing an 09 tensioners failure at 28000....hard to believe...

Yes, this is very odd. This is the first report I've read of a failure with the new hydraulic tensioners in the TC96 engine. I've read many reports of guys inspecting them when the engine is open for other reasons and reporting little evidence of wear at 30-50K or so miles... if they're not going to gear drive, they usually just leave the originals in.

I'd really like to see someone post pictures of worn hydraulic cam tensioners like the many we've seen of the old spring types....

 

[sjgrzz]

51,000 miles '08 Ultra. The inner looked better.

 

[bob01flhtc]

so an 08 ultra still has the old style orange tensioners? thought they all changed to the newer hyd system with the white shoes. my experience has been bikes that have used synthetic oil get more mileage on tensioners

 

[RB Jones]

so an 08 ultra still has the old style orange tensioners? thought they all changed to the newer hyd system with the white shoes. my experience has been bikes that have used synthetic oil get more mileage on tensioners

Bob,

No. All Twin Cams from 2007 onward use the roller chain/hydraulic tensioner shoe system. In other words, all TC 96s have the new system in them with the white composite shoes, which will age out to a darker hue. The only exception was the TC 88 2006 Dyna, which introduced the new setup.

I did the hydraulic tensioner/roller chain conversion at about 35,000 miles on my 2005 Road King using the Andrews N21 conversion cams. I now have 91,000 miles on the bike. No problems. I checked the shoes at about 75,000 miles before I left for Sturgis a couple of years ago and there was no wear to speak of. I also installed new HD cam bearings in the case. The only thing I wished I'd done differently is to install new Harley lifters. I thought I'd be taking the engine apart by now and would replace them then. But the engine is still strong and I'm hoping to get about 120,000 miles out of her before I do a rebuild. I'm just worrying that the original lifters may go before then because I'm hearing a little tapping that lasts about a second after cold startup.

If you want, go with gears, but many gear jobs whine horribly. The roller chain conversion is much simpler and can be done by anybody who has moderate wrench skills with the minimum of special tools and no fussing around with roller and ball bearings. Plus you get a beefier oil pump in the bargain.

 

[sjgrzz]

The shoe in the pic is the stock tensioner. I bought the bike new Aug. 13 2007 and has never been tore that far before this. Are you saying I had old style tensioner shoes in there??

 

[RB Jones]

The shoe in the pic is the stock tensioner. I bought the bike new Aug. 13 2007 and has never been tore that far before this. Are you saying I had old style tensioner shoes in there??

Not sure who you're directing the comment to, but the tensioner shoe in the pic looks like the hydraulic shoe. They start out white but eventually stain the color you're looking at. The older silent chain spring-loaded shoes started out orange as far as I know. With the wear shown in the photo you could probably go at least 100,000 miles without changing them out unless you've gone to high-lift cams and heavy duty valve springs, then they won't last as long.

 

[ljurak]

The back should be less worned, because is running 50 % slower then front.
Cam to crankshaft ratio is 1:2. If it is not so, than is the presure on Tensioner some how
biger than front. Different tensioner spring characteristics.