My 2013 Road Glide is plagued by compensator issues as many other Harley's are. The 2013 models came with the "upgraded" Screamin' Eagle compensator assembly as Harley knows that the comp is a problem. The comp was again upgraded for 2014 as not getting enough oil to the comp causes excessive wear which will result in a LOUD clunk on start up and noise during acceleration or deceleration while riding.

There are various after market versions available and other items that have been designed to help get more oil to the comp where it needs to keep it from wearing. After researching I decided to go with the Compensaver from GMR Performance.

This is an additional tray that mounts to the inner primary and catches the oil and funnels it to the inner portion of the compensator to keep it from wearing. The original Compensaver was much like the 2014 Compensator with holes in the retaining nut but in 2014 Harley stole part of the design of the Compensaver forcing a redesign of the Compensaver.

The 2014 Harley Compensator has holes in the retaining nut which are supposed to funnel the oil back to the ramps and sprocket in order to keep it lubricated to reduce wear. It also comes with a plastic tray that gets glued to the primary cover to help catch and funnel the oil to these holes. The sprocket has grooves in the 3 spokes of the sprocket (one part of the assembly which is extremely prone to wear and where mine was worn the most) which are supposed to funnel oil in to the shaft extension which is prone to fretting and excessive wear as well and contributes to the issues with this under engineered part.

The original Compensaver from GMR addressed all of these issues in a fashion that had never been done before and was a revolutionary product to work with the stock comp which has been problematic ever since Harley went to 96" motors in 2007. It was so revolutionary that Harley eventually made a very similar setup for the 2014 models.
Read about the Compensaver here.
http://gmrperformance.com/products/c...ver-2014-comp/

The Compensaver guides oil to where it needs to be, repalced the needle roller bearing and two thin washers with a thrust washer with grooves in it and gets oil to the parts of the comp that really need the oil. It also has a magnet in the tray to pick up and bits of metal that may have come off the comp assembly.

GMR Performance has invested a lot of time and money in this product as I am sure them, like everyone else who Rides a bike plagued with comp issues is tired of having to buy a new one every so often.

My 2013 Road Glide did not have any comp issues until I hit 19k miles. It clunked once and I knew what it was right away. I guess this 2013 S/E Comp does last a little longer as I have ready about people experiencing this at much lower mileages. It is debatable but many people think that if you ride a little higher RPM the comp will last longer. I usually ride at about 3k RPM as opposed to many who ride in the 2k range.

The clunk did not become a regular thing until very close to 30k miles at which time I began researching products that are available to replace the stock part. My bike is a work horse and gets ridden daily so I would prefer a part that will far outlast the stock one. I need reliability out of this bike.

After speaking with Steve at GMR for a while, it had been decided. I would do the 2014 comp with the GMR Compesnaver.

In an effort to keep this shorter than War and Peace I will break it down into shorter pieces although this already quite long. I'll get up a step by step of how to install this stuff and I will refer back to this thread with updates and pics of the wear of the new comp etc. Stay tuned.
Here is the Compensaver.

 

Here is my 2013 comp (S/E) that I pulled out with 30K wear is not too bad considering other pics I have seen but it is visible nonetheless. The wear on the sprocket is on the 3 spokes of the assembly where the ramps make contact with it as it compensates when the motor is started.



The pic of the ramp is rather blurry but you can see the visible wear on that as well.


In comparison, here is one that someone posted in my facebook group far more worn than mine.


The sprocket for the 2014 version has grooves on the spokes to retail oil and help get it around the back, as well as the holes in the retainer nut for oil from the Harley scoop to pass through. In theory this is a great idea but how is oil going to travel in through those tiny holes without any pressure?



Notice the needle bearing washer with the thin metal washers. This is new on the 2014 version as well. I picture the needle bearing breaking apart taking out everything in the primary. This is where the GMR Compensaver comes in. It rplaces the needle bearing and two thin metal washers with a thrust washer with slots in it to allow the oil that it diverts from the chain directly into the compensating assembly which helps with fretting on the shaft extension and with the wear on the sprocket and ramps itself. The tray Harley provides is an added bonus but not not address how to get the oil through the tiny holes in the nut retainer and into the shaft extension which is well know for fretting.

Here you can see the slots in the thrust washer from GMR. The Compesnsaver tray will guide oil right to this position and get it where it needs to be.


More to come.

 

Had to grind a few of the fins on the primary cover for the Compensaver to fit.


I didn't get a pic of the Harley scoop in the primary cover yet but here it is as it sits now. I decided to let the glue dry over the weekend so hopefully Monday or Tuesday I will be riding it clunk free again. As you can see the Compensaver drops oil to a different location than the Harley scoop. Others have mentioned that this is no better than Harley's solution. I disagree but have no hard evidence as of yet. What I appreciate is someone taking the time and money to attempt to make a poorly engineered part better. I have no problem supporting vendors of after market parts whom take the time to develop, test and manufacture products that are designed to lengthen the life of parts of my motorcycle. The world actually needs more people to do this as the more upgraded parts come out of eh aftermarket, the more motivation the manufacturer (Harley) has to upgrade their parts.

No one is getting rich making stuff like this, but to see the ingenuity at work is a beautiful thing. To be able to have enough passion in what you do to develop, design, and manufacture this stuff is the true beauty. If it adds life to my comp that is an added bonus.

 

On to the next "issue" in the primary. Supposedly the auto tensioner for the primary chain can ratchet too tight causing the inner primary bearing to go out. Here is wear on my tensioner shoe at 30k miles.


Not bad at all in my opinion. I have the manual tensioner shoe from my softail with about twice that on it right here and it is worn about 3 times as much. The Compensaver will not allow an after market manual tenioner (baker) to fit so I put the stock one back in. I ran the auto tensioner on my softail for 50k miles without issue, and on my Dyna for about 30k, both with built motors, cams etc etc.

If you had inner primary bearing failure as a result of the stock tensioner please post up as I do not recall people actually having this issue in the recent past. A friend had the issue on his 06 Dyna although I am not sure if that came with the auto tensioner although I think it was the first to come with it.

So, a few more days and I can start packing on the miles on this new setup and see how it fares.

 

Centrifugal force moves the oil through the interior of the Comp to the inside.
With it spinning as fast as it is, it should be plenty of force.

I'm one of the "others". I can't see how dropping oil on the outside of a spinning assembly gets oil inside it somehow, but I do appreciate the design and effort Steve at GMR put into this so I'm waiting patiently for more reviews as people use it. Maybe the compusaver's job is to lubricate the spokes and not the interior.

Is there a hole at the end of the "finger" of the compusaver? Have not seen a picture of that yet. (the very end of it)

 

There is a hole at the end for oil to pass through. It's easy to pick things apart, but takes a little more to install it and see how it actually works. I laugh as most people who pick things apart here have never used them. "that won't work because..."

We'll see what happens. I wish not for this to become an argument as to why it will or will not work , merely a place to show to how to report back with real world results. It seems I did not get any pictures of the end of the Compusaver with the hole for the oil to pass through. Oh well.

 

Yes, mine ('08) ramped up pretty bad on a trip and I ran it a few thousand miles. I backed it off as soon as I could, but within a couple weeks the IPB was howling.
Some people spot weld the stock tensioner into permanent tension position after they feel the chain is about fully stretched.

 

Copy/Pasted from a previous thread. This is what I saw inside when replacing needle bearings with GMR's Thrust Washer. As I already had the Compensaver Dip Tray installed before the TW was available.


I'm still curious as to what causes the rusty red fretting seen in the SE comps,
Could it be simply low cost/low quality material? Or because they are dis-similar metals doing an electrolisis kind of reaction? Or just a poor enough fit to wear quickly? This is what I saw in mine after ONLY 1500 miles. It was VERY WELL lubed by the Compensaver oiler tray. I had even wiped it with a rag, Then saw the stains on the rag.

 

Drew.....

I'm asking questions and "wondering", not picking it apart.

For the record I've had Comps down and off bikes 100's of times. I know what is typically in there.
However, I have not had a Compusaver in my hand. Which is why I'm asking you.

If you feel like laughing at me go right ahead. Whatever hoss.

 

Are you still running this setup? If so how many miles and what does it look like now? If not what did you switch to and why?