Has anyone installed one of the wedges and if so what has your results been?

 

I installed one. Results sucked. They had about the shittiest tolerances I've ever seen. I had to rework the entire thing to get it to work. I still have some work to do on it. I had to rip off my primary cover 3 times and still have to go back in. I corrected the indents on the rear for the spacers. Polished the shaft and corrected the hole in the wedge in which the shaft slides. Took it for a ride and no more chain slap. However, if at a higher RPM and let off the throttle I can hear the wedge vibrating as it decels. I think a stiffer spring or a shim in the spring might help this. John Wadsworth (Herko) had to rework some units prior to install for customers and sent some back. Others (soos) didn't bother and sent his back. Once you rework the damn thing it does seem to work though. John did have an update quoted below:

"An update.
Tuned a 2010 FLHTCU today.
Had a repair-corrected-blueprinted Wedge 2 installed.
Bumped the 6100 rev limiter several times.
Primary was very quiet the whole tune. (VTune sessions WOT pulls etc.)
Pulled the Derby cover about half way through the tune.
Chain had what I would call the perfect tension.
All was quiet on the road test too."

WVUltra has one installed. He is quoted below:

"FWIW:

I put 141 miles on the bike today and never heard/noticed an issue with the SOHOT unit. But I'm still in "break-in" mode and not running the bike hard nor going over 3500rpm..........

I'm still very nervous about trusting this thing to work correctly for the long term. Wondering if the stock tensioner spring would interchange with the SOHOT unit?"

 

I bought 2. One for my '06 and one for a buds '08. He has been wreststling with his for over a week now. I kept looking mine over and the more I studied it, the less I liked it. As a machinist I was not impressed with the the condition of the unit as I received it. I sent mine back without ever attempting to install it and will stay with the OE adjuster. It's an easy once a year adjustment when I change out my primary fluid. Just my .02 cents.

 

These mods you guys are speaking of to improve the C/T...What are they? What is involved?

 

I certainly appreciate the information guys. I think I'll keep my 'not so automatic' for awhile longer.

 

Mine got bound after an hours time (with a few hard runs included).

I had to debur and clean out the hole that the tube fits in, and also some tweaking on the tube to make sure it was straight. Also took some of the sharp edge off the tube to keep from carving the hole anymore.

Next test run went okay, but I won't trust it until I get some good long runs in.

 

I found the cure!

Found a spring at Ace Hardware and put it to the test.
I used it outside the tube in addition to the SOHO spring.

First spring that I tried was too long. Tight chain, whine noise.
Second spring perfect! It works like it's supposed to. Had a real long test on it.





You have to set the default hight before you can determine the length of the added spring. You need to bolt in the tensioner without the added spring, rotate the motor around with the tire, to seat the wedge where it defaults to.

Then you measure the gap and buy a spring. Do not go longer than that gap (between the two arrows).




The SOHO spring gets the wedge where it needs to be.
The Faast Ed spring keeps it there. Works like a charm!

(Amost becomes a manual adjust, but there is no reason that it won't compensate for wear).

No more binding, and it likely wouldn't hurt if it did bind in this location.

 

Thats funny the part everybody was raving about turns out to be a piece of crap that has to be modified and remachined to make it work!

 

Yes Doc. Ironic, to say the least! He he!

But Faast Ed "fixed it" better than the designers. They should pay me for posting "the fix". LOL
I'll take it over the stock adjuster any day. Worth the efforts for the gained improvement.

Dam shame the "experts" couldn't have gotten it right before taking my money. Reminds me of some dealership mechaniacs I know.


Anybody who wants to "give up" on theirs, please PM me. Send me your SOHO instead of tossing it. I'll make good use of it.

 

I'll stick to my REVISED "POS" Harley OEM tensioner that has never given me a lick of trouble, offering improved shifting and proper chain tension continually.. Thanks

I'll let the rest argue over TO CLUNK or NOT TO CLUNK, tear **** up that cost $100 bucks and still have to gerry rig the POS!!!.

Although the "fix" is certainly noteworthy.